This weekend, Jeff Harris is giving Cincinnatians a taste of Louisiana.
On Sunday, September 20th, Harris’ upcoming revival of his New Orleans restaurant Jimmie Lou’s will host a preview of the menu from 1 to 4 p.m. The pop-up will be located on the patio of the new location, at 1201 Broadway Street in Pendleton.
Prospective diners will be able to try a shrimp po’boy, red beans & rice, bread pudding and “pig mac” — mac & cheese with andouille and Harris’ special mac sauce.
“If you’ve ever been to Sunday Service at Nolia or to Jimmie Lou’s, you know about the pig mac,” Harris said in a video. “We’ll have some fun with that. It’ll be great to see everyone. It’s a Sunday. Everybody’s off. Come see us. We’re working.”
CityBeat broke the news of Harris’ plans to revive Jimmie Lou’s back in July. The restaurant was the chef’s first solo venture back in 2021, and is named for his great-grandmother Jimmie Lou Green, who helped spark his love of cooking when he was just four years old.
At the original Jimmie Lou’s, New Orleans classics like jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee and beignets lined the menu; Harris even had po’boys with Leidenheimer bread imported directly from the Crescent City. The restaurant’s latest iteration promises plenty of Louisiana-inspired dishes both old and new.
“We’re taking people beyond what they know of New Orleans. Like, we’re gonna show you what you’d really get inside the neighborhood,” Harris said in July. “When you come to the city as a tourist, you’re not gonna go inside the neighborhood unless you know someone, right? We’re gonna open those doors. When you cross the threshold, you’re coming from the 513 into the 504, you know?”
For those unaware, Harris is one of Cincinnati’s most celebrated chefs thanks to his work as chef/owner at his restaurant Nolia. Shortly after opening, Nolia was a James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2023. In 2024, Esquire Magazine named Nolia one of America’s 50 best new restaurants; in 2025, he received a Beard nomination for Best Chef: Great Lakes, and was a finalist for that same award earlier this year.
For more information on Jimmie Lou’s, visit the restaurant’s official Instagram page.
