Details in the decadent design at Tacos Del Cartel
By Kenny Lopez,
23 days ago
NEW ORLEANS ( WGNO ) — We’re celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month , and to get a real look at the Hispanic culture, we go to local restaurants, but at many of these restaurants the culture goes beyond just the food. The details are not only in the dishes, but also in the decadent design.
WGNO’s Kenny Lopez takes us inside Tacos Del Cartel in New Orleans to take a look.
(WGNO/Kenny Lopez)
“A big part of our mission when we started to design Tacos Del Cartel was keeping in mind an authentic feeling that the Hispanic culture can relate to and feel at home,” Jacuelyn Lindsey, owner of JL Studio Designs said.
Home in the heart of downtown New Orleans is Tacos Del Cartel, where Lindsey creatively crafted this restaurant’s essence. She describes the restaurant’s design as maximalist.
“Tying in the elements that feel authentic Mexican with New Orleans. They have a lot of vivid colors in Mexican culture and so does New Orleans,” she said.
The design is like a Mardi Gras fiesta for your eyes. Themes honoring Frida Kahlo and day of the dead are present in the restaurant as well.
“The jaguar head we have in this restaurant, we love this piece. It is custom-made out of wood from Mexico. It weighs hundreds of pounds. They transported it down to the border, and we had to go to pick it up,” Lindsey said.
Throughout the restaurant you’ll also see lots of hummingbirds.
“The hummingbirds here are a sign of hope and you will see them hanging in the trees we had made,” she said.
From the trees to the walls to the furniture, there is beauty everywhere.
“All the pillows are handmade in Mexico and that was the most humbling experience. They were telling us how they have to walk 10 miles everyday to the manufacturing plant to make the pillows. We were putting food on their table for a week with our pillow order,” Lindsey said.
(Courtesy: Marie Deaux Verdier, MDV Photo Architecture)
She went on to say, “On the walls we also have hand-knitted fabric. We tried to drape them in a way that looks like a curve in the Mississippi River. Attention to detail is my middle name.”
The fiesta continues even in the bathroom hallway where she created a piñata experience with the glass fixtures looking like candy.
“It is an experience of hitting a piñata from floor to ceiling with mirrors all the way around. It’s a sensory overload, but it is not too much. You want to keep coming back to see more,” Lindsey said.
Even the outside has eye candy to look at.
“The jaguar outside is one of the most photographed things at the restaurant,” she said.
Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter .
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Local News
