It’s been a year since the renowned Creole restaurant Dunbar’s came to Loyola’s campus. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed her Freret Street location, restaurateur Tina “Mama” Dunbar set up shop in the space formerly occupied by the Pine Street Café on the Broadway Campus.
Dunbar has grown especially fond of students who frequent her establishment. She hopes to keep her business on campus for as long as possible but Mama says she needs Loyola students to help her do so.
“It’s been good here so far. It’s been different, but good,” Dunbar said. “Students haven’t accepted me as a restaurant yet and not as a cafeteria.” Before moving on to Loyola’s campus, Dunbar’s was a legendary local restaurant known for its hearty cuisine and service since opening in 1985. Its motto was, “An uptown restaurant thriving on a casual, friendly style.”
Since relocating, Dunbar has redesigned her menu to accommodate collegiate clientele but has preserved her signature flavor with every dish. “I know college students. They have limited funds, and I can’t push restaurant prices on them, so I broke meals down into parts,” Dunbar said. Fried chicken, red beans and rice, cornbread and mustard greens are now sold separately for student budgets that may not be as big as student appetites.
In addition to catering to Wolfpack wallets, Dunbar’s has shown ‘Pack pride. The restaurant recently catered a congratulatory dinner for Loyola’s men’s and women’s basketball teams after their seasons ended this year. Both teams are regular customers since they reside in the adjacent Cabra dormitories. Management junior and basketball player Christine Mainguy said, “Both teams have become close with the restaurant and staff. Mama Dunbar is always sweet as can be. I personally look forward to Friday because of the etoufee, macaroni, stuffed peppers and gumbo.”
Mainguy also patronizes other dining facilities on campus, but she considers Dunbar’s an exceptional eating experience. “Dunbar’s is a real restaurant that just happens to be at school. It’s not cafeteria food. It’s New Orleans cuisine, and it’s nice to have that standard of food available.”
Dunbar’s location on Pine Street attracts a variety of customers. The restaurant is directly across the street from Loyola law school, so law students come in to eat with heavy books in hand and little time to spare. As first-year law student Michelle Smith dropped her constitutional law book while paying for her fried chicken, she said, “I like coming here because it is so close and every one is very friendly. The food is also great.”
Dunbar’s also accepts Wavebucks and Wolfbucks so Tulane and Loyola undergraduates are always rotating in and out of the eatery. “We have a good quantity of people that come in here. They are good kids and we have a good staff,” Dunbar said.
Dunbar has enjoyed her affiliation with Loyola and has been making plans to further expand her business and menu options. “Our Freret Street building got six feet of water. That facility will be torn down sometime this year. We already have designs made for our new restaurant that I hope will be up this year,” Dunbar said. While excited for her new restaurant, Dunbar still wants to be near students. “I want to keep my business at Loyola because I don’t want to abandon our students. I want to add a larger breakfast menu and keep this shop going while opening another one in its previous location,” Dunbar said. She is working with Loyola’s administration to keep her restaurant open throughout the summer and well in to the future. “If more students continue to come in and eat here then Loyola will definitely keep me around in the summer, but I need their help,” Dunbar said.
Dunbar’s is open Monday through Friday serving breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and lunch from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dunbar’s is located inside the Student Activities Center on the Broadway Campus across from the School of Law on Pine Street.
Kathy Martinez can be reached at [email protected].
