Lulu's on Main & MAggie May's Retail
Lunch and shop. Perhaps the most fun you’ll have in the Bay!
Mid-morning
for the past 20 years, people have been calling Nancy Moynan asking
“What’s For Lunch?” Now, folks will be calling the chef asking “What’s
for Dinner” and “What’s for Brunch,” too. The restaurant has expanded just about everything.
For starters, since Sunday brunch and evening meals have been added, the name has changed from “Lulu’s What’s For Lunch” to “Lulu’s On Main.” The Jazz Brunch is already in full swing, feeding folks from 10:30am – 3:30pm on Sundays. Favorite coast performer Bobby Allison will be performing for each brunch in the month of May.
Then starting in June, the restaurant will add dinner service on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The dining area, once intertwined through the rambling Maggie May’s art gallery (126 Main Street), now gives diners a choice between high-ceiling rooms lined with original paintings, or a roomy (and bug free) screened-in porch. No one’s going to be bumping elbows in either area.
Even the kitchen has grown, from a cramped room to a spacious state-of-the-art chef’s dream.
In fact, this all is a dream, one that Nancy Moynan’s been nurturing for decades.
“It’s been my dream and my passion and finally I’m living it,” says the chef. “All I’ve ever wanted is a place where the food, the service and the ambiance combine to give diners an outstanding experience.”
Moynan grew up trailing her grandmother and mother around the kitchen, watching, learning, tasting. She says they were her biggest influences and she still cooks by smelling.
“If it smells like my mom’s and grandma’s food, it’s good.”
For starters, since Sunday brunch and evening meals have been added, the name has changed from “Lulu’s What’s For Lunch” to “Lulu’s On Main.” The Jazz Brunch is already in full swing, feeding folks from 10:30am – 3:30pm on Sundays. Favorite coast performer Bobby Allison will be performing for each brunch in the month of May.
Then starting in June, the restaurant will add dinner service on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
The dining area, once intertwined through the rambling Maggie May’s art gallery (126 Main Street), now gives diners a choice between high-ceiling rooms lined with original paintings, or a roomy (and bug free) screened-in porch. No one’s going to be bumping elbows in either area.
Even the kitchen has grown, from a cramped room to a spacious state-of-the-art chef’s dream.
In fact, this all is a dream, one that Nancy Moynan’s been nurturing for decades.
“It’s been my dream and my passion and finally I’m living it,” says the chef. “All I’ve ever wanted is a place where the food, the service and the ambiance combine to give diners an outstanding experience.”
Moynan grew up trailing her grandmother and mother around the kitchen, watching, learning, tasting. She says they were her biggest influences and she still cooks by smelling.
“If it smells like my mom’s and grandma’s food, it’s good.”
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Later, she cooked for three years in the legendary Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans. She also worked for five years as private chef for a Lebanese family, adding expertise in Mediterranean cooking to her Creole and Italian mix.
That variety is one reason Moynan’s popular “Lulu’s What’s For Lunch” gourmet boxed lunches instantly became a hit in New Orleans. She took orders and delivered to lawyers, business people and shop owners who couldn’t go out for a mid-day meal.
Making the move to the coast in 2003 seemed part of a natural progression, since Moynan family had been coming over to the Bay-Waveland area since her childhood. Although she lost both her Waveland and New Orleans homes in Hurricane Katrina, she purchased the building at 126 Main Street in 2007. Maggie May’s Art and Gift Gallery and Lulu’s What’s For Lunch shared the space for the past eight years.
As a noted Old Town anchor that led the Bay recovery efforts, Moynan’s twin businesses were recognized in 2009 as Hancock Chamber Bay Business of the Year. Then in 2010, the Mississippi Main Street Association named her Merchant of the Year.
But the entrepreneur is hardly one to rest on her laurels. The new configuration of 126 Main has consolidated art and retail in the front of the 5300 square foot building, while Moynan has spread her wings in the back.
The menu’s taking flights of fancy too, with tantalizing dishes like Redfish Florentine. It features fresh gulf redfish, seared and served with a creamy spinach Madeleine, sautéed mushrooms and artichoke hearts and two poached eggs. The whole seductive dish is covered in a homemade hollandaise sauce.
Authentic Grillades and Grits (a dish very difficult to find on menus now - even in New Orleans eateries), Crabby Lulu (a scrumptious crab cake and egg creation) and a Sausage soufflé make it difficult to chose just one dish during brunch. Desserts that are served at all meals include homemade ice creams and sorbets, Lulu’s Chocolate Mud, and Betty’s Bread Pudding, named after the chef’s mom.
The new evening menu will be an “inspired blend” of Creole, Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Even vegetarians will find delightful options. Loyal fans of Lulu’s lunch will still find the Chicken Salad, Eggplant Panini and the Roast Beef Po’ Boy - that many believe is the best on the coast.
Moynan says that after she moved to the Bay full time, she’d still drive back into New Orleans for the perfect roast beef po’ boy. Finally her mother pointed out the obvious.
“She asked why didn’t I put one on my own menu,” she says, laughing. “It’s been a hit ever since.”
Moynan invites new customers and long-time fans in to check out the changes.
Come and feel the love and passion that I have for food,” she says. “You’ll go home tasting the flavors of the Bay.”
That variety is one reason Moynan’s popular “Lulu’s What’s For Lunch” gourmet boxed lunches instantly became a hit in New Orleans. She took orders and delivered to lawyers, business people and shop owners who couldn’t go out for a mid-day meal.
Making the move to the coast in 2003 seemed part of a natural progression, since Moynan family had been coming over to the Bay-Waveland area since her childhood. Although she lost both her Waveland and New Orleans homes in Hurricane Katrina, she purchased the building at 126 Main Street in 2007. Maggie May’s Art and Gift Gallery and Lulu’s What’s For Lunch shared the space for the past eight years.
As a noted Old Town anchor that led the Bay recovery efforts, Moynan’s twin businesses were recognized in 2009 as Hancock Chamber Bay Business of the Year. Then in 2010, the Mississippi Main Street Association named her Merchant of the Year.
But the entrepreneur is hardly one to rest on her laurels. The new configuration of 126 Main has consolidated art and retail in the front of the 5300 square foot building, while Moynan has spread her wings in the back.
The menu’s taking flights of fancy too, with tantalizing dishes like Redfish Florentine. It features fresh gulf redfish, seared and served with a creamy spinach Madeleine, sautéed mushrooms and artichoke hearts and two poached eggs. The whole seductive dish is covered in a homemade hollandaise sauce.
Authentic Grillades and Grits (a dish very difficult to find on menus now - even in New Orleans eateries), Crabby Lulu (a scrumptious crab cake and egg creation) and a Sausage soufflé make it difficult to chose just one dish during brunch. Desserts that are served at all meals include homemade ice creams and sorbets, Lulu’s Chocolate Mud, and Betty’s Bread Pudding, named after the chef’s mom.
The new evening menu will be an “inspired blend” of Creole, Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Even vegetarians will find delightful options. Loyal fans of Lulu’s lunch will still find the Chicken Salad, Eggplant Panini and the Roast Beef Po’ Boy - that many believe is the best on the coast.
Moynan says that after she moved to the Bay full time, she’d still drive back into New Orleans for the perfect roast beef po’ boy. Finally her mother pointed out the obvious.
“She asked why didn’t I put one on my own menu,” she says, laughing. “It’s been a hit ever since.”
Moynan invites new customers and long-time fans in to check out the changes.
Come and feel the love and passion that I have for food,” she says. “You’ll go home tasting the flavors of the Bay.”
