VIVA NOLA JUNE-JULY 2021

Araujo is proud of her heritage,
and she is also proud of Alma
having an all-female kitchen
team. Her sister, Ana Araujo, is in
charge of keeping the traditional
recipes in the kitchen, and her
general manager, Ashleigh
Oquelí, runs a smooth operation
under the chef’s absolute trust.
Alma Café offers delicious
breakfasts and lunches. One
of the most requested dishes
is the Alma Breakfast, a dish
consisting of ripe plantain slices,
refried beans, eggs, cream,
avocado, and fresh, homemade
cheese.
The baleada is Araujo’s
recommended dish. Alma’s
baleada is the chef’s modern
adaptation of the quintessential
Honduran staple and her
grandmother’s recipe. The
baleada consists of a tortilla
hand-made to order, refried
beans, scrambled eggs,
homemade cream, and fresh
cheese. For garnish, Araujo uses
locally-grown microgreens to
add flavor and freshness to the
dish. Customers can customize
the baleada by adding avocado
or their preferred protein.
Apart from the delicious natural
aguas frescas, flavored fruit
waters with no added sugar,
Alma offers imported 100%
Honduran coffee of the highest
quality.
According to Araujo, this
modern Honduran restaurant
aims to “take the traditional
and raise it a foot or two higher,
and start putting Honduran
gastronomy on the map.” For
this reason, one of the chef’s
goals is also to open the doors
of Alma to serve as a launching
platform for future Honduran
chefs. Araujo understands
that this profession is full of
sacrifices, and it is not easy to
get to where she is. Her advice
to aspiring chefs: “Never listen to
someone who tells you that you
will not be able to make it; you
can do it. You need to know your
capacity, and nobody can tell
you what your capacity is.”
Alma Café is currently open
seven days a week from 8 am
to 3 pm at 800 Louisa Street
in New Orleans. In the fall,
Araujo plans to expand the
service hours to include dinner
so that customers can indulge
in delicious wines while they
continue to enjoy her excellent
cuisine.
“Alma is not
a name; it is
not a person,
it is my spirit,
it is my soul, it
is who forms
Melissa...”
^^ Top Photo: Chef Melissa Araujo and her sister, Sous Chef Ana Araujo.
Above: Baleada in the making.
<<Bottom Left: Alma Cafe’s all-women kitchen team led by Chef Araujo.
Below: Chef Araujo’s Huevos Rancheros.
VIVANOLAMAG.COM ~ 13