Designer Replicates Tujague Restaurant’s Iconic Mardi Gras Flair including Restroom Design with Scranton Products Aria Partitions

Tujague’s, an iconic French Quarter fixture of the New Orleans cultural landscape, has been serving culinary delights to customers for more than 160 years. To stay viable, owners of the beloved establishment made the difficult decision to relocate the restaurant just six blocks down the road. The nation’s third-oldest restaurant now occupies three floors with balconies overlooking the Big Easy steamboats cruising the city’s Mississippi River harbor each day.

“A favorite of both locals and tourists since it first opened in 1856, Tujague’s presented us with the formidable task of recreating the restaurant’s long and colorful history dating back to the mid-1800s in a new location,” said Jacquelyn Lindsey, the owner and lead designer at JL Studio Designs, an edgy, out of the-box New Orleans architectural firm known for its custom renovations. “This included restoring the restaurant’s Cajun ambiance in a new setting that not only comfortably embraced regulars, but also attracted younger customers desiring a five-star Creole dining experience.”

With double the dining and kitchen space, Lindsey began the process by recreating Tujague’s renowned standup bar and filling the building’s entire three-story interior with the former site’s vintage photos, memorabilia, artwork, newspaper clippings, lighting fixtures and miniature liquor bottle collection.

Lindsey explained the meticulous specification of the restaurant’s historic color palette. “We created a very vibrant New Orleans look and feel with a wide assortment of bright and bouncy colors that represent the City’s festive culture,” she explained. “Each tier has its own personality. While the first floor’s white and walnut-stained wall paneling is more traditional, the third is filled with lots of gold and metallics. The bronze footrail from the old location was even brought over to provide the same antique feel to the new bar.”

To mimic the excitement of Mardi Gras, she said the second floor was designed with a sparkling array of purples, greens and blues. “This color arrangement extended from the Iris room’s 10-foot custom mural, down the hallway’s green and purple wallpaper and all the way into the floor’s two restrooms.”

Described by Lindsey as “traditional New Orleans meets modern flair,” the Mardi Gras-inspired women’s and men’s restrooms include gold fixture and a purple, green and blue motif highlighted by Scranton Products^® Aria Partitions^®.

“Used for six stalls and two urinal screens, the Aria Partitions were the perfect complement for this project,” said Mary Kay Cowen, president of Waldo Brothers, Inc., a leading provider of Division 10 products to the Southern Louisiana marketplace since 1939. “They replaced the previous facility’s dated metal partitions with these beautiful emerald green stalls and their raised paneling, which fit seamlessly into the restaurant’s look and feel.”

Made of durable HDPE for commercial environments, Aria Partitions were developed by Scranton Products to add an enhanced level of comfort and privacy as well as elegance and charm to virtually any enclosed or private room. This reduces sightlines with a continuous edge-mounted hinge and greatly improving aesthetics with a design that does not use face-mounted hardware like traditional bathroom partition systems.

Cowen added, “Nearly everyone these days is looking to increase the comfort and safety of their restrooms with lower maintenance materials and floor to ceiling designs that decrease sightlines. Aria Partitions do just that with a style and elegance that proudly project Tujague’s look and feel.”

Available with 17 innovative door designs, 7 panel designs and 28 rich colors and multiple textures, Aria has also become recognized for its ability to distinctly elevate standard restroom interiors with captivating designs and simple sophistication.

“What an amazing success,” added Lindsey. “The grand re-opening could not have gone better. Everyone from Tujague’s loyal customers to its first-time guests loved the experience. The food was spectacular and everyone was mesmerized with every aspect of the restaurant’s new design. The wow factor was everywhere, with some guests taking selfies in the restrooms with the Aria Partitions as a backdrop. Now that’s a design compliment.”

To learn more about Scranton Products’ Aria Partitions, please visit scrantonprodu1.wpengine.com or call 800-445-5148.