Bésame, a Latin fusion restaurant from chef Nanyo Dominguez, opened in October at 110 S. Rampart Street. The restaurant melds Latin American flavors drawn from the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Bésame represents hope in an area that has in recent years been witness to tragedy.

Dominguez was born and raised in Mexico and got his start cooking at restaurants in California and New York. It was in New York where he was exposed to a blend of Latin American cuisines from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Colombia. These cultures inspired Dominguez’s cooking and motivated him to open his own restaurant.

Finding a location for the restaurant took time. Dominguez wanted a place that was centrally located and close to some of the city’s attractions. He finally found the right spot, located a half-block away from the now-vacant site of the never-finished Hard Rock Hotel that collapsed in October 2019. The space was formerly home to TaCreole, a Creole-inspired tapas concept restaurant. Dominguez sees the location as a good fit for his concept.

“Being so close to hotels, the Saenger, the Joy, and the Orpheum theaters, we knew it would be a good place for us,” Dominguez said. “I know that tourists like Creole cuisine, but after a few days we figure they will want to try something different. And locals are usually open to different food concepts as well. When a space opened up at a hostel on Canal, I jumped at the opportunity to open the restaurant there.”

When Chef Dominguez first moved to New Orleans nearly six years ago, he started working at Johnny Sánchez, the trendy Mexican-inspired restaurant at 901 Poydras Street run by celebrity chef Aarón Sánchez. Dominguez teamed up with Sánchez, and their plan was to expand the Johnny Sánchez brand into Austin, Texas.

“I was working for Chef Sánchez in Connecticut at a restaurant called Paloma,” Dominguez said. “He asked me to come to New Orleans for six months and then open a Johnny Sánchez location in Austin. The project was scratched, so I stayed in New Orleans and worked at Johnny Sánchez for a year.”

From there, Dominguez moved on to Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco, 5015 Magazine Street. He took his knowledge of Peruvian food and became chef de cuisine, a position he held for about 14 months. Under Dominguez’s tenure, Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco was named Best Latin Food in 2018 by The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate and Dominguez was named the 2018 Chef to Watch.

Dominguez then helped open Espíritu Mezcaleria, a Mexican restaurant in the Warehouse District at 520 Capdeville Street that serves tacos, tortas and unique margaritas with a Oaxacan influence. Like many restaurants, Espíritu struggled during the pandemic, and while Dominguez’s partners considered their next move, Dominguez began plotting a move to open his own restaurant.

“I started working on a business plan during the pandemic,” he said. “I had free time, so I started learning about business and someone from the Small Business Association helped me put together a business plan. I knew the basics of profit and loss and other details, but I had never put an entire plan down on paper.”

Dominguez began looking for possible locations for Bésame and focused on what had and hadn’t worked in the city’s restaurant scene. After he found the spot on South Rampart, he worked on putting his business plan together and presenting it to the owners of HI New Orleans Hostel.

“I’m fortunate that I was able to get things moving the way I did,” Dominguez said.

As for the menu at Bésame, it’s broken down into three parts. First, Dominguez’s goal was to have a tapas-style Latin fusion restaurant where people could try different dishes and share plates.

On the Ceviche menu, you have your choice of ceviche with varying regional influences. Dominguez wanted to take advantage of the access to fresh Gulf seafood. Peruvian ceviche is made with Gulf fish, aji amarillo (a yellow chili pepper), leche de tigre (a citrus-based marmalade), and sweet potato; Oaxacan ceviche is made with Gulf fish, mezcal, roasted guajillo (a dried mirasol chili), cucumber, and tomato; and Dominican ceviche is made with Gulf fish, shrimp, squid, coconut milk, pineapple, habanero peppers, and maduros (fried sweet plantains).

The tapas menu includes favorites such as crawfish queso made with crawfish, sour cream, and pico; pork empanadas made with cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork), curtido (cabbage slaw), and avocado crema; arepas made with braised pork, chipotle slaw, avocado crema, and cheese; and an al pastor torta made with achiote pork, pineapple glaze, cheese, and avocado crema. Dominguez also included fish and shrimp tacos on the menu because he knows that people enjoy them, and they tend to expect tacos from a restaurant like his.

The menu is rounded out with larger plates that include seafood paella made with shrimp, squid, mussels, and saffron rice; churrasco which is grilled Argentinian steak, chimichurri, and papas bravas; and Caribbean fish which is pan-seared fish, coconut milk, guajillo and casamiento (Salvadoran beans and rice).

The bar menu features a wide array of imported spirits. Tequila and mezcal are included, along with brandy from Bolivia, whiskey from Mexico, and gin sourced from agave.

“We want to include spirits that aren’t popular or maybe can’t be found at other places,” Dominguez said.

Bésame is only open Thursday through Sunday but Dominguez plans to expand to more days in the future. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner on Thursday and Friday and brunch, lunch, and dinner on Saturday and Sunday.

Bésame, 110 S. Rampart St., 308-0880.

Hours: Thursday, 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.; Friday 11 a.m. until 10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.