About the Club

Our Story

Named for a grandmother. Built for a city.

ShaSha is Chef Nina Compton's long-planned love letter to New Orleans. "Sha-Sha" was what everyone called her grandmother in Saint Lucia — a woman who ran a kitchen and a household the way a mayor runs a city: generously, firmly, and with the door always open.

When Nina moved to New Orleans and found a city whose instincts were built on the same idea — look after your neighbours, celebrate out loud, make room at the table — the name chose itself.

The club takes its structure from the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs that have knit New Orleans neighbourhoods together since the 19th century: part private society, part mutual-aid fund, part parade.

About Nina

Nina Compton — chef, founder, host.

Born in Castries, Saint Lucia, Nina grew up in a house that smelled of thyme and smoke. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America, worked under Daniel Boulud and Norman Van Aken, and became a national name as runner-up on Top Chef New Orleans in 2013.

She stayed. In 2015 she opened Compère Lapin, drawing on the Caribbean roots and French-Creole technique that still shape her menus. The James Beard Foundation named her Best Chef: South in 2018. Bywater American Bistro followed. ShaSha is her first room designed around drinking, not dining — but the hospitality is the same.

"New Orleans gave me a career. The least I can do is build a room that gives back when the city needs it."
— Nina Compton