The game-day guide to New Orleans

The unlikely story of New Orleans sports bar food

Most sports bars heat up the same frozen menu. In New Orleans the kitchen is carrying West Africa, France, Acadia, Sicily, Vietnam and a few more, and half the room is arguing about the gravy while the game plays. Here is how that menu came together and where to eat it.

Start at kickoff Explore the lineup
Dressed
Shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo on a po’boy.
Debris
Roast beef cooked until it falls apart into its own gravy.
Chargrilled
Oysters on the half shell with garlic butter, herbs and cheese, charred over open flame.
BBQ shrimp
No grill and no red sauce. Head-on shrimp in butter, black pepper, garlic and Worcestershire.

1st quarter · The roots

Eight traditions, one pot

Every dish on a New Orleans sports bar menu has a family tree. The roots come from different continents. The onion, celery and bell pepper base known as the Holy Trinity ties them together.

  1. West Africa

    Okra, from the Igbo word ókùrù, thickens a proper seafood gumbo. Jambalaya is a cousin of jollof rice. Monday red beans trace back to enslaved West Africans who simmered beans on the Sunday ham bone, because the pot mostly tended itself.

    Taste itSeafood gumbo at Mid City Yacht Club. Red beans on Monday Night Football.

  2. French Creole

    The city cooking: butter, tomatoes, rich gravies and no wasted pan drippings. Crawfish étouffée comes from étouffer, to smother. Debris is the same idea applied to roast beef.

    Taste itÉtouffée poured over fried catfish. Debris po’boys at Parasol’s.

  3. Cajun

    Country cooking from the Acadians who landed in the bayou after leaving Canada. Whole-animal cooking, heavy seasoning and hardwood smoke. As a rule of thumb, Creole leans on tomatoes and Cajun mostly doesn’t.

    Taste itBoudin balls and cracklins at Cooter Brown’s and MRB. Smoked gator at Black Label Icehouse.

  4. Spanish and Caribbean

    The Holy Trinity is a cousin of Spanish sofrito and French mirepoix, with bell pepper standing in for carrots that never loved the swamp. Canary Islanders, the Isleños, brought pepper know-how, which is why the heat here builds slowly.

    Taste itUnder nearly everything, and in the hot sauce on every table.

  5. Vietnamese

    New Orleans East’s Vietnamese community brought Dong Phuong Bakery, whose airy, shatteringly crisp bánh mì baguette became the gold standard for po’boys. Regulars notice who uses it, because it holds up under gravy and heavily dressed fried seafood.

    Taste itPo’boys that survive the gravy. Crawfish boils with lemongrass and ginger.

  6. Italian and Sicilian

    The French Quarter was once nicknamed Little Palermo. Salvatore Lupo invented the muffuletta at Central Grocery in 1906: sesame bread, Genoa salami, ham, mortadella, provolone and a briny olive salad. Purists want it cold. Plenty of places serve it hot now.

    Taste itA muffuletta, the shareable heavyweight next to the po’boy.

  7. German

    Andouille, the smoky sausage under chicken and sausage gumbo and jambalaya, grew out of German curing and smoking traditions.

    Taste itAny good chicken and sausage gumbo.

  8. Choctaw

    Filé, ground sassafras leaf, is an earthy thickener for gumbo when okra is out of season.

    Taste itNow and then a dive serves the real stuff, and you will know it.

  9. Jewish deli

    A quiet visitor. Cooter Brown’s Irish Channel Special, braised corned beef with Swiss, shows the pub sandwich borrowing from the deli.

    Taste itThe Irish Channel Special at Cooter Brown’s.

  10. New New Orleans

    Chefs now make dishes with no single parent. Crawfish beignets are savory seafood folded into French doughnut batter. Cajundillas are quesadillas stuffed with Cajun-spiced protein. Nobody asked permission, and both are built for a three-hour game.

    Taste itCrawfish beignets at Walk-On’s. Spicy Korean BBQ wings at Finn McCool’s.

2nd quarter · The plate

What to order

Seafood separates the serious kitchens from the rest. Frying is treated as an art. The slow-cooked dishes show whether anyone back there is patient.

The po’boy lives or dies on the bread

A good po’boy has a shatteringly crisp crust that gives way to a cotton-soft middle. Dense or dry bread gets punished. Order it dressed and expect a strict ratio of shredded iceberg, tomato, pickles and heavy mayo.

The debris version is judged on the depth of the gravy and on how completely it ruins your napkins. Parasol’s and Mid City Yacht Club are the benchmarks, and a bar that names the bakery behind its bread, Dong Phuong or Leidenheimer, is telling you something.

Gumbo is the test

Order the gumbo and you will know within three spoonfuls whether the kitchen cares.

  • The rouxLocals talk about it in shades, peanut butter to dark chocolate depending on the protein. A lighter roux can work for a delicate seafood gumbo. A chicken and sausage gumbo wants a dark, almost-burnt depth that takes real patience.
  • The tourist-trap tellWatery gumbo, tomato gravy over rice, or a base built on roast beef is how people spot places cutting corners.
  • What good tastes likeSmoky, a little spicy, coats the spoon, and tastes like somebody’s grandmother made it. If it eats like a one-note soup, keep walking.

Order this

Seafood

Chargrilled oysters
MRB and Cooter Brown’s are the names people swear by. Look for in-house shucking and edges charred just long enough that the garlic butter sings and the oyster stays plump instead of rubbery.
Crawfish
Beyond the seasonal boil it is year-round bar food: étouffée over fried catfish, folded into mac and cheese, worked into anything that can hold it.
BBQ shrimp
Judged by the French bread that comes with it, because you will want every drop of the sauce.
Crab cakes
Locals want crab and not much else holding it together. MRB gets a standing ovation for crushed cracklins instead of breadcrumbs.

Fried and smothered

Boudin balls
A golden, thick crust that gives way easily, a moist center of pork, liver and rice that is savory without bullying you, and a sharp remoulade for dipping.
Cracklins
Crisp, porky and a natural match for a cold beer.
Red beans and rice
The best ones go creamy as the beans break down over hours, with smoke from andouille or pickled pork. A cloudy-day dish.

Vegetarians

You are not forgotten, exactly
It is a tough town for plant-eaters, built on pork fat, butter and seafood. The spinach and artichoke dip is solid, and Walk-On’s has a Veggie Bean Burger. Treat them as a polite accommodation, not a reason to cross town.

Shareables and sandwiches

Debris Fries and Cochon de Lait Fries
Slow-roasted pulled pork in au jus with melted white cheddar turns a side dish into the main event.
Wings
Think NOLA Gold, Garlic Parm and Spicy Korean BBQ. The best wing menus show the city’s cooking changing in real time.
Muffuletta
As much claim to the crown as the burger, with a briny, acidic jolt from the olive salad that nothing else on the menu delivers.
Bayou Burger
Ground lamb and andouille in the patty with Cajun spices. Others come with fried eggs, hot sausage and spicy slaw.

Halftime · The taste

How it should taste

New Orleans sports bar food runs on its own flavor map. These are the six things you should be tasting, and the six things regulars get cranky about when they go missing.

  • Deep savoryDark roux, pork fat, tasso and long-simmered stocks. If it tastes flat or one-note, it is a miss.
  • Rich fatDuck fat on fries, cochon de lait drippings soaking into French bread, butter by the bucket in the BBQ shrimp. Richness is not a flaw here.
  • A slow, warm burnCayenne, white pepper and vinegar hot sauces like Crystal and Tabasco. The heat sneaks up over the whole meal instead of kicking the door in.
  • Briny and sharpOlive salad on the muffuletta, wicked pickles and the cold salt of a raw Gulf oyster. It cuts through the richness on purpose.
  • BrightLemon wedges and hot sauce on every table, used freely on fried seafood.
  • SmokeAndouille, smoked gator, smoked brisket and blackened everything.

3rd quarter · The lineup

Where to go

Regulars sort the city’s sports bars into four kinds. Start with where each one falls.

  • Cross town for it

    Destination bars

    People come for the food and the game is a bonus. Cooter Brown’s has an elite raw oyster bar and a flawless Bayou Philly. Mid City Yacht Club does chef-driven Debris and Shrimp Tacos.

  • Stay for the game

    Good bar food

    Reliable, locally credible and better with a game on. Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux in the CBD holds its own with a competent Catfish Atchafalaya despite being a big chain. MRB Bar & Kitchen in the French Quarter does excellent chargrilled oysters.

  • Fine in a pinch

    It feeds you

    Food that does its job over three hours of football and starts no conversations. Huck Finn’s Cafe is loved for breakfast, but lunch gets a lot of “just okay.”

  • Think twice

    Locals warn you

    Frozen seafood, watery gumbo, big prices, slow service. Manning’s Sports Bar & Grill has recliners, huge screens and air conditioning, and tourists love the room, but food-focused locals say “frozen food aisle” and report long waits. American Sports Saloon draws fire for 45-minute waits and nachos that never melted.

Best gumbo

  1. MRB
  2. Cooter Brown’s
  3. Walk-On’sthe Duck Gumbo, rich with duck and andouille
  4. Toula’s Creole Kitchen
  5. Ole Saint

Best po’boy

  1. Parasol’sDebris
  2. Cooter Brown’sBayou Philly, with gator sausage and shrimp
  3. Mid City Yacht Club
  4. The JimaniBBQ Shrimp
  5. MRB

Best seafood

  1. MRBChargrilled Oysters
  2. Walk-On’sCatfish Atchafalaya
  3. Cooter Brown’sraw oysters, with a horseradish-heavy cocktail sauce you mix yourself
  4. Mid City Yacht ClubShrimp Tacos
  5. Black Labelfried fish

Best fried food

  1. Cooter Brown’sBoudin Balls
  2. Walk-On’sCrawfish Beignets
  3. MRBCrab Cakes with Cracklins
  4. Huck Finn’sOyster Salad
  5. Finn McCool’sFish & Chips

Best wings

  1. Finn McCool’sWalter’s Wings, with NOLA Gold and Spicy Korean BBQ
  2. MRB
  3. Bullet’sheavily seasoned, soul-food style
  4. J&J’s
  5. Mid City Yacht Club

Most authentic

  1. Sportsman’s Corner
  2. Bullet’s Sports Bar
  3. Parasol’s
  4. Cooter Brown’s
  5. J&J’s Sports Lounge

Sportsman’s Corner and Bullet’s carry on Black cultural traditions here. They are starting lines for brass bands and they turn out multigenerational recipes that do not need dressing up.

Best food plus game

  1. Cooter Brown’s Big screens, 400+ beers and elite oysters.
  2. Walk-On’s Handles arena-sized crowds with great A/V and competent food.
  3. Mid City Yacht Club
  4. Finn McCool’s The undisputed morning soccer hub.
  5. The Rusty Nail

Final · The one rule

Follow the bread and the dark roux into the neighborhoods

The best food here is rarely behind the prettiest door. Some of the city’s best shrimp tacos, charbroiled oysters and gumbo come out of places with vinyl tablecloths, plastic cups and a roof that has seen some weather. A dive is not a warning sign in this town. More often it is a promise.

So skip the Bourbon Street tourist machine. Order the gumbo first. Check the po’boy bread. Squeeze the lemon. And when the whole room groans at a bad call, groan with them.

  • Mid-City
  • Uptown
  • Irish Channel
  • 7th Ward
  • Bywater