5 of the best New Orleans gumbos
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If you're going to Dooky Chase's, it's always smart to get fried chicken along with whatever you order. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
Confession: I have rare memories of ordering gumbo at a New Orleans restaurant. That is, until now.
Driving the news: As a follow-up to our snoball of the week series, we're ready for crisper weather around here, and that means gumbo.
- So, I've been diving into steaming bowlfuls for weeks in an effort to find my favorites around the city
Yes, but: When I think gumbo, I think of the bowls I ladle up off friends' stoves during chilly Mardi Gras parades, or what my dad makes the night before Thanksgiving.
- That's why I've been so excited to explore gumbo in New Orleans restaurants: It's a cultural touchstone, a comfort food — and it'll be helpful when visitors come to town and ask where to get their own.
Here are five of my favorites so far:
🥣 Gris-Gris
Since 2018, Gris-Gris has been a Lower Garden District neighborhood staple, but it's quickly gotten a reputation far beyond that for chef Eric Cook's locally-flavored cooking.
The gumbo ($6) was dark and richly-flavored, but nothing fancy, and I mean that in the best possible way.
- The only veggies here were the Trinity, cooked down to almost nothing, and each spoonful offers a slow-burn heat perfect for chasing away a cold — or a hangover.
🥣 Heard Dat Kitchen
Though I grew up in New Orleans public schools, I don't remember grilled cheese being served with our gumbo in the cafeterias, but my fellow local writer Megan Braden-Perry sure does. And now, after trying her suggestion for Bon Appetit to pick up the combo at Heard Dat Kitchen, I'll never forget it.
The gumbo combo ($14) comes with a bowl of filé gumbo, a perfectly toasty and butter grilled cheese sandwich and a scoop ofpotato salad.
- The gumbo is spicy and chock-full of shrimp, chicken and sausage. I dipped every bite of the grilled cheese right into it, and then the same thing with every spoonful of potato salad — and you should, too.
🥣 L'il Dizzys
After a brief moment of concern that legendary Treme restaurant L'il Dizzy's wouldn't reopen after the pandemic, the restaurant passed from Wayne Baquet's hands into those of his son, Wayne Baquet Jr., and his wife, Arkesha Baquet. It was a good thing, too, for any fans of Creole cooking.
The gumbo ($9.50) is a bit of a surf-and-turf mix with ham, crab and andouille.
- The flavors are perfectly balanced, and I found myself slurping up the broth by drinking straight out of the styrofoam container it comes in.
🥣 Dooky Chase's Restaurant
When you eat at Dooky Chase's Restaurant, you become part of a storied list of patrons that includes Martin Luther King Jr., Beyonce, Ray Charles, James Baldwin and presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The gumbo ($8.95) is served elegantly, with a round of rice at the bowl's edge. Inside, you'll find a perfectly-seasoned gumbo with sausage, ham, chicken, shrimp and crab.
- I suggest ordering a piece of fried chicken on the side.
🥣 Saffron NOLA
The story of Saffron NOLA starts with Arvinder Vilkhu and Pardeep Vilkhu, who immigrated to New Orleans from India, launching a catering business. That business turned into a pop-up restaurant, and that turned into this chic Uptown restaurant, which in 2018 won a James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant.
The curried seafood gumbo ($15) is rich with spices like coriander and curry, and filled with crab claws, shrimp and okra.
- Each spoonful offers a lingering heat, too.