Where To Celebrate Mardi Gras

Seeing that Valentine’s Day is officially over and Mardi Gras is less than a week away, we thought we’d better start planning. Afterall, this holiday is about so much more than just beads and booze. In fact, Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday,” the last night of feasting your heart out before Lent.

Bourbon Street Bar and Grill
Address: 34 W. 46th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues
Phone: (212) 245-2030
Website: www.bourbonny.com
As the name suggests, Bourbon Street Bar and Grill specializes in Cajun cuisine. In fact, the restaurant itself was created to bring a little of the spirit of New Orleans to New York City. To kick things off, consider sampling the appetizer combo with creole red beans and rice, fried pickles, and alligator in a blanket. What’s an alligator blanket you ask? It’s real alligator sausage, stuffed with apple, cheddar and bacon, and wrapped in a flaky pastry. There’s a lot more where that came from, including an impressive lineup of po’boys, shrimp creole, and crawfish macaroni and cheese. Throw in a side of three-cheese grits and call it a day…N’Orleans style.

Ninth Ward
Address: 180 Second Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets
Phone: (212) 979-9273
Website:ninthwardnyc.com
Since a large chunk of the Mardi Gras revelry centers around drinking, we recommend you add a pit stop to Ninth Ward to your festival itinerary. Both the atmosphere and the cocktails admirably evoke old-school New Orleans.  You can’t call yourself a true New Orleans bar without featuring a “Hurricane,” a signature cocktail that originated in the big easy back in the 1940’s. Or try th e “Mardi Gras float,” a fierce combination of Pinnacle whipped cream vodka, root beer with a dollop of  whipped cream on top.  And since we’re always up for a snack with our cocktails, try the plantains stuffed with braised beef or the “gators on horseback” – bacon-wrapped jalapenos stuffed with shrimp and cheese. 

Great Jones Cafe
Address: 54 Great Jones Street between Bowery and Bleecker Street
Phone: (212) 674-9304
Website: greatjones.com
Great Jones Cafe has seen major changes to the Bowery over the past 28 years, but what has remained consistent is the restaurant’s commitment to excellent southern comfort food. Where to start?  One of our favorites is the jumbalaya with a spicy Cajun bloody mary, so good you’ll forget you’re in New York. And if you’re stopping in for brunch, order the eggs jambalaya with smoked sausage, tomato, onions, rice and Cajun spices. Come dinner, there’s ya-ya gumbo with shrimp, chicken, ham and andouillem cornmeal fried clam strips, creole chicken wings, or roasted chicken with a brown sugar glaze. Dessert includes southern favorites like bourbon pecan pie and coconut cream pie.

Silver Moon Bakery
Address: 2740 Broadway, at 105th Street
Phone: (212) 866-4756
Website: www.silvermoonbakery.com
It’s not really Mardi Gras until you’ve taken down a slice of king cake. The meaning and history behind the king cake varies by region, but in New Orleans, it’s an annual ritual closely tied to carnival season.  Louisiana-style king cake is known for its sweet flavor and vibrant colors, and the king cakes on display at Silver Moon Bakery would make any NOLA native proud.  Holding true to tradition, the cake, which is best described as a sweet bread has a small doll baked inside. Whoever gets a slice with the doll gets the honor of buying the next king cake (or the next round of drinks!).

Maison Premiere
Address: 298 Bedford Avenue between 1st and Grand Streets (Brooklyn)
Phone: (347) 335-0446
Website: maisonpremiere.com
A marble bartop, absinthe drip, New Orleans-inspired ambience, and an epic selection of  oysters are more than enough reasons to spend an evening out at this Williamsburg  spot for Mardi Gras.  Beyond the large list of absinthe, the bar boasts an equally impressive list of cocktails, including “Creole cocktail” a blend of old overholt, house amer, benedictine, and angostura bitters, or the ‘obituary,’ touting beefeater gin,  dolin blanc, and absinthe.

Cheeky Sandwiches
Address: 35 Orchard Street btwn. Hester & Canal Streets
Don’t expect much in the way of seating at this bare bones sandwich shop, which is also doesn’t have a phone or regular hours. But that’s not the point here.  What is are their incredible po’ boys.  There’s plenty to choose from but our favorite is the oyster po’ boy, piled high with crispy oysters, lettuce, tomato, mayo, hot-sauce, and pickles. If that’s not authentic enough for you, the bread is shipped directly from the John Gendusa Bakery in New Orleans, so you can count on appropriately crusty, light, and airy bread.

Tchoup Shop
Address: 113 7th Street and 2nd Avenue (d.b.a – Brooklyn)
Phone: (347) 223-2710
Website: tchoupshop.com
Tchoup, pronounced ‘chop’ and named for the Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, pays homage to NOLA on a weekly basis thanks to native chef, Simon Glenn, and his makeshift grill at d.b.a in Brooklyn. Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Glenn prepares over a dozen Louisiana-style dishes for fellow ex-pats and foodies craving a little southern comfort. The line-up is different each week, which is half the fun, but you can expect dishes along the lines of grilled Boudin sausage with Cajun mustard and homemade pickles,and Louisiana boiled shrimp. Come early as the kitchen opens at 2:30 and serves ’til the food runs out.
<br
/>Sugar Freak
Address: 36-18 30th Avenue between 36th and 37th Streets (Astoria)
Phone: (718) 726-5850
Website: sugarfreak.com
Don’t let the name fool you: This Astoria restaurant may have began as a place to nab great desserts, but it quickly evolved into a serious mecca for Louisiana home- cooking and spirits from dusk ’til dawn.  For breakfast, there’s unabashedly buttery corn pudding with honey, shrimp and grits or Cajun eggs Benedict. For the post-Mardi Gras hangover brunch, we highly recommend Sugar Freak’s yaka mein bowl, aka sober soup, flavored with creole beef, noodles, scallions, and a boiled egg. Come dinnertime, there’s crawfish etouffee, blackened catfish, and buttermilk fried chicken. One of the best cards they’re holding is the deviled eggs uniquely paired with bacon, cheese, shrimp, spicy crab and crispy fried chicken skin.

Live Bait
Address: 14 E. 23rd Street between Madison and Broadway
Phone: (212) 353-9100
If you work in the Flatiron district, or just happen to be in the area, than we suggest getting your Cajun fix at Live Bait. Beyond the happy hour deals and the divey atmosphere lies some seriously soul-satisfying food. There’s black-eyed peas, candied yams, mac n’ cheese, collard greens, red beans and andouille, dirty rice…we could easily make a meal out of the fixin’s alone. For the heavy hitters, order the “Robert E. Lee Chicken fried steak” or the delta catfish blackened with a crunchy cornflake breading and pecan butter, which is worth the trip alone.