Where To Celebrate Mardi Gras 2014
If you can’t make it to New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year, be grateful that you at least get to spend it in New York because our bars and restaurants (Cajun, Creole, Southern or otherwise) simply never miss an opportunity to party. (Well, it’s true.) So don your beads and masks and spend Fat Tuesday sipping Sazeracs at Andrew Carmellini’s The Dutch, eating Smoked Duck Gumbo at Back Forty, or snacking on King Cake and swinging to Crescent City tunes on the jukebox at Great Jones Café!
The Dutch
In addition to hosting live funk bands in the bar room, The Dutch is ringing in Fat Tuesday with creative cocktails, like the “Funky Pirate” with White Whiskey and Melon, and a three-course, prix fixe dinner for $75 a head. You’ll have a tough time choosing between appetizers like Mini Muffulettas, Fried Frog’s Legs or Andrew Carmellini’s special Seafood Gumbo, and desserts like Beignets with Lemon Custard or Bananas Foster Bread Pudding. Thankfully, there’s no decision making required for the family-style main course, which includes Blackened Tilefish, Chicory-Rubbed Pork Roast, and Ham-studded Collard Greens.
Read MoreGreat Jones Café
It’s always a party at this rollicking, East Village Cajun joint, so you can bet that Great Jones Café is going all out for Fat Tuesday. Think tables piled high with colorful beads and bright red Crawfish (you’re supposed to suck on the tasty heads), 45’s from New Orleans-based artists playing on the jukebox, and frosty Hurricanes and Abita Bock beers flowing like water. Hope to find the plastic baby in your slice of King Cake. It’s supposed to bring a years worth of good luck!
Read MoreBo’s
Crave Fishbar’s Todd Mitgang is celebrating the very first Mardi Gras at his 6-month-old Big Easy spot, Bo’s. In fact, he kicked off the festivities on Friday with beads and drink specials, but expect a major blowout on Tuesday, complete with live brass bands playing in the restaurant’s “Garden District Lounge,” and traditional Creole dishes, like Crispy Alligator, Spiced Louisiana Redfish, and Wild Gulf Shrimp and Grits. Can’t make it to the party? Fat Thursdays are a regular, weekly occurrence at Bo’s, featuring music, small bites and stiff cocktails.
Read MoreDBGB Kitchen and Bar
Daniel Boulud’s French-inspired bistro will take a delicious detour through the French Quarter on Tuesday, with a New Orleans Hog Feast. $75 tickets to the family-style spread include a Hurricane “welcome” cocktail, all-you-can-drink Abita beers, Chicharonnes and Cornbread, Oysters Rockefeller with Housemade Bacon, and a Suckling Pig with Cajun Stuffing, Dirty Rice and Greens. Find the “feve” in your King Cake and win a $25 gift card!
Read MoreBack Forty
The original Avenue B outpost of Back Forty will be running Mardi Gras specials all week long. Listen to Zydeco tunes over the loudspeakers while enjoying farm-to-table, Big Easy-inspired fare, like Smoked Duck Gumbo, Dirty Rice and Andouille Sausage, and even Banh Mi Sandwiches (made on French bread, of course), along with absinthe-based Sazerac’s and bottles of Bayouteche beer to wash it all down.
Read MoreDucks Eatery
While this wildly inventive, year-old eatery is Creole-Cajun at heart, most dishes exhibit uniquely international flair. So for a globe-trotting interpretation of Mardi Gras favorites, be sure to try the House-Pickled Okra with Jicama and Radish, Charred Head-on Shrimp with Whipped Lardo and Sambal, and Red Beans n’ Rice with Smoked Lamb Breast and Coconut. They didn’t bother to riff on the Beignets (served with Powdered Sugar and Dark Chocolate Espresso Sauce) because, well, why mess with perfection?
Read MoreCity Grit
Sarah Simmon’s popular “culinary salon” City Grit is throwing a fantastic Mardi Gras feast this year. For $65 per person, guests will enjoy a multi-course spread of the chef’s favorite N’Awlins-inspired dishes, like Gumbo Z’Erbes with Dirty Rice and Crawfish Etouffee. Whoever finds the baby in their King Cake will get a jumpstart on their year of good fortune; a 100% gift certificate to another dinner at City Grit! (We strongly suggest checking out their upcoming Brooklyn Chef’s Table series.)
Read MoreHarding’s
This proudly all-American eatery in the Flatiron District (check out the oversized, 117-year-old flag on the wall), is eagerly embracing Louisiana’s culinary traditions this week. Chef Peter Hampton will be serving a Low Country Gumbo, brimming with Roasted Chicken, Andouille Sausage, Cajun-Spiced Shrimp, Lump Crab, Okra and long-grain rice, accompanied by potent Hurricanes with Black and White Rum, Pineapple, Orange and Pomegranate Juices, and Orange Bitters.
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