The 10 best Mid-City restaurants?

We're going through the different parts of Metro New Orleans, giving our top ten restaurants in each. Mid-City may be the most loosely defined neighborhood of New Orleans. It makes sense because Mid-City is such a hodgepodge of culture. Its architecture is as varied as its ethnic make-up. Its streets do not form a grid. Its history goes back to the very founding of New Orleans. The first European settlement occurred on Bayou St. John, in Mid-City, in 1701, nearly twenty years before Bienville was establish the city in the French Quarter. Much of Mid-City sits on the gradual slope of the Metairie-Gentilly ridge, serving as a mound of high ground between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Without this ridge, it's unlikely that Bienville would have settled the French Quarter. This ridge and its bayou, Bayou St. John, made the current position of New Orleans appealing because it offered a trade route from the river to the lake, which opened to the sea. The silty, swift, unpredictable river made this alternate route to the sea essential for the development of New Orleans. Houses have existed on Bayou St. John for 300 years, but the majority of Mid-City was not developed until the early 20th century, when technology allowed the marshy areas of the land to be pumped. For our purposes, Mid-City is defined as the area confined by I-10 to the west, I-10 to the south, Broad St. to the east, and City Park Ave and The Fairgrounds to the north (Esplanade Ridge till Broad St. is included). Mid-City is called the heart of New Orleans because more than any other neighborhood, it has held on to the city's cultural past.

Top Ten Restaurants by NOLA Metro neighborhood:
Kenner
Metairie
Lakeview
Gentilly
River Ridge & Harahan
Carrollton

As with all lists, you are invited, even encouraged to formulate your own list and critique this list.


10) Mandina's - After completing my list I looked at it and it felt wrong that I did not include Mid-City's definitive neighborhood restaurant. It felt so wrong, almost as wrong as the last two times the food I ate there tasted. I do not recommend the food at Mandina's because after the storm, I haven't had a good meal there. But I do recommend the experience. I hope some day the food gets back on track.

9) Neyow's Cafe - It's a rather inauspicious place and the price is right. The gumbo? Delicious. The atmosphere isn't what Mandina's is, but some of the dishes Mandina's is famous for are much better and cheaper at Neyow's.

8) Rue 127 I have only eaten here once, so the sample size is small, but the food was great. If they keep it up, a top 25 city-wide restaurant. Oh, and try the fried cupcakes.

7) Cafe NOMA - I think D Brennan runs the joint. It's a classy, clean, sophisticated bistro-cafe in the NOMA. Great for a date, the sandwiches are better than grossly overrated Stein's.

6) Brocato's - In a sense, Brocato's should be #1. But is it a restaurant? Because of the uncertainty, it's here. The way Brocato's has remained so consistent over the years with the best desserts in town and the atmosphere should keep it on everyone's essential NOLA list.

5) Lola's - Baru and Vega, even Galvez, get more attention from the Spanish lovers but Lola's is the best of the lot.

4) Liuzza's - IMO, it is the quintessential Mid-City neighborhood restaurant of today. Fried seafood, good prices, and great times. What Kenner has been able to do with its seafood restaurants has led me to say Kenner is the home of the great seafood neighborhood joints. But it's hard to say any of them are better than Liuzza's.

3) Cafe Minh - Could be the top Vietnamese restaurant in the area, but one wonders is it really Vietnamese? It's so unlike any other Vietnamese restaurant in the area, it seems closer to say its a Viet-fusion restaurant. Still, the atmosphere is romantic and warm and the food is creative and good.

2) Cafe Degas - It's like waking up in the movie Midnight in Paris. But with great food all around you. I usually get the fried softshells.

1) Parkway Bakery - In a city defined by its people and food, no restaurant does a better job of defining the blue collar people and food of New Orleans than Parkway. Its 2004 renovation brought this place back and Katrina didn't have a chance of destroying it once back. Parkway defines New Orleans and everything there is exceptional.