The 10 best Gentilly restaurants?

We're going through the different parts of Metro New Orleans, giving our top ten restaurants in each. Yesterday, it was Lakeview's top ten restaurants. Today, it's Lakeview's border cousin to the east, Gentilly. Gentilly has a similar history to Lakeview. Originally a neighborhood of white suburbanization, in the 1960s and 1970s, the middle class African American populace began moving to Gentilly, leaving places like the 7th Ward. What was in the 80s a rather diverse suburban part of the city is now predominantly African American. In what some might lazily and incorrectly call a Catch-22, African American neighborhoods, despite largely being responsible for the greatness of NOLA's cuisine, historically and presently, lack a great culinary scene. Why? I believe there are two reasons. First, those who make the great food in town work extremely hard and either eat at work or want to get away from food when they get home. Second, the average African American earns far less than the average white citizen of New Orleans. Fast food companies often prey on those of lower economic classes.

Top Ten Restaurants by NOLA Metro neighborhood:
Kenner
Metairie
Lakeview

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


10) Soul Purpose - Crowded and few seats, but they make good Creole Southern food.

9) Chinese Tea Garden - I'm not a fan of Chinese food, even if it's authentic. CTG isn't authentic. It's bathed in salty, sugary sauces, deep fried, everything that is bad about American Chinese food. But it's a pretty good example of that genre.

8) Riteway Soul Food - Another Gentilly-Elysian Fields corridor hole in the wall, Riteway makes the basics at about the level of a good gas station deli. Everything is fried. Nothing is great. Nothing is bad. There are few neighborhoods where this would make the top ten.

7) McKenzie's Chicken in a Box - If you like cheap, non-chain fried chicken, there are surprisingly few options in Gentilly. McKenzie's specializes in it and is decent, but the 7th Ward's McHardy's is far superior. Unlike McHardy's, however, McKenzie's has an enormous non-chicken menu.

6) East of Italy - It might be the cleanest, most modern restaurant on this list. Located in a strip mall, it serves an average-to-good pizza. I haven't tried anything else on the menu. It doesn't make the top ten pizzas in NOLA Metro, but might make the top 25.

5) Big Shirley's - Recently opened in what was not a very good pizza joint, I've only been once, but it was a great, cheap, filling meal. Creole soul food is rarely more authentic or better priced. I can see this becoming a favorite in the next decade and could quickly move up.

4) Sassafras - One could argue that Sassafras is the most upscale restaurant in Gentilly. That says more about the dining scene in Gentilly than it does about Sassafras. The food is pretty good standard New Orleans Soul-Creole-Southern. A large but typical menu that has no surprises other than a large steak selection.

3) Zimmer's - Shrimp po-boy. All you need to know. One of, if not the best shrimp po-boy in the entire NOLA Metro.

2) The Munch Factory - I only recently ate here, on the recommendation of a Food Board member. I had the shrimp and grits. Best in the city. Everything looked great; the service was impeccable. This is a must do restaurant.

1) Sammy's Deli - IMO, this is a city-wide top ten restaurant. Everything here is great. The portions are huge. The prices low. It's amazing to me how almost every dish they serve, from fried fish to hamburger to gumbo, would be among the top ten in the city in that category.