Where Baptist Seminarians Eat in New Orleans

Corner of Orleans Avenue and N. Miro Street

I was at the campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) the other day.  I'm not going to be studying to be a Baptist pastor or anything, but I visit all sorts of places all over the city.  That's my job: to know as much as I can about every facet of New Orleans.  As usual, I didn't bring my camera, so we'll be using photos of unrelated restaurants in our neighborhood to illustrate this installment.  That old forgot-my-camera schtick never gets old, does it?

I picked up a flyer at one of the desks in the student union building entitled, "The Unofficial Guide NOBTS Guide to Where to Eat in New Orleans."  Here's what the rest of the front of the flyer says:  "New Orleans is known for its abundance of quality restaurants.  We polled the NOBTS family for its favorite places; hopefully, you will enjoy these recommendations, and come back with some of your own!"

Corner of St. Anne and N. Tonti Streets

I've got some recommendations that aren't endorsed by the NOBTS family.  I've got nothing against their suggestions, and I am not going to list them all here.  A lot of them are out in the suburbs.  A lot of them are in trendy neighborhoods within the city that are out of the way for most visitors who don't have a car.  Freret Street is heavily represented, and, while the restaurants are good on Freret Street, you can find something similar in your home town.  You don't come to New Orleans for pizza or for sandwiches (or maybe you do).  I would never dream of going to most of the restaurants recommended, and I have a car; and, there are plenty that I've never heard of.  [Gasp!]

Frau Schmitt and I like to think we know most places to eat in the city, even the places our guests are never going to be interested in or to be able to find.  We visit them just in case.  We never know who is going to walk through our front door and what their interests will be.

NOBTS has a leg up on us.  I asked Frau Schmitt to take a look at their restaurant list.  "Are these places still open?" she asked.  I had no idea.  We asked Tammie the Housekeeper.  She shrugged.  "Beats me," she said.  Tammie has lived most of her life in New Orleans or just outside of the city.  None of us are elitist snobs, far from it.  My favorite lunch place is Sammy's.

Tammie the Housekeeper

I will share the Top 4 List that's on page three of the brochure: "The Favorites.  Our Most Recommended Restaurants."  Okay, here we go:

No. 1.  New Orleans Food and Spirits at 210 Hammond Hwy in Metarie.  We've never been here.  Never heard of it.  It has three locations, one on the West Bank (the Best Bank), one in Covington (across Lake Pontchartrain) and one in Bucktown (the Hammond Hwy location).  Maybe it's good.  If people want to go to Bucktown, we send them to Deannie's Seafood in Bucktown.  There's a Deannie's Seafood in the French Quarter, but don't go there.  Most people say it's not as good.  Go to the Bucktown original.  Or, you can go to New Orleans Food and Spirits, apparently.  You could, of course, stay closer to home base and eat at just about anywhere else.

Corner of Bienville Street and N. Jefferson Davis Parkway

No. 2.  Drago's at 2 Poydras Street or at 3232 N. Arnold Rd, Metarie.  Drago's is the birthplace of charbroiled oysters.  The original location, in Metarie, is located in a part of Metarie called Fat City.  I am not going to bore you with a history of Fat City, which is mildly interesting, but I will tell you that it's a very weird place.  The location on Poydras street is on the ground floor off the Hilton Hotel lobby close to the Convention Center.  That's why it's there, because it's close to the Convention Center.  If you're attending a convention, consider Drago's.  I don't give it much thought, myself.  This past January, we attended a professional innkeepers convention in that very same Hilton.  We didn't go to Drago's.

No. 3.  Russell's Marina Grill at 8555 Pontchartrain Blvd.  There are a couple of seafood restaurants on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  We've been to two of them and, frankly, they were enough to satisfy our appetite.  Now that I've pulled up Russell's website, I know where we're talking about.  We haven't eaten here.  We'll add it to our list of places to eventually visit.  According to their website, it's home to the Original Onion Mumm.  I have no idea what that is.  I haven't seen any copycat onion mumms on any menus around the city.  Again, this is far away.  You may as well go to Bucktown.

Corner of Bienville and N. Telemachus Streets

No. 4.  Dat Dog at 5030 Freret Street or at 3336 Magazine Street.  People who stay with us typically stumble across the Dat Dog branch on Frenchmen Street.  There is also Dis and Dat, which offers Dat Dogs and hamburgers on Banks Street, and there's a Dat Dog located in the Lakeside Mall in Metarie.  Did you come to New Orleans for a hot dog?  If you have a hankering for a hot dog, we do encourage you to visit Dat Dog on Frenchmen or Magazine Street.  Don't be tempted to try a Lucky Dog from a cart in the French Quarter.  Don't be tempted to try a Lucky Dog from a cart in the French Quarter.  I didn't type that last sentence twice by accident---I did it for emphasis, then I went back and italicized it to make sure you get my drift.  How about a third time?  Don't be tempted to try a Lucky Dog from a cart in the French Quarter.  Know what I'm saying?

Corner of Iberville and North Telemachus Streets

I have nothing against the NOBTS restaurant recommendations.  Some of my best friends are Baptists.  It's just that someone studying theology in New Orleans might miss out on some of the better cultural cuisine the city has to offer.  As innkeepers, we meet people from all over the world, from all walks of life, all with different expectations of what New Orleans has to offer and they carry different images of what New Orleans is in their heads.  

Let me just say that I was surprised that these four restaurants made the top four.  They are so far off my map, they wouldn't even be in my bottom four.  They wouldn't even be mentioned.  To each his own, ce sera, sera and all that jazz, live and let live.  

When we meet you, we try to figure out what you are interested in and what will appeal to you.  Then, we give you recommendations. Sometimes, there are so many that it can seem like we turned on a fire hose.  No worries.  It is very hard to have a bad meal in New Orleans.  It's a place that takes its food seriously even while everyone is having a good time.

We tried The Franklin last night for dinner to see if we can recommend it.  We can recommend it.  That's all I choose to say.  It depends on what you're looking for.

Dat Dog held a jingle contest in recently memory.  The winner was a folk song.  I much prefer the runner-up by the New Orleans Youth Sound Experience.


If you are interested in Sammy's Food Service and Deli:


I warn you, Sammy's is a bit out of the way.
À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.