St. Charles Tavern

One decade ago, New Orleans experienced The Great Levee Failure of '05, and many were quick to jump on the notion that this city should not even be rebuilt. During those ten, long years after the storm, we were in exile, in Texas - a place wholly unlike the beautiful city I called "home."

Last month, after a decade of Texas, we moved back to N'awlins, and we've been exploring the city to see what made it great, what has changed, and what's on the horizon. This blog focuses on one aspect everyone - both denizen and tourist alike - will always enjoy here: FOOD. From dive bars with their own spin on red beans & rice, to the award-winning fine dining restaurants in the French Quarter and the Garden District, and everywhere in between, we will bring you our reviews of the places we eat, and what we recommend.

Now, without further hesitation...

The St. Charles Tavern

Our neighborhood is filled with restaurants. In a three block stretch, there are mansions, a fine sushi place, some great diners, Emeril's Delmonico, Chef Matt Murphy's Irish House, The Blind Pelican, Slice, VooDoo BBQ, and many others. And that's just our stretch of St. Charles. On our third day back, after we reached a point where we were sick and tired of unpacking boxes into our new place, we decided to take a stroll to reintroduce our tastebuds to New Orleans cuisine.

Directly across from the street car line, on the corner of St. Charles and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is the St. Charles Tavern. Yelp lists this as a "dive bar," but to be honest, I'd rather slum it here than go to most white linen services anywhere else. 

The St. Charles Tavern boasts an extensive menu, with everything ranging from baked potatoes and crawfish pie for appetizers, on up to burgers, po'boys, and steak dinners (their specialty). Plus they serve breakfast 24/7, so no matter when you get done having fun (or when you start your day), you can always find something good to eat. (Also keep in mind that this is New Orleans, so they have a fully-stocked bar and really good prices on everything from beer to cocktails.)

Crawfish pie with a cream sauce

On this particular day, I wanted a thing - a meal that I could not get anywhere else. Something that said NEW ORLEANS. (By the way, that's a lot tougher than you might think it is, given just how many dishes originate from here.) Eventually, I settled on this:

What you are looking at in the picture above is a deep-fried soft shell crab po'boy - fully dressed (tomato, lettuce, pickle, et al) with the St. Charles Tavern's homemade remoulade. The unfortunate thing about this picture is that there is nothing to give you a sense of scale, but that crab was the size of both of my hands put together. One bite of that po'boy - and every bite after that until the plate was clean - was like the city saying "Welcome home!"

Everything I've had since from the St. Charles Tavern (and yes, they do deliver until 1:30am) has been fantastic. From breakfast...

Eggs, homemade biscuit, and Andouille hash 

To their monstrous boudin balls...

And even just stopping in for a cold pint to watch the world go by - during the day, or late at night - has been a great way to come back home.

For those in the area, or those visiting New Orleans, you can stuff yourself with anything off the menu, plus have a few rounds of something cold and adult in nature, and still not go over $20. Dive bar? Maybe in prices only. The food and atmosphere (and location) of the St. Charles Tavern has made it one of my regular hangouts.

It should be one of yours, too!

Prices: Cheap (average entrée is $5-7)
Staff: Friendly & knowledgeable
Atmosphere: Cool and quiet
Food: Excellent

Location:
1433 St. Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone: 504-523-9823

A final note:

The St. Charles Tavern's online menu mostly matches their in-house menu. Disregard all that stuff about gourmet pizzas, and you'll still be able to find a ton of things to please your tongue at the St. Charles.