Is New Orleans a barbecue town? For a long time, the answer was generally, even if grudgingly, no. But times are changing.
As more New Orleans restaurant people pursue serious ’cue, there are new concepts and new ideas swirling around the scene. A new wave has opened in the past few months alone, and more are on the way. Let’s catch up.
The latest addition is Blue Oak BBQ. If you have a nose for slow-and-low barbecue in New Orleans, the Blue Oak name is probably familiar already. For years, Blue Oak maintained a sort of pop-up-as-permanent residency at the Mid-City music club Chickie Wah Wah.
Now Blue Oak has its own restaurant, the former Fellini’s Café over by City Park. It’s the same barbecue as before, but with more room to grow and a cool setting along North Carrollton Avenue.
Also new and nearby is LA Smokehouse, which opened this spring on Earhart Boulevard with a different approach. LA Smokehouse is modeled as a delicatessen that centers on smoked meats served up in a variety of formats.
You pick your meat and then its vehicle, whether that’s a by-the-pound order to bring home or a sandwich or a barbecue salad or their trademark grits bowls, which is like a barbecue-inspired twist on grillades and grits. LA Smokehouse shares a parking lot with a fitness club, which seems a bit cruel at first but perhaps just provides some aromatic motivation for people working out next door.
In fact, there’s good smells from the smoker all across town these days. On North Broad Street just off Orleans, Whoo Doo BBQ set up shop last fall in a former yakamein joint, serving a more homegrown New Orleans-style barbecue (think parade vendor style: peppery and heavy on the sauce). Central City got a new barbecue spot last summer with the arrival of Black Label Icehouse, which adds live music and Texas-style cue o the mix.
Down by the wharves in the Irish Channel, McClure’s Barbecue has settled in nicely at its new home inside the NOLA Brewing Tap Room. Upriver in St. Rose the new Truck Farm Tavern makes barbecue a major specialty, and Smoke BBQ debuted last fall over the lake in Covington.
More is coming. If you remember NOLA Smokehouse, well the pitmaster from that former standout expects to get to work this fall at the new Central City BBQ just off O.C. Haley Boulevard. And back in Mid-City, the chef behind the bistro Rue 127 is working on a new eatery called Frey Smoked Meat Co. on Bienville Street, set to open this fall with a menu that goes beyond barbecue but starts at the smoker.
Amid the new additions, some New Orleans barbecue spots now feel like senior senators. The Joint, for instance, has been luring barbecue fanatics down to the bottom of the Bywater for more than a decade now. And Hillbilly Bar-B-Q is still blowing and going in Elmwood, on the perfectly named Hickory Street.
The niche for barbecue in New Orleans is growing and it will likely change a good deal as it does. For fans of low-and-slow meats, though, these are some pretty promising smoke signals. Get details on all these spots I mentioned, and learn about a preview party for a new one, below:
Black Label Icehouse
3000 Dryades St., 504-875-2876
www.blacklabelbbq.com
Blue Oak BBQ
900 N. Carrollton Ave., 504-822-2583
www.blueoakbbq.com
Central City BBQ
Coming soon to 1201 N. Rampart St.
On Sunday, May 15, there’s an outdoor pop-up preview event from 7-9 p.m. at Paradigm Gardens, 1131 S. Rampart St.
Click here for tickets and details.
Frey Smoked Meat Co.
Coming soon to 4141 Bienville St. in Mid-City
Hill Billy Bar-B-Q
2317 Hickory Ave, Harahan, 504-738-1508
www.hillbillybbq.com
The Joint
701 Mazant St., 504-949-3232
www.alwayssmokin.com
8300 Earhart Blvd., 504-265-8905
www.lasmokehouse.com
McClure’s Barbecue
At the NOLA Brewing Tap Room
3001 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-301-0117
www.mccluresbarbecue.com
Smoke BBQ
1005 N. Collins Blvd., Covington, 985-302-5307
www.smokebbqcovington.com
Truck Farm Tavern
11760 River Rd, St Rose, 504-699-0099
2660 St. Philip St., 504-821-0978
www.whoodoobbq.com
