Liuzza’s. Mid-City: 3636 Bienville. 504-482-9120.

Written by Tom Fitzmorris October 10, 2010 17:23 in

3 Fleur
Average check per person $5-$15
 BreakfastNo Breakfast SundayNo Breakfast MondayNo Breakfast TuesdayNo Breakfast WednesdayNo Breakfast ThursdayNo Breakfast FridayNo Breakfast Saturday
LunchNo Lunch SundayLunch MondayLunch TuesdayLunch WednesdayLunch ThursdayLunch FridayLunch Saturday
DinnerNo Dinner SundayNo Dinner MondayDinner TuesdayDinner WednesdayDinner ThursdayDinner FridayDinner Saturday

Liuzza's

Mid-City: 3636 Bienville. 504-482-9120. Map.
Very Casual
Cash Only. (ATM on premises.)
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
In Mid-City, a neighborhood blessed with an abundance of neighborhood cafes in the old style, Liuzza's feels most as if it had been transported across time from fifty years ago. The big schooners of frozen root beer and not-so-root beer are a trademark. The enormous menu serves a bit (a large bit, at that) of everything. The conversations could only be heard in New Orleans.

WHAT'S GOOD
Although Italian food dominates the menu, Liuzza's makes terrific poor boy sandwiches, excellent daily specials, more-than-decent fried seafood and and fresh-cut French fries. In other word, everything you'd expect from a restaurant with this look and location.

Eggplant Parmesan.

BACKSTORY
Founded in 1947 by the namesake family--which left the place behind for more modern and less interesting restaurants--Liuzza's changed hands a few times over the decades. The family that owns it now has held it since before Katrina, but the tragic loss of its two most dynamic members marked a sad low spot. The restaurant recoved, thanks to its many regulars.

Liuzza's side entrance..

DINING ROOM
The stucco building with rounded windows is a throwback to another era's neighborhood "Bar & Rest." The bar is on the right, the dining room on the left; both are busy most of the time, the customers very comfortable to this unalloyed expression of New Orleans tastes in everything.

Fried chicken..

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters & Sides
»Fried onion rings
Fried dill pickles
Eggplant casserole
»Eggplant medallions, red gravy
Stuffed artichoke
Calamari
French fries
Fried green tomatoes, sauteed shrimp remoulade
Fried sweet potatoes
»Chicken & sausage jambalaya
Mashed potatoes, brown gravy
»Red beans & rice
Pasta & red gravy
Spinach Lougia (sauteed with garlic)
Fettuccine alfredo
Mustard greens, ham, potatoes
Dipping sauce
Potato salad
Gumbo (chicken, sausage, shrimp, & okra)
Cream of artichoke & shrimp soup
Soup du jour
Combination salad
Chef salad
»Italian salad
»Sauteed shrimp remoulade or cocktail
Spinach salad
»Oysters remoulade
Entrees
Shrimp, fried or char-grilled
»Char-grilled or panneed pork chop
Catfish, fried or char-grilled
Fried oysters
»Seafood platter (catfish, oysters, & shrimp)
Soft shell crab
»Open-faced roast beef, gravy
Char-grilled or panneed chicken breast
Fried chicken
Grilled calf liver, smothered onions & gravy
»Red beans & rice, smoked or hot sausage
Hamburger steak, smothered onions, mashed potatoes, gravy
Lasagna
Fettuccine alfredo
»Meatballs or Italian sausage, pasta, red gravy
Panneed chicken breast, veal, or pork chop, fettuccine alfredo
Sauteed shrimp, fettuccine alfredo
Artichoke & shrimp pasta
Eggplant casserole, meatball, pasta, red gravy
»Eggplant St. John (with pasta, shrimp & artichoke sauce)
Eggplant, chicken or veal parmesan, pasta & red gravy
Spinach Lougia with pasta
Italian sausage, sauteed shrimp, or grilled chicken with pasta spinach Lougia
Sandwiches
»Muffuletta on French bread
French fried potato poor boy, brown gravy
Italian breaded eggplant poorboy, red gravy
Panneed baby white veal strips poor boy
Sauteed shrimp remoulade poor boy
»Fried oyster, shrimp or catfish poor boy
Fried green tomato poor boy
»Roast beef poor boy, brown gravy
Hamburger
Smoked or hot sausage
Italian sausage
Cold or grilled ham
»Char-grilled or panneed chicken breast
Desserts
»Bread pudding, rum sauce
Dessert of the day

FOR BEST RESULTS
Everything here is too big to remain good through the entire eating. Come with friends and split appetizers and entrees.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Liuzza's gets a point for offering fresh-cut fries, but they're too oily. The cash-only lolicy--one of very few remaining in this age--is nothing but an inconvenience as far as its customers are concerned.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

  • Dining Environment
  • Consistency +1
  • Service
  • Value +2
  • Attitude +1
  • Wine & Bar
  • Hipness -1
  • Local Color +2

 

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
  • Open Monday lunch
  • Open all afternoon
  • Historic
  • Unusually large servings
  • Quick, good meal
  • Good for children
  • Easy, nearby parking
  • No reservations

ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
Liuzza's is a pleasant throwback: a neighborhood "Bar & Rest." The signature drink is frozen glass schooners of root beer and not-so-root beer. The menu is implausibly large, starting with a really good roast beef poor boy and continuing with homestyle daily specials, seafood platters, and Italian dishes. Fresh-potato fries and the hole in the dining room wall through which you see evidence of a bursting kitchen are artifacts of the style, once far more commonplace than it is now.