Acme Oyster House. Metairie: 3000 Veterans Blvd. 504-309-4056.

Written by Tom Fitzmorris October 16, 2010 22:58 in

2 Fleur
Average check per person $5-$15
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Acme Oyster House

Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 3000 Veterans Blvd. 504-309-4056. Map.
Very Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The original Acme Oyster House on Iberville has always been popular, but during the past decade it has become a must-visit eatery for visitors to New Orleans. It's so busy that many local Acme fans have forsaken it for the other Acme locations--the best of which is the one in Covington. The place can become habit-forming. It serves all the New Orleans neighborhood-cafe classics, from gumbo and seafood platters to red beans and roast beef poor boys.

WHAT'S GOOD
Beyond the consistently excellent oysters (Acme is in deadly earnest about that part of its operation), all the seafood here is prepared to order and comes out hot and crisp. That's a good start. Much--perhaps most--of the rest of the menu comes from a commissary, and is only warmed up and served on site. Despite that, most of those dishes are more than edible. (The red beans and gumbos are notable examples.) In recent times the Acme has expanded and modified its menu. This has made the place even better, without harming the culinary core. A very reliable place to eat.

Waitress available.

BACKSTORY
The Acme on Iberville Street is the Antoine’s of oyster bars, its history stretching back to 1910. Oyster bars were a recent import from New York City. Our estuaries produced first-class oysters in quantities so vast that oysters were (and still are) a delicacy that could be afforded by anybody here. When the current owners took over about twenty-five years ago, they turned a sleepy but very fine little cafe into a phenomenon, just by jazzing it up a little. The satellite locations came in the 1990s, and have lately begun opening well outside of New Orleans, with Acmes in Baton Rouge, Destin, and even at the airport.

Grilled oysters..

DINING ROOM
All the locations are different, except for one common motif: neon signs everywhere, one proclaiming "Waitress Available Sometimes." (There's a joke in there somewhere.) The Iberville original is the roughest, most beat-up of the bunch (people love that about it; it's widely believed that a restaurant can't be real Nawlins without being funky.) The Metairie restaurant is a former Mexican cantina, not much renovated from that look. The most pleasant Acme is the Covington location, which has a separate room for the oyster bar and a clean, bustling environment in the television-surrounded main room.

Red beans and hot sausage.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters
»»Raw oysters on the half shell
»»Chargrilled oysters
Oyster shooter
Boo fries (beef gravy and cheese)
»Fried oysters remoulade
Fried crab claws
Seafood boat (fried fish, shrimp, oysters)
Meat pies
Craw-puppies
Fried crawfish tails
Buffalo wings
Onion rings
Boiled seafood
Salads And Soups
House salad (greens, cucumbers, tomatoes)
»»Wedge salad, blue cheese, bacon
Club salad
Popcorn shrimp or crawfish salad
Grilled marinated chicken or shrimp salad
Fried oyster salad
Seafood salad
Caesar salad
»Seafood gumbo
»Chicken/andouille gumbo
»Oyster Rockefeller soup
Soup of the day
Acme poopa (bread bowl filled with soup, gumbo or red beans)
Seafood étouffée
»Red beans and rice, smoked sausage
»Jambalaya
Entrees
Fried fish Pontchartrain (crabmeat, shrimp, butter cream sauce). »Fried oyster, shrimp, fish, or combo platters
Fried soft shell crab
Fried stuffed crab
New Orleans hamburger steak
Grilled marinated shrimp, fish or chicken platter
Sandwiches
»Peacemaker poor boy (fried oysters and shrimp)
»Fried oyster, shrimp, crawfish or fish poor boy
»»Fried oyster, shrimp, crawfish or fish loaf
Fried soft-shell crab poor boy
Ham poor boy
Turkey poor boy
Hot or smoked sausage poor boy
Grilled marinated shrimp or chicken poor boy, grilled mushrooms and onions
Acme special poor boy (hot debris-style roast beef, ham, turkey, American and Swiss cheese
»Chuck roast beef poor boy
Hamburger (poor boy or bun)
Desserts
Brownie sundae
»Pecan cobbler, vanilla bean ice cream
»Bread pudding, whiskey sauce
Chocolate caramel pie
Root beer float
Ice cream
»Bananas Foster pie

FOR BEST RESULTS
Whether oysters are a main course or an appetizer, have them at the bar to get the biggest and best ones. Order twice as many of the grilled oysters as you think you'll eat. If there's a line in front on Iberville Street, go for oysters to the Bourbon House or the Red Fish Grill instead.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The catfish is too big to fry properly. The soft shell crabs are too inconsistent to order (where are those coming from, anyway?). In general, the Metairie location's act could tighten up a good bit.

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+1
  • Value +1
  • Attitude +1
  • Wine & Bar -1
  • Hipness
  • Local Color +2

 

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
  • Good for business meetings
  • 8-25
  • Open Sunday lunch and dinner
  • Open Monday lunch and dinner
  • Open all afternoon
  • Historic
  • Oyster bar
  • Quick, good meal
  • Good for children
  • Easy, nearby parking
  • No reservations