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Dixie Chicken And Ribs
Lakeview: 6264 Argonne Blvd. 504-488-1377. Map.
Casual.
MC V
Website
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS It's not uncommon for a building to host a string of restaurants over the years, with new owners and names. But it's surprising how many such restaurants seem to hang onto elements of the restaurant that was in the same building before. What is now Dixie Chicken and Ribs is remembered by a lot of people as having been the home of Chicken Delight. That was a national chain of take-away fried chicken places that was very successful until fast-food fried chicken outlets like KFC and Popeyes stole Chicken Delight's thunder. (Chicken Delight, however, still exists in other parts of the country. And so, after a number of restaurants here on Argonne Boulevard, we have another chicken specialist--although one with a lot more to offer than Chicken Delight ever did.
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The Harrison Avenue restaurant row is among the most popular concentrations of eateries in town, after the French Quarter, Magazine Street, and Mid-City. What it lacked, however, was an old-style workingman's restaurant, with big poor boys, red beans, fried chicken and seafood and the like. Dixie Chicken and Ribs fills that void reasonably well, at prices only slightler higher than more attractive restaurants.
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Fried chicken poor boy and red beans on the side.[/caption]
WHAT'S GOOD The good news is that everything that can be made to order is. That makes a big difference in the matter of fried foods, which come out crisp and greaseless. The less-good news is that across the board the seasoning levels are much lower than I like to find. Almost everything I've had here fit that description. The bread pudding is terrific.
BACKSTORY
Chicken Delight notwithstanding, the best restaurant ever in this location was the Odyssey Grill, a superlative Greek restaurant in the 2000s. Dixie Chicken and Ribs opened in the 1990s across the street from Tony Angello's, and had one other location before it wound up here. It moved here not long after the deep Katrina flood waters went down.
DINING ROOM
The two dining rooms are spacious, quiet and squeaky clean. But it has the feeling of a company cafeteria in a big office building. Most customers are there only long enough to eat. The servers are efficient and very helpful.
[title type="h6"]FULL ONLINE MENU[/title]
BEST DISHES
Seafood gumbo
Grilled or fried chicken, shrimp or oyster salad 8.95
Poor boy sandwiches (the usual suspects)
entrees
Fried, rotisserie or barbecue chicken
Barbecue ribs
Fried oysters, shrimp, catfish, stuffed crab or combo platters
daily specials
Red/white beans and rice, sausage, porkchop, or fried chicken (MO)
Grilled or panneed chicken, dirty rice, creamed spinach(WE)
Stuffed shrimp (FR)
desserts
Bread pudding 3.95
Lemon berry mascarpone cake 4.95
FOR BEST RESULTS
The chicken, seafood and daily specials make for the best eating.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
I don't much care for this style of ribs, which are too tender. (That will strike some eaters as an asset.) There could be a lot more smoke flavor.
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 +2
- Wine & Bar
- Hipness -1
- Local Color +1
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Good for business meetings
- Open Monday lunch and dinner
- Open all afternoon
- Quick, good meal
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- No reservations
