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Radosta's
Metairie 1: Old Metairie: 249 Aris Ave. 504-831-1537. Map. WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY WHAT'S GOOD BACKSTORY DINING ROOM ESSENTIAL DISHES FOR BEST RESULTS OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Very Casual
AE DS MC V
Radosta’s is a good neighborhood cafe, and if you never heard of it it's only because you don't live in the neighborhood. Aris Avenue doesn't connect directly to Metairie Road, nor can you get there easily from Veterans. (Best directions: two blocks in back of Nor-Joe's.) Poor boy sandwiches are the main stock in trade. Because the place started as a grocery store, it still serves some varieties of poor boys not often seen anymore. Like luncheon meat and liver cheese.
The roast beef is a contender (along with dozens of other places) for the honor of best in town. The beef is roasted on the premises, the gravy is made from scratch, and the resulting juicy sandwich has the hard-to-define but easy-to-recognize flavor that makes a New Orleans roast beef poor boy distinctive. The cold-cut sandwiches use meats cut, if not to order always, then very recently. They make their own hot and Italian sausage. Also here are the familiar plate specials and fried seafood platters.
Radosta's story is a common one around New Orleans. It started in the 1970s as a neighborhood grocery store, and like many of those it sold poor boy sandwiches out of its deli. The sandwich business grew as fast as the corner-grocery one contracted, and over the years it became almost entirely a neighborhood cafe. (Although they still have some groceries on the few remaining shelves.)
It's easy to see Radosta's grocery-store past. Where shelves once were are now tables, topped with the usual condiments and rolls of paper towels. You order and the counter and wait for the people in the back to make it. Nice folks.
Poor boy sandwiches:
»Roast beef
»Ham
»Grilled ham
Breaded veal cutlet
Breaded chicken filet
Breaded center cut pork chop
»Meatball
»Italian sausage
»Hot sausage
Smoked sausage
Turkey breast
Tuna or chicken salad
Luncheon meat
Liver cheese
Genoa salami
Olive loaf
»Soft shell crab
Fried shrimp
Fried catfish
Fried oyster
»Fried shrimp parmesan
Bacon, lettuce and tomato
Grilled cheese
Muffuletta
»Eggplant or veal parmesan poor boy
French fry poor boy
Hamburger
Grilled chicken breast
Club sandwich
Sauteed shrimp poor boy
»Grilled swiss cheese with asparagus and bacon
Entrees
»Fried seafood platters (oyster, shrimp, catfish, soft shell crab, stuffed crab, or combinations)
»Red beans and rice with sausage (Monday special)
Spaghetti and meatballs (Tuesday special)
Hamburger steak (Wednesday special)
The roast beef is seriously good, and will appeal particularly to those who like their beef in integral slices rather than falling apart.
They've always sliced the deli meats too thick here, a problem that shows u to particular disadvantage in the muffuletta.
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Open Monday lunch
- Open all afternoon
- Unusually large servings
- Quick, good meal
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
