Reviews for Tessie's, R & O's and McClure's Barbecue

Calling it "a throwback to the neighborhood restaurants of at least 50 years ago" that "serves all the local favorites," Tom Fitzmorris reviews the Metairie neighborhood eatery Tessie's in this week's CityBusiness. He writes, "Nearly everything about Tessie's is a step back in time," including the fake walnut walls, the menu "far longer than you find these days" and the actual offerings. It's one of the last remaining restaurants to offer that uniquely New Orleanian dish, wop salad.

And while he says it's good enough because of the "mix of neighborhood Creole dishes with Italian food and sandwiches," he clearly feels some pangs of nostalgia for this 1980s reinterpretation of a 1940s era Jefferson Parish landmark. His praise, scattered throughout the review (which sadly lacks any type of star rating), mostly hinges on these feelings of nostalgia, referring to the "nearly extinct but great dishes" like the aforementioned Wop Salad. He also praises the restaurant's "enormous portions," saying that they are "also part of the authenticity."

Also this week, the Times-Pic restaurant guy Brett Anderson continues his examination of the city's best roast beef po' boys (scroll down here for his previous visits) with a review of Metairie standby R & O's. Claiming that his mission, now in its fourth month, hasn't made him sick of roast beef po' boys but has instead made him appreciate them even more, he says that he "keeps returning to R & O's."

As such, he waxes poetic on this sandwich. (Much as he did last week about Root. Why is BA in such a good mood these days?) He writes that the roast beef po' boy at R & O's "is not just filled with beef; it's painted with it." And then there's this: "If everyone could eat something that had this effect on their minds and bodies every single day, the sum total of human unhappiness would reach historic lows. Too bad there is only one R & O's." Welcome to the kinder, gentler Brett Anderson.

Finally, in this month's Offbeat, Peter Thriffiley, Jr and Rene Louapre, who do food reviews for the magazine in addition to running their blog Blackened Out, review the BBQ pop up McClure's Barbecue. Run by former Dante's Kitchen GM Neil McClure out of the Dante's space during lunch hours Monday to Friday, McClure's barbecue offers four different types of meat, seven different sauces and "big and lusty" side dishes. All of which work together to support McClure's goal of "mak[ing] New Orleans a 'barbecue town.'"

· Tessie's is a Time Machine Back to Roadhouse Dining [CB]
· R & O's Roast Beef Po-Boy Reaffirms the Pleasure of Eating [TP]
· Dining Out: McClure's Barbecue [Offbeat]

[Photo: Networks54.com]