“Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez” at Boerum Hill’s Gumbo Bros.
Having quietly slipped into a pint-sized Boerum Hill space a few weeks back, you likely missed the opening of Gumbo Bros., a brick-and-mortar offshoot of a Vendy-nominated food stand. But blustery January is as prime a time as any to make an initial pilgrimage, for rib sticking bowls of signature soup, alongside other N’awlins fare.
Run by co-bro’s Clay Boulware (a Louisiana native) and Adam Lathan (a LSU and ICE grad), the duo aims to bridge the city’s gumbo gap, by way of a time-honored family recipe. As directed by Lathan’s great grandmother, each stew features a two hour roux, a (secret) blend of herbs and spices and a holy trinity base, bulked out with chicken and smoked andouille sausage (their top seller), shrimp and blue crab (i.e., Nanny’s Seafood Gumbo), or local spinach, kale, collards and mustard greens in a vegan, gluten-free take on Gumbo Z’Herbs.
And with Mardi Gras just around the bend, it’s worth noting Gumbo Bros. is one of only two NYC spots to get ahold of Leidenheimer Bakery french bread, shipped in regularly from New Orleans, and fashioned into classic po’boys. Fully dressed with Duke’s mayo, tomatoes and pickles, the golden, feather-crumbed baguettes come generously piled with the option of either filets of Mississipi farm-raised catfish, or a bounty of fried shrimp marinated in hot sauce and buttermilk, or shredded, roasted black angus beef doused in debris gravy. The garlicky pan drippings thickened with flour.
Pair one with a baggie of Zapps Chips and a bottle of Abita (as well as a cup or bowl of gumbo, of course), and imagine the slushy stretch of Atlantic Avenue is a microcosm of Bourbon Street.
224 Atlantic Ave., Boerum Hill