Where to Celebrate Mardi Gras in Brooklyn
While largely adopted and adapted countrywide as a non-official drinking holiday (or more traditionally, a let-it-all-hang-out lead-up to the sacrificial rigors of Lent), Mardi Gras has taken on a whole new level of urgency—best to live it up now, because we don’t know what we’re going to lose next. So here’s where to gorge on po’boys, gumbo and sazeracs—but we have a feeling they won’t be your last—and that you’ll be forgiven for persevering through the coming months with booze and fatty foods.
Loosie’s Kitchen
Not only does the Loosie Rouge offshoot boast its own worthy cocktail program (consider the Jaguar Milk Punch and a Hurrycane 3, with saffron-infused plantation rum), it rocks an elevated Cajun menu besides—think grits and shrimp grilled with herbsaint butter, crawfish-tossed fettuccini, and nutella-slathered beignets.
91 S 6th St., Williamsburg
Tchoup Shop
Big Easy émigré, Simon Glenn, has long dominated Brooklyn’s Creole-Cajun scene, slinging Catfish Po-Boys, Pork Belly Cracklin’s, Louisiana Hot Links and Brisket-Duck Liver Boudin Balls from the back of Heavy Woods bar.
50 Wyckoff Ave., Bushwick
The Gumbo Bros
Sprung from a Vendy Award-nominated food stand, this gumbo specialist has expanded its repertoire to include a range of N’awlins eats, such as fried shrimp, catfish and roast beef po-boys deposited on Leidenheimer bread, as well as rice and debris gravy, chicory cold brew, and Abita beer on tap.
224 Atlantic Ave., Boerum Hill
BeeHive Oven
In addition to its lineup of Louisiana-inflected entrees (fried steak, jezebel wings, vegetable okra gumbo over grits), BeeHive inserts entire Cajun dishes into the innards of its signature biscuits, from stewed chicken and collard greens, to pickled squash and pimento cheese, to fried green tomatoes and shrimp.
182 S 2nd St., Williamsburg
Peaches Shrimp and Crab
Formerly known as Marietta, this Peaches sibling has turned its attention to exclusively to shellfish—most notably, liberally-spiced, Deep South-inflected seafood boils, brimming with shrimp, crabs, mussels, clams, corn and andouille sausage.
285 Grand Ave., Clinton Hill
Twin Suns
While the house-brewed switchel seems intrinsically Brooklyn, the sandwich menu skews decidedly New Orleans, from a beef and gravy po’boy sided with Zapp’s famous chips, to massive muffaletta’s—rounds of sopressata, mortadella, provolone and olive salad—served by the whole, half or quarter.
244 Nimrod St., Bushwick
Belle Shoals
Williamsburg’s year-old juke joint (its prized possession is a vintage Wurlitzer, cranking out blues and soul 45’s) exudes bourbon-soaked Southern hospitality, slinging jalapeno hush puppies, peanut old fashioneds, and “Sunday tea” spiked with peach moonshine.
10 Hope St., Williamsburg
