Gumbo at Gumbo Bros
1. Gumbo Bros
It’s a bit of a “duh” to tell you to celebrate Mardi Gras at Gumbo Bros. You know the multiyear winner of Best Cajun in the Scene’s Best of Nashville readers’ poll is a solid choice. However, you may not know all the ways they’re doing Carnival right.
Starting Friday, the decked-out Gulch shop will serve specials including crawfish queso, jambalaya, blackened alligator and pecan praline pudding. You can wash it all down with a King Cake Bushwacker or a West Bank Espresso Martini — both of which sound enticing, scary and a little bit gross, just like Mardi Gras!
If you want to take the party home, order gumbo to go. (Note to PR people: Stop trying to make “2 Geaux” happen. It’s not going to happen.) As our own Margaret Littman pointed out, all three gumbos are good, so you can’t go wrong, especially when you can tack on a whole King Cake from FatBelly Deli. (See No. 2.)
Fun fact: When you hear someone talk about "the Westbank of New Orleans" you may wonder why it’s called that. Technically, the area is the western bank of the Mississippi River — despite the fact that it will be east of you when you’re there. Can you imagine the shitshow that would ensue if we tried to call East Nashville the West Bank? If you don’t love that kind of non-logic logic, New Orleans is not for you.
Useful fact: Can’t eat a whole King Cake at home?
Don’t go to New Orleans — you are not ready.
Order it by the slice at Gumbo Bros.
The Hot Muff at FatBelly
2. FatBelly Deli
Muffalettas are overrated. I’m sure the original — created in 1906 by Sicilian Salvatore Lupo at his New Orleans deli — was epic. But most varieties don’t stack up. The bread is soggy. The giardiniera’s bland. Or the height makes it impossible to eat without dislocating your jaw. Levon Wallace’s is the exception.
At FatBelly Deli, Wallace layers Tennessee smoked bologna, spicy capicola, Genoa salami, Swiss and provolone. Then he smears the sesame-pretzel bun with piquant giardiniera and crunchy, salty veggie-and-olive salad. Then — if the patron is wise — he toasts it. This is critical. Not only does it crisp up the bread and unlock the richness of the deli meat, but it also turns the cheese into melty, pull-apart goodness. And that’s how you get the sexiest sandwich of Carnival season: The Hot Muff.
Fun fact: The name “muffaletta” (also spelled "muffuletta") is thought to be a riff on the Italian word “muffe,” which means “mold” or “mushroom.” Since the muffaletta’s round bread looks a bit like a mushroom cap, the Sicilian slang stuck.
Useful fact: Did you know FatBelly opens at 9 a.m.? And they’re open every day but Sunday? I did not, but I will not forget it (especially now that I’ve seen their breakfast menu). While you’re there, check out “Yesterday’s Bakes'' for discount pastries and the cold case for Mardi-Gras-inspired goodies like King-Cake Cold Brew.
Spicy Boy’s Shrimp Po’Boy
3. Spicy Boy’s
Spicy Boy’s is always party-ready. Beads hang in trees above their St.-Charles style patio year-round in East Nashville, and gumbo is always on tap. This Mardi Gras, they broke out their Cajun bona fides early. Their first Carnival party was Jan. 6, and their Fat Tuesday celebration is so stout it starts Saturday.
From noon to 10 p.m., they’ll have boiled shrimp by the pound — crawfish season is late this year — which you can chase with King Cake or their award-winning Painkillers. They’ll also be streaming the parades from New Orleans for maximum atmosphere. Just remember: The people on the floats can’t actually see you to throw beads, so keep your top on.
(Un)fun fact: This year’s crawfish crop is late and tenuous due to the extremely high temperatures and unprecedented drought in Louisiana back in the summer. In addition, crawfish producers are still fighting the intrusion of saltwater into freshwater marshes and bayous. Here’s to hoping that what doesn’t kill mudbugs makes them bigger.
Useful fact: If you haven’t read this Date Night column by Danny Bonvissuto on Spicy Boy’s, you must. Not only does it start with a neighborhood dad faking his own death, but it also offers great advice: Get a snowball at [sister restaurant] Icy Boy’s, walk it back over to Spicy Boy’s and get a $5 well floater on top from the bar. That’s true NOLA-style knowhow.
Enrico, the wood-fire oven at Nicky's
4. Nicky’s 💜’s NOLA
How do you make Valentine’s Day actually fun? Make it Mardi Gras instead.
With Fat Tuesday falling on Feb. 13, Nicky’s Coal Fired is paying homage to the Crescent City the next night with a pre-fixe Valentine’s menu. Not only does this make ordering easy, but it also gives you something to talk about in case you’re the lone schmuck who’s still taking someone they don’t know out on the highest-pressure night of the year.
Seatings are open for 6 and 8:30 p.m., and for $75 per person you get:
Coal-roasted oysters with Tasso, parmesan cream and charred leeks
Little gem caesar with blackened shrimp and focaccia croutons
Baked lobster cannelloni with smoky tomato-cream sauce and Grana Padano breadcrumbs
Muffuletta pizza with smoked provolone, mortadella and olive-and-roasted-pepper relish
Bananas Foster bread pudding with rum caramel and crème anglaise
Bonus: You can also order classic New Orleans drinks like the Sazerac (think Old Fashioned — but with absinthe!), a Hurricane (made with juice from the inherently romantic passion fruit), or a frozen Irish coffee à la Erin Rose (one of the French Quarter’s top three dive bars).
Fun facts (that are also useful should you need dinner conversation):
The Southern Louisiana delicacy Tasso ham — a smoked, cured meat — is actually a misnomer. “Ham” comes from the hind leg of a hog, while Tasso comes from the shoulder. However, it’s because Tasso comes from a muscle that’s constantly in use that it has such intense flavor.
Bananas Foster was invented in New Orleans in the early 1950s. The city was a hub for (the eventually quite problematic) banana importing from South Africa, and Owen Brennan’s brother ran a produce company that had too many. When Brennan asked his sister Ella to come up with a new dessert for a dinner honoring Richard Foster — the New Orleans Crime Commission chairman — she decided fire was in order. Rival restaurant Antoine’s was already famous for flambéing its Café Brûlot Diabolique (or “devilishly burned coffee”), so Ella applied that technique to a banana recipe of her mother's. The plan worked. Bananas Foster was a hit that night, though the dessert didn’t take off until it became the signature dessert for "Breakfast at Brennans” years later. Scandalous history, desserts named for crime commissioners, fire, booze for breakfast — it’s all of New Orleans’ best things in one dish.
There’s a whole mess of (boring) history about the Hurricane on Wikipedia, but the what matters is this: The fruity cousin of the daiquiri is credited to Pat O'Brien, whose speakeasy — Mr. O'Brien's Club Tipperary — required the password "storm's brewin'" to get in. In the ’40s, O'Brien needed to get rid of all of the crappy rum local distributors were sticking him with. So he mixed them with passionfruit juice, poured them into hurricane lamp–shaped glasses, and gave them to sailors. The drink caught on, and you’ll still see people drinking — and puking! — them in the French Quarter today.
Rudy's Jazz Room
5. Rudy’s Jazz Room
If you’re one of those ambitious people who plans to get romantic after dinner instead of before (which is the pro move — don’t @ me), hit Rudy’s Jazz Room.
While they will be serving NOLA-fare — crawfish étouffée, gumbo, beignets — the real attraction on Fat Tuesday is the six-piece Rougarou Band. Led by Louisiana natives Brook Sutton and Chris Walters, the band will play traditional Mardi Gras brass music and New Orleans funk à la Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Meters and Dr. John.
If, on the other hand, you must get out on Valentine’s Day itself, there is no better option than “Our Love Is Here to SLAY.” In this show, Rudy’s regular Stephanie Adlington will perform a “Collection of Love Songs and Murder Ballads.” And I think I speak for all of us when I say: You had us at “Murder Ballad.”
