One of the most popular of casual French Quarter restaurants. Visitors and locals alike line up in the restaurant's narrow, alley-like entryway as they wait to be seated. Daunting as the line might be on weekends, the wait is worth it--especially at lunch. Like many of the older buildings in the French Quarter, the Gumbo Shop's brick entrance area opens up into a leafy courtyard accented with bright red and orange bougainvillea. Because of its confined space, this isn't a restaurant to have cozy conversation; diners are practically on top of each other.

The food here isn't groundbreaking, but it's good local cuisine done right. Hot bread and gumbo are offered, of course, but the menu also includes a great shrimp sandwich (boiled, not fried), jambalaya, crawfish

The History
New Orleans is a Mecca of culinary temptations and as a native I wouldn’t want it any other way. Temptation and atonement are part of our culture. With religious roots that are primarily Catholic, thanks to our French founders, the church affects our calendar in a rather unique way: we celebrate Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the final day of feasting before 40 days of Lent. The traditional abstinence from meat during this time leading up to Easter means that we have to “sacrifice” by enjoying the bounty from nearby waters: fish, shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico, crabs from Lake Pontchatrain, and crawfish from area swamplands.

New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718 and named after the regent, the Duke d’Orleans. Passed to the Spanish for a while, it went back to France long enough for Napoleon to sell it to a fledgling United States of America in 1803.

In New Orleans, the French influence over local cooking was just the beginning. Throughout the years African slaves were often the cooks. Through one of the nation’s busiest ports have come new citizens from Germany, Ireland, the French Caribbean Islands, Italy, Greece, Croatia and more recently, Asia. The Choctaw Indians were already living in this swampy mosquito-infested piece of land, below sea level and shaped like a crescent on the Mississippi River. They introduced powdered sassafras or file_ which they called “kombo” to settlers as a staple for one of many styles of the indigenous soup we call gumbo – from the African word “kingumbo” meaning the vegetable okra. A gumbo usually contains either file_ or okra as a thickener. Just as gumbo is a blend of many cultures, so is the origin of the word. However, the base of most gumbos is “roux” – flour and fat with seasonings that is browned to provide an almost nutty flavor. more...