New Orleans, LA – R & O Restaurant

Back in the day, a part of the Lake (Ponchartrain) front in New Orleans was called “Bucktown.” I’ll leave it to you to find out why. Bucktown had bars, restaurants, businesses that catered to the fishing fleet parked on the shore. Today, Bucktown is mostly made up of the Corps of Engineers Levee (now, new and improved!), and a few restaurants have survived.

About the only one with a sense of longevity and continuity, is the R&O, which says on the front of the building “Restaurant and Catering” and says on the menu “Pizza Restaurant.”

Identity crisis? In fact “no,” and most people go to R&O for boiled and fried seafood platters, piled high with local goodness – oysters, crawfish, shrimp, crabs, fish.

Used to be the restaurants here would take the seafood right out of the Lake, but these days, product comes from around the local region.

In addition to the seafood, R&O has a complete Italian dinner menu, sandwiches and pizzas, so it’s pretty high on the family dining list, with something to please most every one. And since it’s an oyster outlet (down here we say “er-ster”, tho), there is always an ample supply of saltines on the table to shut up those rugrats ankle biters.

But I go for the pizza. To my tastes, it’s one of the best in New Orleans, which is not exactly pizza heaven, despite the large influence of Italians in the region, and a great many excellent Italian restaurants.

In fact “pizza” and “dearth” go together here, in my mind.

R&O’s has a great thin crust, bubbly/chewy on the rim, crispy inside, cooked on a standard gas two-decker, like Blodgett or Baker’s Pride (I didn’t peek).

New Orleans is a great town to get Italian sausage, and the hand-pulled chunks on R&O’s pizza are no exception. Excellent texture, seasonings, and cooked to perfection. Real cheese and a mild red sauce (here we call it “red gravy”) bind it all together. The cheese melds together so well, that if you attempt to remove a slice immediately after the pizza has been served, that cheese is going to pull away. Wait a minute! The whole experience will go better.

During the seven years I lived here, I searched uptown, downtown, all around for a good pizza, and R&O became my consistent choice.


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New Orleans Pizza

4 comments to “New Orleans, LA – R & O Restaurant”
4 comments to “New Orleans, LA – R & O Restaurant”
  1. Ughh just watched mystery diner and cant believe you hired dee dee back.If anyone is wondering what im talking about; I have to let u know that the owners niece was upset with a customer and tainted his food by rubbing it underneath her breast. I am disgusted that he would een bring her back and take the risk of it happening again. Please do not eat from this place. U just never know what they will do to ur meal. GROSS!!!

  2. Ughh just watched mystery diner and cant believe you hired dee dee back.If anyone is wondering what im talking about; I have to let u know that the owners niece was upset with a customer and tainted his food by rubbing it underneath her breast. I am disgusted that he would een bring her back and take the risk of it happening again. Please do not eat from this place. U just never know what they will do to ur meal. GROSS!!!

  3. I can’t believe that fat disrespectful gross slob is there again. I would highly recommend not going to this place at all. She taints food and is so immature DEE DEE . She is like that fat bully you hated in high school.

  4. I can’t believe that fat disrespectful gross slob is there again. I would highly recommend not going to this place at all. She taints food and is so immature DEE DEE . She is like that fat bully you hated in high school.

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