Breakfast. Neighborhood Cafe.
Warehouse District: 1016 Annunciation. 504-250-4460. Map.
Breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday.
Very Casual
AE DC DS MC V
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
Deanie's is an excellent breakfast and lunch cafe for the Warehouse District, serving a traditional array of corner-cafe New Orleans food in a clean, attractive dining room. The food is good, the prices are astonishingly low, and they can surprise you with their specials.
WHY IT'S GOOD
They cook everything from scratch at Deanie's, from the homemade biscuits in the morning to the sometimes adventuresome lunch specials. They buy good ingredients, too; one lunch, I had a fine grilled pompano here for under ten dollars. The beans and the pasta sauce and a few other items are in the steam tables, but for the most part they still cook most things to order. The cafe's heritage as a workingman's restaurant lives on in the trencherman's portions.
BACKSTORY
Deanie's opened in the 1960s in what was a heavy industrial area. Its customers were guys in overalls and some white-collar workers, fromt eh same factories. They came in for breakfast, red beans, fried seafood, plate specials laden with gravy and potatoes, and poor boys. Deanie's hung on as the factories closed, but saw a new clientele forming. The warehouses became apartments and hotels, full of people looking to eat real New Orleans home cooking--which Deanie's continued to cook. Phyllis Accardo took over Deanie's from her mother a few years ago, and renovated it into a sharp-looking cafe in the 1990s. But the menu and prices remained much the same. There never has been any connection between this Deanie's and the seafood restaurant of the same name in Bucktown.
DINING ROOM
Tall ceilings, big windows, and an Art Deco look make for better surroundings than one usually finds at these prices. The setup is that of a small cafeteria, complete with trays you push along as you check out the day's fare.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
Biscuits.
Basic breakfasts.
Omelettes.
Poor boy sandwiches.
Daily lunch specials.
Seafood specials.
Bread pudding.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Don't be suspicious that seem overly ambitious at these prices. They really do pull them off.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
If I didn't know that Phyllis runs this place hands-on from the early morning hours, I'd suggest that they open for dinner once in awhile.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment +1
- Consistency +1
- Service
- Value +3
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar
- Hipness
- Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Good for business meetings
- Open Monday lunch
- Unusually large servings
- Quick, good meal
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- No reservations
This review was updated with new information on 11/4/2009.
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