Sandwiches.
Uptown: 2533 Constance. 504-899-2054. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously seven days.
Very Casual
AE MC V
Website
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
This is the cultural center of the Irish Channel, whose major contribution to local color is the street-jamming party all St. Patrick's Day. This has done nothing but grow each year. However, even in the absence of that this old joint would be noteworthy for some of the best poor boy sandwiches in the city. Those rebounded in quality after a change of management brought
WHY IT'S GOOD
The essence of a Parasol's poor boy is something you experience before it even arrives at the table. It takes longer to come out than you expect, because they make them all to order. That adds a noticeable quality increment. This is not a thrown-together sandwich. The roast beef and its gravy are cooked in house, and the fried seafood is still searing hot when it arrives. As all of that should be.
BACKSTORY
There were neighborhood bar/cafes on the corner of Third and Constance long before Charlie Parasol hung up his shingle in 1952. The old frame structure has never been aggressively renovated, and retains the look such places had for most of the last century. People came to places like this all over town to get out of the house and to drink, in that order. You sell more drinks when there's food. But every bar back then had food, so it had to be good if a place were to survive. Parasol's survived; most of its like have not.
DINING ROOM
The bar is in front, the dining room is in the back. It's all pleasingly old and worn.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
Poor boy sandwiches:
Roast beef.
Fried oyster or shrimp or catfish.
Hamburger.
Hot sausage.
Fried or grilled chicken.
Corned beef.
~
Other sandwiches:
Tuna salad on toast.
Grilled cheese.
BLT.
~
Buffalo chicken wings.
Onion rings.
Fried seafood platters.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Get a beer or a drink while waiting for your sandwich. You'll have plenty of time to finish at least one. St. Patrick's Day is not a good day to eat here.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The dining room can get more than a little messy in the middle of the rush.
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 -1
- Value +2
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar
- Hipness -2
- Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Open Sunday lunch and dinner
- Open Monday lunch and dinner
- Open all afternoon
- Historic
- Unusually large servings
- Easy, nearby parking
This review was updated with new information on December 15, 2009.
A list of all 300 full, current reviews is here.