Why go: First-time restaurateurs Bryan and Melissa Crosswhite have created a shrine to their native Louisiana. The clapboard house with creaking floors could be on Bourbon Street, and the cooking is centered around a family recipe collection that dates back eight generations.
What to get: Ground pork and rice rolled into rounds and fried; oyster po’ boy served on Leidenheimer bread; crawfish étouffée; beignets shipped from the New Orleans institution Café du Monde.
Best for: A quick lunch before or after shopping at the outlets; satisfying a comfort-food craving.
Insider tip: Lunch specials abound: A po’ boy with beignets is $8.95; add a cup of gumbo and it’s $12.95; upgrade to the fried-oyster or -crawfish sandwich and the special is $15.
>> See all 2010 Cheap Eats restaurants here
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
