St. Bernard Parish starts where New Orleans ends and runs downriver into the marshes that supply the city’s seafood, which means the restaurants out here sit closer to the boats than anything in the Quarter does.
1. Rocky & Carlo’s, Chalmette
Tommy Tommaseo opened this place on April 24, 1965 with his brother Rocky and his brothers-in-law Carlo, Mario, and Giuseppe Gioe. The families came out of a Sicilian immigrant community so tied to the old country that a man born in Chalmette might go back to Italy for a decade. Sixty years later the same family runs it, and the building has survived hurricanes, floods, and a serious fire in 2012.
Service runs cafeteria style. Customers walk the line and pick from a menu that mixes Italian, Cajun, and Southern cooking, with pork chops and greens, braciola, veal parmesan, stuffed peppers, muffulettas, baked chicken, fried shrimp, fried oysters, and soft-shell crab. The gumbo gets thickened with okra.
The famous item is the baked macaroni and cheese, made from scratch daily on perciatelli noodles and served plain or under red or brown gravy. Tommy arrives at 6 a.m. to boil enough pasta for dozens of pans. Portions are large enough that takeout boxes wait by the front door. The restaurant sits at 613 W. St. Bernard Hwy, open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Call (504) 279-8323.
2. Penny’s Cafe, Violet
Penny opened this cafe in July 1997 to cook Southern food for the parish, and it still runs as a family operation. Regulars describe getting to know the waitresses and cooks after a couple of visits…