If you plan on eating at Mother's, which you must, you'll have to familiarize yourself with their dictionary first. (Yes, they literally provide one for you on the menu.) The scraps of roast beef that fall into the gravy while it's baking in the oven? Well, that's "debris" (pronounced day-bris). When they serve it on fresh French bread, you've got yourself a debris po-boy. Get it "dressed," and they'll add shredded cabbage, pickles, mayo, and Creole and yellow mustard. A N'awlins institution, this is the place to go for some of the best Cajun and Southern soul food you'll ever have, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mother's has been serving its famous po-boys since 1938, so it has an extensive history to boot. Don't leave without trying the bread pudding. Kids menu. Full bar. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
Where the Locals Eat Rating
Best Home-Style
Top 100 Restaurant, New Orleans
"Mother's Restaurant opened its doors in 1938 . . . [cooking] up po-boys for lines of longshoremen and laborers, newspapermen and attorneys. . . . In 1986, Jerry and John Amato bought Mother's . . . [and] doubled the already dizzying size of the menu. Now traditional New Orleans dishes like jambalaya and Shrimp Creole line up next to the po-boys that Mother's made famous."
–Mother's website
"The word ‘lean' shouldn't be used to describe the meat – this is Mother's, after all – but the added fat is added luxury."
–Gambit
"You won't eat better anywhere in New Orleans; and for us, the savor of these meals is accented by the fact that they are doled out cafeteria-style to working people as well as to high rollers, at about one-tenth the price of the city's more self-important culinary Meccas."
–Michael Stern, Roadfood.com
"It has long lines and zero atmosphere, but who cares when faced with a Famous Ferdi Special: a giant roll filled with baked ham (the homemade house specialty), roast beef, gravy, and debris (the bits of beef that fall off when the roast is carved)?"
–Frommer's
How Others Rate Mother's
Zagat 2009
22 Food Quality (very good to excellent)
The New Orleans Menu by Tom Fitzmorris
*** (good enough to go out of your way to try)
Frommer's
** (very highly recommended)