Restaurants in Metairie

Nacho Mama's recently opened Gentilly taqueria illustrates the local chain's commitment to fresh preparations of classic Mexican chow with the occasional southern twist. Its extensive menu is stuffed to the gills with a hearty assemblage of fajitas, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and more. Decorate freshly fried corn chips with a homemade dip such as tropical salsa ($5) or white queso ($5) before trying a nontraditional offering like the Mexicali shrimp wrap, a spinach tortilla stuffed with fajita shrimp, fresh veggies, cheese, and ranch dressing ($9). Skeptics who need to witness the miracle of cooking with their own eyes to believe their fragrance-filled noses can order the skirt steak ($16) or portobello mushroom ($14) fajitas, partnered with grilled onions and peppers on a plate of sizzling romantic tension. House favorites include Carla's cheesy chimichanga, a queso-covered, deep-fried tortilla stuffed with cheese and chicken or ground beef ($11). Less fried and cheesified fare arrives in the form of baked burritos, including the southern-style sweet and spicy barbecue pork burrito ($10.50), which arrives outfitted in layers of crinoline and corsetry.

For more than 30 years, Star Steak and Lobster House's doorman Joey has been opening the restaurant's door to fill the French Quarter sidewalks with the aromas of aged USDA prime steaks and buttery lobster. After passing through the entryway, patrons can take their seats at sleek wooden tables to share Cajun gator sausage with creole sauce and housemade Louisiana crab cakes glazed with crawfish and mushroom cream sauce. Signature dinner entrees include slow-roasted prime rib and the Cajun filet mignon stuffed with crab, lobster, shrimp, and crawfish tails. To complement the food's lively flavors, every Wednesday through Sunday night bands perform jazz, blues, and classic rock tunes while bartenders mix black-cherry-peach mojitos and pour pint glasses of beer into other pint glasses until infinity is achieved.

It's no small feat to whip up one of The Olive Branch Café's gourmet pizzas. The painstaking process begins long before lunchtime, with chefs preparing dough fresh for the day each morning. There's barely a moment to rest before orders begin flying in and the pizza makers spring into action, showering crusts with housemade sauces and high-quality cheeses. Their brows furrowed in concentration, their hands blurs, they layer pizzas with fresh garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and fine spanish olives. Once the pies arrive triumphantly to the dining room, the chefs turn their attention to thick muffuletta subs, plump meatball calzones, and the jambalaya pastas that caught the attention of Gambit’s Best of New Orleans guide.

Out in the casual dining room, beneath warm red walls peppered with abstract art, guests clink glasses, feeling more content than a robot in a microchip factory. There, owner Russell "Rusty" Autry often strolls around the room, greeting newcomers and exchanging jokes with regulars.

That’s A Wrap’s chef John Evangelista is a self-confessed control freak. To craft dishes he truly stands behind, he has to be involved in every step in the process. He and his staff brines whole turkey breasts for 24 hours, bakes hams in a special glaze of honey and brown sugar, and slow-roasts briskets dry-rubbed and marinated overnight. In John’s kitchen, no vegetables ever feel the chill of a freezer, arriving to be cut and washed every morning. The kitchen’s meticulous prep work pays off. The eatery’s wraps and sandwiches are imbued with fresh flavors devoid of preservatives and MSG. Specialty wraps such as Classic Club—a bundle of baked ham, Cajun turkey, bacon, and cheddar—pair with smoothies blended from fruits such as pineapples, mangos, strawberries, and snozberries. Flavors of steaming, housemade stew rotate daily, and salads drizzled in housemade dressing augment the roster.

Featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Katie’s Restaurant & Bar’s head chef and native New Orleanian Scot Craig celebrates traditional and modern creole dishes at the nearly 30-year-old establishment. Cochon de lait plays a key role in the cuisine, and for good reason: Chef Craig spends hours rubbing down the pork with dry-spice rub, reading it pig-themed nursery rhymes, and then smoking it to a luscious finish in the small smoker behind the restaurant. You’ll find the tender pork atop a Brooklyn-style stone-baked pizza, which was Lauded by Best of New Orleans as “hard to resist.” It also dons Tabasco mayo in the restaurant's barge-sized po' boys, and weekends finds the meat sitting daintily atop a poached egg and English muffin drenched in hollandaise.

A pet-friendly eatery, Café Freret serves four-legged friends treats and water as their owners chow on an eclectic menu of seafood gumbo, miniature eggrolls, and assorted Louisiana sausages. The café also handles catering orders, supplying hosts with mini po’ boys, mini muffuletta sandwiches, and trays stocked with fruit and cheese.