Eating while riding on horseback was pioneered by the efficient Mongols, who also adjusted to reading, receiving haircuts, and filling out their taxes atop their four-legged mobiles. Enjoy the convenience of chairs and tables with today’s Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of quality comfort food and drinks at Katie's Restaurant and Bar in Mid-City.

Katie's gratifies guests with an eclectic menu stocked with serious sandwiches, gourmet pizza, and other casually artful fare seasoned with local flavor. Ward off bouts of hunger hiccups with a starter of cheese fries ($5.95), served with or without debris gravy. Or skip the taters but keep their aerodynamic design with the equally linear eggplant fries, plated with marinara, bleu cheese, or ranch sauce ($6.95). Up the appetite ante with a crab-cake po' boy ($11.95), or grab a friend and a friend's shadow-puppet theater troupe to tackle the Barge, a full loaf of French bread loaded with a cargo of either shrimp, catfish, oysters, or all three ($24.95; serves 2–4 people). Specialty pizzas such as the Atchafalaya, laden with seafood, peppers, and Tabasco marinara ($15), are baked in a Brooklyn-style stone pizza oven, giving you all the flavor of New York's friendliest borough without having to confront your fear of Jackie Gleason's ghost. A Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. helps put off thoughts of the coming workweek by overloading brains with flavor impulses.

A neighborhood institution for more than 25 years, Katie's provides a casual environment where patrons can relax and concentrate on using their telepathy to put out forest fires. Have a seat in the wood-paneled bar area to sip on one of Katie's numerous tap selections, or simply order up a martini and quiz strangers on the details of your personal history.

Reviews

The Best of New Orleans Blog featured Katie’s Restaurant and Bar. Eighty-eight percent of thirty-four Urbanspooners recommend the restaurant and nearly 520 Facebookers are fans of the business.

• That kitchen once again prepares the familiar mix of local seafood and red-sauce Italian dishes, but there’s a lot more on the menu now, including deli sandwiches (like a Reuben), offbeat po-boys (like fried shrinp [sic] with crabmeat dressing on French) and specialty pizzas (like the Boudreaux, topped with cochon de lait, garlic and spinach). – Ian McNulty, Best of New Orleans
• I have already had the chance to go to Katie's twice since it has reopened. Both times have been great. We have tried all kinds of things including: hamburger steak, the new pizzas, salads, spaghetti & meatballs...all have been great. – Smudgi, Urbanspoon