Mara's Homemade

(Credit: Courtesy Mara's Homemade)

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It's best if everyone at the table is in on the crawfish boil, that way it's done properly—Cajun-style, live, with a pot and plenty of corn, kielbasa and red potatoes. That's only the start at this small and colorful, Southern, family-run barbeque joint in the East Village, where everyday is Fat Tuesday and Hurricanes do more damage as drinks than downpours. The hardscrabble, fiercely authentic menu storms through Louisiana with cornmeal-dusted alligator bites and baked oysters topped with spicy shrimp and sherry sauce (the seafood is frequently flown in from the Bayou), as well as Arkansas with slow-mesquite-smoked, spice-rubbed meats like pulled pork and ribs. It gets messy.

Update: And now with NFL and college football on their new HD TVs! They open one hour before the games on Saturdays and Sundays, with a full menu and football specials on brisket and pork, and a handful of new draught beers. LSU, OU, Saints and Cowboys fans: This is a very safe space for you.

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East Village restaurants, New York restaurants, American restaurants, Barbecue restaurants, Cajun/creole restaurants, Seafood restaurants, Soul food restaurants, American traditional and classic restaurants