My favorite story about Uglesich's sums up the classic impressions of the place very quickly. A nice older lady called up food critic Tom Fitzmorris' radio program and told him she wanted to take a couple of friends from out of town to some place in New Orleans that would be a bit of an adventure. Tom suggested Uglesich's. I chuckled as I drove along, thinking what a group of unsuspecting senior citizens would think of the place when they got there.
You see, Uglesich’s is a dump. Now, here in New Orleans, there are dumps and then there are dumps. Uglesich's is the standard by which all other dumps in town are measured. Located on the corner of Baronne and Erato (1238 Baronne), the Uglesich family has been making some of the best seafood sandwiches and plates here since 1924. Uglesich's has some great food, but it’s still a dump. The neighborhood around the place has really gone down the drain. Time and the expressway leading up to the Crescent City Connection bridge (over the Mississippi River) have separated the "central city" section of town from the Central Business District (CBD), and the housing projects around the neighborhood have encroached to the point where this is really not a very safe area to be in at night. Daytime's no big deal, however, as the crowds at lunch time at Uglesich's will testify. The restaurant fits into the dilapidated neighborhood quite nicely. The exterior hasn't been painted in 24 years, and it looks it. We New Orleanians pride ourselves on preferring less atmosphere in favor of better food and lower prices, but Uglesich's carries this to an extreme.
The bar runs down the left-hand side of the building from the door, long enough for about 6 or 7 people to stand at it. It then turns right for another eight feet or so, which is the oyster bar. The station for the oyster shucker is very important at Uglesich's, since freshness is very important to making this work. I stopped in relatively late (1:15), and the place was still pretty crowded. There were three parties ahead of me waiting to get one of the ten tables, all of which were occupied. Mrs. Gail Uglesich was working the bar with her husband, Mr. Anthony, and she took my order for an oyster po-boy, full sized. I also ordered a Barq's to drink. The menu is relatively easy to read, since it consists of a bunch of signs on the wall. There's a bit of a system to ordering and getting seated at Uglesich's when the place is crowded (and it always is): you place your order at the bar, then move up along the bar as tables clear and the people in line sit down. When you hit the end of the bar, you're up for a table. Since everything is cooked to order here, there's not much chance that your food will be ready before you sit down. This leaves you plenty of time to contemplate the decor behind the bar, which consists mainly of old plastic Falstaff beer trays mounted on the wall. This is a great place to listen in and absorb some New Orleans culture. Uglesich's is so small that there's no way you're going to have a private conversation. After about twenty minutes or so, a few tables cleared out, and I was able to sit down. My sandwich was about another twenty minutes in coming out from the kitchen after that. Most of the delay was because the place is small and it was crowded, but some of it was from some out-of-town woman who ordered a plate and what came out of the kitchen wasn't what she expected. It was a broiled fish dish, perhaps Trout Anthony (I was curious, but not so nosy that I was going to stick my nose in the plate!) I have no idea what she thought was wrong, but the chef actually came out from the kitchen to talk to her about it. The food looked OK to me. Anyway, once that was settled and the people who ordered ahead of me were served, my oyster po-boy came out.
I'm a firm believer that life is too short to wait long periods of time for food. That's one of the reasons I refused to eat at K-Paul's until he started taking reservations. I'm particularly fussy about this at lunch time, and am downright irascible if the lunch in question is a po- boy. With the exception of Uglesich's, of course. Oysters for a po-boy at Uglesich's are all but shucked to order. They don't leave the oyster bar until they're ready to cook your food. When the plate is set down in front of you, steam rises from the sandwich because it's that hot. There's ketchup on the table, but it would be a sin to cover oysters so perfectly breaded with such a condiment. Uglesich's puts out both Tabasco and Crystal hot sauces on the tables. This gives it a special place in my heart, because I don't care at all for Tabasco on prepared food. I prefer Crystal on sandwiches, red beans, etc., leaving Tabasco as a spice for cooking. Like any good po-boy place in town, Uglesich's uses high-quality french bread for their sandwiches, warmed just a bit. Chased with a cold Barq's and you get a truly platonic meal.
And it better be, because there surely isn't any ambiance. The floor's concrete, the bar is covered with sheet metal, the tables and chairs are all old wood, and the plates are low-rent. So what. The food rivals Galatoire's. Since I was by myself, I passed on extras such as onion rings (large, beer-battered) or french fries (big, fresh-cut). The portions are just too large for one person and are best enjoyed split among two or three.
Service at Uglesich's is haphazard. There's only one waiter/bus- boy/jack-of-all-trades working the tables. He gets a bit of help from the guy behind the oyster bar, but the oyster shucker's got duties of his own. Miss Gail is behind the bar taking orders, and Mr. Anthony rotates in-between the front and the back. I paid Mrs. Uglesich when I ordered, so I didn't have to wait for the check when I was finished. I'd advise you to do the same, since trying to get back through to the bar to settle up can be difficult. My sandwich and drink, plus tax, came to $8.77, and I left a buck-fifty for a tip. As po-boy lunches go, this is on the high side, but not out of bounds. Mother's sandwiches are in the $6-$7 range these days. Plates at Uglesich's run around $10 (Trout Anthony and Shrimp Gail, the house specialties are $9.75 each). Many uninitiated visitors are shocked by the prices, mainly because they don't expect that level in such a dump.
Uglesich's is open for lunch (the posted hours are 11:00am-4:00pm) Monday through Friday. I overheard Mr. Anthony saying that they were going to experiment with opening up on the first Saturday of each month, to accommodate the requests from regulars to open on weekends. If you're in town on the first Saturday of the month, give a call and they might be open. Dress is casual, of course, in typical New Orleans fashion. Cash only, no credit cards.
Getting to Uglesich's: From the Quarter, Baronne St. is what Dauphine St. turns into when it crosses Canal (just like Bourbon turns into Carondelet and Royal into St. Charles). While twelve blocks off of Canal doesn't sound all that far away, the neighborhood is really pretty seedy. It's not a twelve-block walk you'd do for a mid-morning stroll. Catch the St. Charles streetcar to Erato, then walk the three blocks down, or better still, take a car or cab straight to the restaurant. If you're a seafood lover, or just an admirer of things that are completely New Orleans, you'll enjoy Uglesich's.
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