The votes have been coming in, and our NOLA.com gumbo bracket is down to two contenders: Gabrielle Restaurant and Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe.
They’re the finalists as determined by you, the gumbo-loving public, tallied after hundreds of thousands of votes through successive rounds of our bracket.
On the surface, people may think that these two finalists are very different. But the two share a common bond in wanting to serve the best possible product with an emphasis on family. Plus these two neighborhood spots are roughly a mile away from each other.
I went to both restaurants and tried all of the gumbos the two spots offer.
Below, there’s a little background on each and my assessment. Voting in the poll closes Monday at noon.
Gabrielle Restaurant (2441 Orleans Ave.): Chef Greg Sonnier and his wife Mary Sonnier originally opened Gabrielle Restaurant in 1992 on Esplanade Avenue, but closed after Hurricane Katrina. After a 12-year hiatus, the family restaurant returned, this time with the couple’s then-toddler and now-adult daughter, Gabrielle Sonnier-Prudhomme, holding an active role in the operation.
In a blue-and-yellow building, Greg Sonnier’s dishes continue to delight diners who enter the warm dining room with string lights overhead.
Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe (1500 Esplanade Ave.): The Baquet family has been cooking food around New Orleans for generations. The current owners of Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe, Arkesha and Wayne Baquet Jr., took over from father Wayne Baquet Sr., who decided to retire in 2020.
Baquet Sr. opened Li’l Dizzy’s in 2005 after a legacy of family restaurants that allowed for the recipes that customers can taste to this day.
Chelsea Shannon’s gumbo thoughts
Gabrielle Restaurant (smoked gumbo $15; seafood gumbo $16)
I sat beside the window and glanced at the construction on Orleans Avenue while munching on bread awaiting my two bowls of gumbo. The gumbo at Gabrielle changes slightly with what’s fresh and available, but generally you can get seafood or smoked gumbo.
The smoked gumbo featured poultry and house-made sausage. The dark, rich gumbo definitely drew from the smoked poultry, and the sausage contained bits of apple and sage, giving it a bit of sweetness.
Sonnier-Prudhomme shared with me that her husband says this is his favorite restaurant gumbo, and it’s not the same as what she would make at home. I would have to agree. This is not what I was expecting when I was thinking of the homestyle gumbo I am used to, but I would definitely order it again.
The seafood gumbo, on the other hand had a more traditional taste, with crawfish, shrimp and crab.
Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe (gumbo $9.50)
Every bite of this gumbo reminds me of family gatherings where a bowl was served — whether it was just at home and my mom made it for just the four of us, or my sister’s godmother’s cousin made it for a rehearsal dinner where too many people were shoved into a small space with a large pot.
Each bite was filled with either ham, shrimp or house-made hot sausage. I occasionally took a break to crack into the crab. As I sit and look around at the walls of this space, I feel like the taste of this family’s history lingers in my mouth.
Most people in the cafe are silent; a few hum to the music in the background and some share their thoughts on the food that they are devouring. Renee Rolland had been showing her friends visiting from North Carolina around the city. She leaned over to make sure I knew her friend Kawann Short said the gumbo at Li’l Dizzy’s felt like it hugged him back.
