Cooter Brown's - New Orleans, LA

Cooter Brown's Tavern

509 S. Carrollton Ave. (St. Charles Ave.)

New Orleans, LA 70118

www.cooterbrowns.com

504-866-9104

Cooter Brown's is another one of those restaurants / sports bars that I lived three and a half blocks away from, and saw me, a lot.  Thankfully I was addicted to their raw oysters, else I'd truly be in trouble if I partook in their fried food fare as well as often as I did their oysters and beer.

Cooter's is unique in a sports bar is that the amount of varieties of beer that they serve is staggering.  Grocery store style full length glass window refrigerators line three whole walls full of different kinds of beers, as well as standard national chains in standard under the bar fridges.  If you wanted beer, and a different type of beer every beer you drank for year, you came here.  I tried, and failed to have every kind of beer available here, and I had time.

They serve fried foods, and fried seafood restaurant fare and sides, including some pretty damn good onion rings.  Everything is fresh battered and fried to order, and comes out hot and crispy, and leaking oil.  Delish.

I usually try to stay away from fried oysters in a place that serves raw oysters mainly because of the thought that they deep fry the oysters that are going to spoil, but the turnaround at Cooter's is fast enough that I don't think they have this problem.  Either case, the fried oysters?  Prima.  Still a waste though, because I come here to drink and eat raw oysters.

The raw oysters.  Cheap, large, fresh, deliciously tasty.  Gulf coast raw oysters is the reason why I don't really eat raw oysters from other harvest sites.  They're just that much more tasty.  They've been filtering all the crap coming down the Mississippi for decades, and they are to die for.  Get the cocktail sauce ready, get the horseradish mixed in.  Get the tobacco sauce ready, and order them by the dozen.  There's nothing like eating them with your friends over great laughs by the dozen.  (or hell, without, for that matter, there are always new friends to be made at Cooter's).

Don't forget to make your first raw oyster an oyster shooter!

PS.  What?  You don't know what an oyster shooter is?  Shame on you!  Shot or two of chilled pepper vodka in a large shot glass or small tumbler, with enough room left over for an oyster and a bit.  Prepare oyster like you would a regular raw oyster, but with almost double the amount of horseradish.  Drop it in like a car bomb, give it a quick second swirl, and down the hatch!  A start to a great night!