Thanks to RuffRyder

At Joey's recommendation, The Girl and I tried New Orleans To Go down in the Tri-County area.

I went down to New Orleans a couple of summers ago - as the guest of the LLS - and found out that there are two types of New Orleans food. There's the streetside po boys and sidewalk beignets and open-front bar hurricanes. Then there's Emeril's NOLA, the fancy and formal version of the same foods.

There isn't a place in Cincinnati - at least not that I've found - that fits the second, more formal type of New Orleans food. Admittedly, it's not something for which I'm actively searching, but would like to think that I'm at least casually open to finding such an establishment. The closest I've found is Knotty Pine on the Bayou in Northern Kentucky, and that's not exactly formal, but it certainly is a sit-down, take an hour or more cajun restaurant.

But the first type, the cheap and quick, casual and everyday almost fast-food New Orleans is something that I've been more actively hunting - unsuccessfully - for a few years. Thanks to Joey, however, I do believe that the hunt is now over with the discovery of New Orleans To Go at the intersection of Kemper Rd and Northland Blvd.

The restaurant sits at the end of a fairly typical - if updated - strip mall, and the inside is in cuisine-appropriate green, purple, and gold with one whole wall taken up by the updated menu. The menu breaks down into po boys (crusty bread sandwiches - wider than French bread - with some fried seafood on the bread), lunches, and platters. The po boys come with waffle fries and a drink, and the owner suggests mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, and glaze on the sandwiches. In fact, when The Girl declined the mayo, the owner acted as though a stake had been driven straight into her heart, asking that The Girl at least let her butter the bread before putting the sandwich together.

The Girl didn't decline the glaze on her fried shrimp po boy, however, and I am thrilled that she didn't because that meant I got to try the glaze. Dear lord was it tasty. They actually forgot to glaze the sandwich, so they brought the glaze out in a small, plastic cup. The glaze looked like a combination of sugar syrup, white wine vinaigrette, and sweet and sour sauce. Flakes of red pepper floated in the glaze, and the taste was revelatory - sweet, hot, saucy, wonderful. We both ended up pouring it onto our seafood, and even brought the extra home for leftovers the next day.

I went for the Mardi Gras Platter - fried shrimp and fried catfish with sides of red beans and rice and sweet potato fries. The fried catfish was marvelous, nicely spiced and light while still maintaining enough weight for an excellent catfish fillet. The shrimp were wonderfully battered and fried, made even better when dipped into the glaze. The red beans and rice were thick and heavy, enough beans having broken down to make a rich gravy into which the rice had sunken. The sweet potato fries - often so easily turned chewy or burned - were thin and crispy, excellently cooked and served with a small cup of apple butter. My only complaint about the sides would be that the fries needed a little more spice - both sweet and hot - on them.

The entire meal came in just over $20 for the two of us, and we both were pleasantly full with a full fillet for me to bring home.

We'll certainly be coming back to New Orleans To Go.

Thanks, Joey, for the rec.

Now, if they would just update their online menu and website like the page says they will - by May of last year - I'd be thrilled.

Check another review if you want to hear another opinion.