Eating Gumbo At The Bar: Riverbend

This is a little post about our new, favorite remedy for a hectic day.

There’s a restaurant called Riverbend located not very far from our home and next to our favorite liquor store.  From the outside of the restaurant, you can’t tell how spacious and warm the inside is or hear the music. The owner and chef are New Orleans natives who serve what they describe as “Creole and Cajun comfort food” including po boys, jambalaya, etouffe, fried seafood, and oyster bread. Riverbend often posts their daily specials on Facebook.

The gumbo at Riverbend has become one of our new favorite comfort foods. We like to enjoy it at the bar.

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Riverbend’s Hurricane cocktail.

Each time we’ve visited, the bartenders elegantly set our places with cloth napkins and made us feel at ease. On our first visit, we ordered big bowls of gumbo and liked them so much that we returned soon after. Bowls of chicken and sausage gumbo arrive piping hot with a spoonful of rice. Jake and I can handle a lot of heat. We find the soup has a gentle slow burn. He eats it as it is and I add Crystal hot sauce.

The crawfish & corn bisque is equally delicious. Both soups taste rich and deep and compelling; far from one note. At $6.99-$7.99 per bowl, the gumbo and bisque are hearty enough to be meals, especially with the bread and butter served on the side.

At some point, we’ll explore the menu further but are really satisfied with our favorite combination. There’s something so comforting about soup and a sandwich, whether it’s a grilled cheese + tomato soup or pho and banh mi. In addition to ordering our own bowl of soup, we also split a po-boy. The po-boys are huge, but we may need to start ordering our own so we can enjoy the leftovers.

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We gravitate towards the shrimp  po-boys. Fried or BBQ are both good. One day we tried the BBQ shrimp po-boy. The shrimp were as plump and snappy as they were in the fried shrimp po boy we ordered the last time. We really liked the flavorful and slightly spicy BBQ sauce. Didn’t even miss the fried.

Riverbend should be our Cheers.

4 Comments

  1. Beth Ann Chiles

    I am so happy you found your Cheers! That food looks amazing and yes- you should order your own so you have leftovers. Those are the best!

    • Jeni

      I agree-they are almost more fun to eat than the first time around.

  2. Will@Road Tips

    Was just there for lunch a couple weeks ago and loved the gumbo and the roast beef po’ boy. Sat at the bar, too! Going to do an entry on the place in the coming weeks.

    • Jeni

      That’s fun to hear you were there too and have the same conclusion about the gumbo & po boys! There’s something so great about the vibe there.

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