New Orleans Dining Uptown Under $20

Five fun and reliable places to grab a great meal uptown

Classic diner food, plus a slew of fun omelets, excellent burgers and hash browns, and a decided lack of the "greasy spoon" kitchen mentality that can ruin the eggs. The coffee isn't gourmet, but it's bottomless and the condiments well stocked with jellies, honey, and hot sauce. The atmosphere takes casual to the level of performance art, with Xeroxed menus, constant chatter between the cooks and servers, and funky songs in the jukebox.

• 3322 Magazine St.(block from Louisiana)
• Open daily, 6 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  
• Favorite dish: the #1 sunny-side up, biscuit, browns, and bacon.
• Warning: cash only.

Tired of Mexican restaurants that make 20 dishes out of five ingredients? Juan's serves of Tex Mex with a New Orleans’ twist to celebrate variety and culinary adventure. Check out the chipotle sour cream and pineapple salsa in their Jerked Nachos, or the roasted corn and grilled squash in the Mardi Gras Indians Tacos. If you are watching the budget, though, be careful of the Petron margaritas. The menu may invoke images of chi-chi décor, but Juan’s looks and feels like a dive bar. Coffee can lamps hang over the tables, and most of the food comes in paper-lined baskets.

• 2018 Magazine St. (last block before the split)
• Mon – Thu 11-10, Fri & Sat 11-11, Sun 12 - 10
• Favorite dish: pork & slaw tacos.
• Warning: the music is loud!

With so many good Middle Eastern restaurants in the city, it’s tempting to recommend this one just on the strength of its low prices. But the food is exceptional. The cool mint of the labna, the dry spice of the lamb, the crunch and snap of the fattoush - yum! There’s the obligatory desert mural on the wall, a few non-functioning hookahs, and bare wooden tables and chairs. Some metal tables are out on the sidewalk. The staff is college girls in black tees, about half of whom actually know how to serve a table.

• 1500 S. Carrollton Ave. (near St. Charles)
• Mon - Thu 11 – 10, Fri & Sat 11 - 10:30, Sun 12 – 10
• Favorite dish: humus and lamb meat (no onions).
• Warning: it’s easy to over-order, especially with the appetizers.

Take a French Quarter oyster bar and drop it into the middle of Magazine St. Best oyster loaf in the city, and the po’boys are served on toast. The fried crab claws, trout, catfish, and soft-shelled crab are all great too. It’s small, with tiny tables and no real place for the line to form other than right where people are eating. But it’s covered in clean white tile and organized to almost military precision. Incredibly friendly staff, too.

• 4330 Magazine St. (block from Napoleon)
• Tue - Sat 11 – 2, Thu – Sat 5:30 – 9
• Favorite dish: shucked oysters (duh)
• Warnings: cash only; closed June, July, and August.

Nirvana Indian Restaurant is a little spendy for dinner, but the lunch buffet for only $10 earns it a spot on this list. In addition to the salad and soup, vegetarian curry and tandoori chicken, rice and that spicy stewed spinach, and several more authentic Indian dishes, the naan is fresh and hot. The palatial dining area is adorned with Indian art featuring all those gods whose names I can never remember. Blue tablecloths and gilded chairs, and a small patio for eating outside, but that makes for a long walk back to the buffet.

• 4308 Magazine St. (same block as Casamento’s)
• Daily 11:30-2:30, 5:30-10:30
• Favorite dish: lamb rogan josh.
• Warning: when they say something is spicy, they mean it.