This is a belated note on a food find from my Mardi Gras trip. I wasn’t going to post on these at all, but after prodding from my brother and another blogger, I’ve decided to grace you all with these meat pies from Brother’s Food Mart:

Brothers' Meat Pies

These were bought from a gas station (though Brother’s has a French Quarter location that is just a food mart) and consumed at 2am, so I think I was justifiably hesitant to try these. But my brother insisted I couldn’t NOT eat one, and so there I was, holding a grease-stained bag and warm dough pocket filled with mystery meat.

They. Were. DELICIOUS. The meat pies consisted of a spicy (almost nose-running spicy) filling encased in a flaky but still substantial crust. I’ve since done some research on just what, exactly, is in a meat pie, and where they come from in the first place:

The Louisiana incarnation of a meat pie hails from Natchitoches (betcha had trouble pronouncing that: Nack-a-dish), but you’ve probably seen them before as an empanada, Jamaican patty, or pasty. It is also actually one of Louisiana’s state foods. I found a Meat Pie Recipe that lists beef and pork as the now not-so-mystery meats.

Try a meat pie from Brother’s next time you’re wandering around the Quarter. They also have some apparently legendary fried chicken along with the usual food mart fare. In addition to these street foods, I hear NOLA now has some taco trucks making appearances downtown too. Yum!

www.brothersfoodmart.com