While a New Orleanian can find a grocery store that sells gin at any hour or a club that plays jazz at any hour, it may seem distinctly more difficult to find a good poboy at a late hour in New Orleans. According to a website that advertises itself as “the best after hours destinations that New Orleans has to offer,” one can find late night sustenance at a casino, a national chain blues establishment, or a daiquiri place known for its “pretzels.” Pretzels? Being a New Orleanian is less about chain establishments and pretzels than about poboys and institutions, like Cooter Brown’s Tavern and Oyster Bar. It is named for a man (or legend) who lived along the Mason-Dixon line during the war between the North and the South. With family on both sides, he chose not to fight on either side. Instead, he got drunk for the duration of the war.

With over 400 different brands of beer and a menu that offers everything from quesadillas to muffalettas and sides like meat pies, cheese fries, broccoli bites, and boudin, it seems this namesake tavern would not be a difficult place to sit out an entire war. The interior is filled with long, wooden tables and chairs and a couple of pool tables in the back. A sign graces the walls, proclaiming, “Beware. Pickpockets and Loose Women” and a newspaper photo taped to the counter of Mayor Ray Nagin laughing hysterically while pointing a police assault rifle at the chief of police has been facetiously superimposed on to a photo of a coked up Tony Montaña threatening with “his little friend.”

Cooter Brown’s is considered an institution, not only as a late night place, but an anytime place. More than that, it is considered an anyone place. A full day there, 11 a.m. until the small hours of the morning, bears witness to sweaty, spandex-clad cyclists craving oysters, tattooed men and women basking in the glory of their mid-twenties, long-haired Whole Foods employees with a taste for microbrews, police officers having lunch, and sports fans enjoying any one of the dozen or so flat screens. Above them, a wooden caricature of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz may be grinning next to a Red Stripe toting Bob Marley, two of the countless wooden caricatures of mostly dead celebrities carved by a Rhode Island School of Design graduate who once worked as a cook.

Surprisingly, everything on the broad menu is pretty good. The NOLA Philly, composed of alligator sausage, grilled peppers, onions, and a generous amount of cheese tucked inside warm, crusty poboy bread, stands out. This tavern is also known for its raw oysters. Nothing beats a long bike ride along the neighboring levy than ending it at Cooter Brown’s with a tall glass of beer and a dozen fresh gulf oysters.

The menu is not only expansive, but also has a salty sense of humor. The Benson Philly boasts that “unlike this sandwich’s namesake, it will not leave a bad taste in your mouth” and the Looter Philly was “formerly known as the Cooter Philly”. It is a refreshing that, in a world when most late night eateries are scared to step beyond the realm of cheese fries, Cooter's tries to have some fun with their food . That said, they actually have excellent cheese fries. Cut like medallions and topped with so much stringy cheese, it is almost difficult to pull the little potatoes from their cheesy bed. As the cheese stretches and friends try to wriggle the potatoes loose, the cheese fries becomes a truly satisfying communal dish, appropriate for this establishment.

While there are delicious poboys all over New Orleans, Cooter Brown’s serves them late and is the only place in town where you can get an alligator sausage poboy or a 9th ward special, under a halo of dead celebrities, with a side of political humor, and a glass of almost any beer you can think of.

Atmosphere: Large bar and long tables for a community-like feel.
Recommended Dishes: Anything with alligator sausage; Oysters; Cheese Fries
Beverages: Full bar and 400 different brands of beer.