New Orleans: Donna's Bar and Grill

New Orleans is famous for neighborhood bars where you can hear great music played by local musicians on a postage-sized stage. Some of these places serve unbelievably good food from tiny kitchens. Some people call them dive bars. I call them major attractions.

Drove to Frenchman Street in Faubourg-Marigny  in search of said attractions. Nothing doing for us in Snug Harbor, or The Blue Nile, or Dba's. Not the kind of music to inspire a trip to the dance floor. Might as well be looking for the Lost City of Cibola.

On the way to Frenchman Street, I had happened to look down St. Anne Street to North Rampart several blocks away and saw the dazzling site of the Louis Armstrong Arch.

The arch may not look like much in broad daylight but at night its illumination is as bright as Satchmo’s smile. And a terrific photo opportunity. My travel companion, a Louisiana native who knows the turf, directs me to North Rampart Street so I can salvage the night with some great photos.

 I stand on North Rampart Street’s neutral ground to get a good shot of the arch. Behind me, I hear strains of some funky blues. Must be from a nearby apartment. Whoa! It’s coming from that dimly lit building across the street. Little sign over the doorway  - Donna’s Bar and Grill. Peer in. Live band! Blues! Dance music!

Hustle across the street waving wildly. “Lock the car! We found our dive bar!” I rave.

The next hour and a half approximates a little slice of heaven on earth. Our saxophone savior, Les Getrex and his trio of electric piano, bass, and drums rocks us in the arms of Gabriel with ultra danceable rhythm & blues, swing, and down ‘n dirty blues. Condensation drips down our bottles of cold Dixie beer. No point in wasting time sitting down while St. Les is blowing.

Between songs, Les starts a Q and A with the patrons, “Where y'all from?” The answers astonish. Along with the two twenty-something girls who came from the neighborhood, the answers were Milan, Kentucky, Phoenix, Hawaii, Philly/Atlanta/LA, and Boston. We aren’t the only pilgrims to have found this place.

There’s more. Every Monday night, chef/owner Charlie Sims puts out a table of free red beans and rice and BBQ chicken after the first break. This happens to be Monday night. You’ve heard the expression “died and gone to heaven.” That would apply to us.

Charlie and his wife Donna have owned the place for 17 years. “After a while you want to give something back, “ Charlie says when I see him peering out of a pass through window into the kitchen. “I’ve been doing the Monday night feed for the past 12 years.”

Donna’s went dark for a few weeks recently when 74 year old Charlie was hospitalized with a stomach ailment. The bar re-opened Thursday through Monday when his son stepped in to help keep the doors open. Charlie returned recently to run the business and keep putting out the Monday night dinner.

Donna’s Bar and Grill turns out to have a storied past. I’m not especially religious, but for a place with this much soul I’m praying Charlie, and Donna, stay healthy for a good long time.

Chef/owner Charlie Sims

Comments

[Bill Ives]

It was still open in 2010 when I planed to go but got side tracked and then it closed afterwards. Feel sad to have missed it. Thanks for the great writeup.

[Bill Ives]

It was featured in HBO Treme as a place where Davis band was going to play only to find it closed. He said it was the last of the many places on Rampart. he tried to the clubs opened as part of the Jazz Center deal in Armstrong Park but the developers said the new upscale neighbors would object. Like much of the HBO series these remarks were probable based on the what really happened.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Thanks, Bill. I've seen that many of the subplots in Tremé were based on facts on the ground and speculation about the future of New Orleans post Katrina.