Heart and Soul: Two Sisters, New Orleans, LA

In our travels, we have employed two methods of exploration: our own system of trial and error, and the recommendations of trustworthy locals. In Baton Rouge, we asked three security guards at the Louisiana State History Museum where to track down some good Southern cooking.

“What are you doing here?” they laughed. “You have to go to New Orleans!”

New Orleans was indeed our next stop, so we jotted down their suggestions, including a soul food restaurant called Two Sisters. On a dreary afternoon in New Orleans, we sought the gastronomic comfort of the Two Sisters. The restaurant, squeezed in the middle of a residential neighborhood near the Tulane campus, is inside a building that appears more suited to house a family than a family business. It is not until you step inside and taste their food that you realize the home-spun charm is the wonder of the Two Sisters - it is less like a restaurant and seems more like a kitchen table. 

The menu includes soul food favorites like catfish, fried chicken, and ham hocks and even items that might seem off-putting to the average diner like pig knuckles, chitlins (listed on the menu as “chitterlings”) and turkey necks. We ordered the oxtail and the smothered chicken, recommendations per our waiter, who didn’t flinch when we asked what the absolute best thing on the menu was. Some restaurants - the TGI McFunster’s of the world, as Anthony Bourdain calls them - the server, when asked which entree is the best, will twirl her hair and say, “Well, I dunno, they’re all amazing!” Not here. When we asked, “Which is better, the smothered chicken or the fried chicken,” the waiter said, without even a blink, “Smothered.” So we ordered it.

Smothered chicken.

The chicken arrived steaming, melting off the bone, and swimming in homemade gravy. The meat is so perfect you can’t help but wonder how long it’s been cooking and what kind of sorcery was involved. The warm gravy, while copious, is mild enough to let the real flavor of the chicken reveal itself. The entree was served atop a giant portion of sticky rice, alongside gooey macaroni and cheese and butter beans. They also give you a brick of moist cornbread, in case you find yourself still hungry after the platter of food.

The oxtail, a traditionally Caribbean dish that has made its way into soul food kitchens, was criminally tender. Expect to get messy as you will want to clear every, tiny morsel of meat from the bone. The self-conscious need not dine here.

Oxtail dinner.

The sides are as impressive as the main dishes, a bragging right not afforded to every restaurant. Two Sisters is the kind of place to be adventurous, because everything is good, and what is dining if not an event to experience something out of the ordinary?

Two Sisters is busy and not for those demanding luxury or overattentive service. It is incredibly popular among the locals for both its incredible food, almost unholy portions, and low prices. If you’ve got the patience, and don’t mind not being your waiter’s center of attention, it is completely worth it.