New Orleans Take-Out

After moving into the University Heights neighborhood, I have been hitting up every food spot in walking distance. Luckily, the walking is offsetting the massive amount of calories I’ve been consuming. As the name indicates, the space is built primarily for takeout but there are a couple seats along the wall and front window for those that wish to dine in. Pro-​tip: Call in ahead to save you some waiting time.
The menu has your typical fare-​red beans and rice, jambalaya, gumbo, po’ boys. I opted for the oyster po’ boy along with a cup of the gumbo special. The oysters were friend perfectly in a light batter. Served with mayo and pickles, it screams for a couple dashes of hot sauce to round out the flavors. The gumbo had a depth of flavor that indicates they know what they are doing when whipping up a roux. My only slight criticism was the andouille. The texture was rather mushy and lacked any real smoky flavor indicating to a lower quality sausage.
I will definitely be back whenever the urge for cajun/​creole hits.

The absolute best Cajun food you can find in Madison. Maybe even outside of New Orleans. The atmosphere is very mom and pop shop, with signed posters and news clippings on the walls, and the staff are like a family of personable characters. Sometimes the illustrious owner even sits at the register for a while.
The dirty rice is a classic, but don’t miss out on the creamy potato salad. The po’boys are really the star of the show, IMHO. Seafood and BBQ alike.
Also, grab a tiny menu from the counter. So cute!

A very nice place for either take-​out or dinning in. Usually not crowded at all during lunch/​dinner and thus you can get your food within 5 minutes. My friends recommend the Jambalaya but I prefer Gras Combo and Shrimp Étouffée, especially the Shrimp Étouffée: very spicy but very tasty. Also, I recommend choosing the corn bread with your dishes. Moreover, you can expect to fill your stomach by only spending less than 8 dollars. Overall, great dishes, great place, great price, why not :)

I give this place five stars because my husband can’t stop talking about his crawfish étouffée. It was really delicious, but so dang spicy. If it was up to me and the rest of our group, we would probably give the place 4 stars. I had the bbq shrimp, which I did not enjoy due to the amount of rosemary dumped in the sauce. The shrimp was cooked perfectly though. I’m told the red rice and beans was decent. The rest of our group ordered off the fried menu (oysters, clams and something else I can’t remember), and they all thought their dishes were pretty good. Finally, the sweet potato fries are some the best I’ve ever had. I’m not usually too impressed with sweet potato fries, but these are amazing! Get them!

I asked them what i could get that would be really spicy, so they recommended crawfish etoufe with dirty rice. I ordered it full size because im a large human being.
The stew was stored in a plastic clam shell, and i didnt know this so i spilled some by holding my bag vertically, so heed my warning! Learn from my mistake!
I got home and dug in. They really delivered; this was an incredibly spicy dinner!
I found this to be pretty delicious. The dirty rice was not too soft, so it went well texturally with the etoufe. There was a lot of meaty crawfish too! Theres a lot of chicken broth in the flavor, so theres a nice savory base to the spiciness.
My main bone to pick is with the cornbread it comes with. Flavor-​wise, it’s ok; maybe it’s a little too sweet. Texturally, its pretty bad. It kind of reminded me of a dish sponge that was used a few times then left to dry. I threw the rest away after the first bite.
Overall, this was a pretty solid dinner with huge portions, but i dont know if it was worth $ 17 (the dirty rice upgrade cost extra). I will probably come back at some point to try their fried cod and blackened chicken. I will probably only get half orders from now on since this full order was pretty big even for me.

I came here on a day that I was feeling really crappy, and this place really helped! First off, they have really nice staff who are willing to answer all your questions and get to know you. Second, the food is really good. I ordered the crab cakes and the crawfish étouffée (half orders for both). The crab cakes were soft, flavorful, and came with a delicious sauce. The Étouffée is listed as very very hot, but I have a really high spice tolerance so it was okay in terms of spiciness, but still very flavorful. The rice is great quality too. Finally, I got a praline, and OH MY GOSH what a great way to end my meal. It was soft, chewy, and absolutely delicious. They’ve got great service, it’s fast, and delicious! One recommendation, though, is to order the full portions instead of the half. The half is nice for a light meal, but I wish I had more. Hehe

New Orleans Take-​Out, how have I not reviewed you before???
The food here is just awesome; I really love pretty much everything I’ve tried. I’ve visited on a number of occasions since moving back to Madison and NOTO was just about a weekly stop when I was a grad student ten years ago. I’ve only visited this location on Monroe and if there’s anything that’s less than stellar about NOTO is that the space is exceedingly small. As the name implies they’re really set up best for take out, but there is some limited bar/​stool area where you can eat in house. I stopped in yesterday for just such a lunch and I’ll comment on what I had:
½ order red beans and rice w/​double sausage: Man, oh man, is this stuff delicious! This is not a terribly complex dish, but the flavors are rich and deep. Okay, the rice is very straightforward, basically just white rice, but it acts as the perfect foil for the beans. The red beans themselves are cooked until very tender and are served in a thick, luscious sauce. to my mind the addition of sausage is an absolute necessity. Not only does the sausage add a ton of flavor, but it adds a great textural counterpoint to what is otherwise a somewhat uniformly smooth dish. Add some hot sauce? OF COURSE!!! This comes with either cornbread or french bread, both of which are tasty, but I’ve got to go cornbread with the red beans and rice! Absolutely love this stuff, I get it EVERY TIME!
½ order shrimp étouffée: It says spicy right in the description, and it is that, but there’s SO MUCH MORE going on here. A known key to this kind of cooking is working from a good roux, and clearly these guys have mastered the roux! There’s a silky mouth feel to this dish that makes it exceptionally pleasant to eat. On top of that this shrimp is cooked perfectly, which is surprisingly uncommon even in good restaurants. Not only do the shrimp taste like shrimp they have a great texture. The overall flavor of the dish is excellent and the spice is excellent (and nowhere near overpowering). This is served with white rice as well, which is fine, but doesn’t add a ton here. For the ettouffee I think the french bread is the side of choice. the crusty bread is perfect for soaking up that ettouffee sauce! A multitude of flavors here all of which combine to make a dish that’s more than the sum of it’s parts. This is more than just cooking, it’s cuisine!
Side of fries: They’re fine. Basic, but good. Should have gone with the sweet potato fries which are much more interesting (and frankly better).
As mentioned before, the biggest knock on NOTO for me is the challenge of enjoying a nice sit down meal in the restaurant, but I don’t feel like it’s fair to take much off for that considering Take-​Out is right in the name…
If you’re a fan of cajon/​creole cuisine NOTO is a great option in Madison. I’d recommend giving it a shot!

Authentic, fabulous flavors. Got the combo. Bread homemade! Will come back! Even the husband loves it!!!

Ordered the «½ order of crawfish”-got the equivalent of cup of rice and about a half a cup of fried crawfish for …$ 8.95 YIKES!
Also ordered the red beans & rice ½ order, same 1 cup of rice, ½ cup beans.
I know it says «½ order», but for the price the half order is not even a side dish.
The shrimp Po’Boy was lackluster to say the least. The shrimp wasn’t even fried, nowhere close to authentic.
The «16 ounce» lemonade was not «16 ounces» and was served in a to-​go coffee cup.
Will not be going back. The price doesn’t match the quality. Wasn’t anything outstanding.

½ Order of Shrimp Étouffée and a Lemonade… yum!
I was hesitant to try Cajun food in Wisconsin and I’m so glad I was wrong. The Étouffée was extremely spicy which is how I like it. The service was great as well. I wish they had a bigger location!
I definitely plan on returning to try other selections.

Consistently excellent service and food. This has now long surpassed the original location.
The food rivals what you would get in New Orleans, and is better than the touristy places there.
A real Madison gem.

Want to like this place but have had the definition of «meh» experiences through the years.
I’ve been consistent with ordering jambalaya because its the quintessential New Orleans dish. You’ve got to have a good jambalaya in order to do anything else right, right?
New Orleans Take Out doesn’t have this right! The sausage in my lunch today was fried up hot, but the precooked rice mixture was room temp to warm in different spots within the rice. I accept I’m not able to get from scratch jambalaya but my portion from the batch ought to be warmed in the skillet that was used for the sausage.
The sausage was also really thin cut, which I accept as a time saving device but five pieces isn’t enough. I feel andouille is the authentic meat and this did not seem to be that. Chicken would have been fair amount if there had been more than one cube of ham.
The cornbread I’ve noticed people raving about in reviews I cannot agree with. I had a maybe 1 ½ inch by 1 ½ inch square at room temp. No butter. No bettah. (Also no corn or jalapeño or sweetness. It wasn’t a full step above a Jiffy mix really. Adapt your own from the box. I’m sticking with my Lucinda Williams version).
+Two sizes for entrees
–No public restroom
+Authentic music, décor
–Not really ADA accessible
If you’re in the area AND craving NOLA grub, give this place a shot though I cannot recommend it outright. If you’ve got the ability and a hankering for jambalaya, Liliana’s is the spot.

My wife and I decided to go for some New Orleans today. We had been there so long ago that we couldn’t really remember what the food was like. We both had the Oyster Po’ Boys and they were delicious. When I first saw it I was thinking that it was way too much bread for the amount of oysters, but it doesn’t matter if the bread is great. It was very soft and the very top was crispy. There was just a slight flavor so the taste of the oysters came through.
The sweet potatoes fries were as good as anyone’s except for another restaurant I’ve reviewed. The potato salad was good (I was told) and the corn bread was flavorful, but a little on the dry side. I got a piece of the sweet potato pecan pie, but didn’t have enough room in the belly for it (yet).
Overall, the food was done well, fast, and flavorful.

Reminiscent of our recent NOLA trip I couldn’t stand going one more day without some Creole food.
We ordered the ½ jambalaya, ½ Creole shrimp, full order of the Friday cod special, and two pralines. All for total of $ 30.
The jambalaya was very heavily tomato based, with pieces of tender cubes chicken, ham, chunks of celery and tomato. I favour the jambalaya from Vertie Marte in NOLA.
The Creole shrimp had generous portion of shrimp with a savory Cajun tomato sauce.
The cod was a single piece of cod drizzled with a buttery sauce and pecans. My partner remarked it was definitely a single serving, not a big portion but enough for a individual who isn’t starving.
The cornbread and pralines were the stars here. The cornbread came with each entrée, were sweet, crumbly, with a crusty outer layer. The pralines were a hit, just as good as the Southern Candymakers.
We’d definitely like to return to try the po boys or other mouthwatering offerings.

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the shrimp étouffée was so delightful… I have been in Madison a bunch recently for work and will miss it solely because I won’t get my shrimp étouffée and corn bread anymore!
I found this place when I was staying at the hotel next door. The next time I came out to Madison I was staying in Middleton but still had to make the trip to get my fix.
I got the jambalaya here too and that was also amazing but it’s just difficult to put into words the flavor of the étouffée. It has the perfect amount of spicy in it without tasting overdoing it like a lot of hot sauces and spicy things you get these days. Absolutely perfect meal. Amazing flavor. Couldn’t ask for more! I’ll probably come back tomorrow. Seriously.

So I was on a bike ride around Madison and found this little place. Growing up on New Orleans food I had high standards. They didn’t disappoint but the didn’t blow me away. But that doesn’t mean they won’t blow you away.
I had a combination plate. Red beans and rice, jambalaya and shrimp creole. The red beans were great. They were cooked perfectly and were not to mashy. The jambalaya was a tiny bit dry but hey, I’ll have to give it a second chance. Good chunks of meat but it could use more vegetables. (Just my opinion) The shrimp creole was spicy spicy spicy. BUT WAIT!!! They did warn me of its spice and it wasn’t over powering. In fact, it was the perfect amount.
If you’ve never had Cajun /​Creole food before you will love this place. If you had its still not a bad place to eat. To rate it anything under 5 would just be a based on my personal preference of how I am used to the dishes being made.

Delicious, delicious food. This is my favorite place in town for fried catfish.
Most of their menu comes in half sizes which is always more than enough food for me. Their fried dinners comes with «dirty» or white rice and french or corn bread. If you like spice, the dirty rice is the way to go. Dirty rice is rice cooked with celery, green peppers and onions. It’s the right level of spicy kick for me, just enough to keep things interesting. They also have jambalaya, etouffe, and other nawlins specialties. I really should branch out and try more stuff, but I love the fried catfish. Perfectly breaded and fried every time. The breading is always crisp, but not too much of it.
The staff is friendly. There is a counter for dine in purposes, but when the weather is nice, it’s perfect to get some takeout and head over to the park.

Why has been so long since I visited New Orleans Take-​Out? I have no reasonable excuse. Whatever, I was glad to find myself sitting at the window-​facing counter on Monroe St yesterday happily soaking up the sun. I could not decide what to eat. With age, my ability to handle serious heat has waned. The server was kind enough to let me tasted the Étouffée and the Dirty Rice. I loved the Étouffée but knew it would not like me. The Dirty Rice was plenty hot but felt manageable.
I almost never order fried food but decided to try a half order of the fried oysters with a side of Dirty Rice. The oysters were perfectly prepared. The coating was nice and crisp and the oysters were barely cooked (not at all rubbery). The flavor was sweet and mild. The breading stayed put so you could even cut each oyster into pieces allowing me to savor the experience. I was unable to finish the rice and I believe a half-​order would be plenty for the average eater.
I volunteer with an agency located on Fordem Avenue and often leave my shift hungry and tired. I will reward my good works with good food. Luckily I don’t have to travel far.

Great jambalaya and po’boys!
Quick service, affordable prices, and a fairly diverse menu, and you have a recipe for the best Cajun/​Creole you’ll find outside of «Nawlins.» I always order their jambalaya, which is a chicken-​ham-​sausage variant minus the shrimp (not a fan of crustaceans). It has plenty of kick without being too spicy and is very savory. I also love the barbecue beef po’ boy. This is a great portion but not so filling that it will knock you out after lunch. The red beans and rice and dirty rice are also the best you’ll find around. The only reason I don’t give it 5 stars is that they don’t take credit cards. I always have to plan a stop here in advance.

I love how this is situated at the interception of Monroe, Randall and Regent, super convenient whether you are going from campus or after a football match or grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s. It is a small and cozy place, with a handful of seats, so most people order ahead and take it to go. I especially love the seats by the window, enjoying my food while seeing the world pass by.
This place serves great New Orleans food, comparable to the ones I had at New Orleans itself when I was there for a conference. Love their oyster dishes (oyster dinner). Their classic New Orleans dishes such as creole, étouffée and dirty rice are extremely spicy, exactly as advertized on the menu, and this is coming from someone who has tried some pretty spicy food. So try it only if you have a very high tolerance for spicy stuff, or if you are feeling really adventurous that day, you have been warned ~~~
One thing I like to do is to have the half dirty rice with half white rice with my orders. That way you get the spiciness and flavors of dirty rice but it doesn’t overdo the spices. They cater to small eaters as well — order the half size. Or get the full order, then you don’t have to worry about your next meal.
To sum up, their caption says it all — EAT MO BETTAH!