NEW ORLEANS – Tucked away in the Marigny is a hidden kitchen in the back of a dive bar, Marie’s Kitchen. Chef and owner, Tres Barnard is a Clarksdale, Mississippi native who is cooking up refined bar, comfort food in the back of Marie’s Bar, at the corner of St. Roch avenue and Burgundy Street.

The bar has been a bar for more than 100 years. Chef Tres says, “this bar has always been close to me. It’s always been my little neighborhood spot.”

On the menu is loaded nachos, burgers, sandwiches, mac and cheese as well as gumbo and jambalaya.

“I’m working about 80 hours a week just to produce. We do everything from scratch. It’s that much time and labor that goes into cooking everything properly which sets us apart from everybody else. You walk into this bar you’re not expecting a whole lot. Then you walk in and you have the food and your mind gets blown, that’s the point,” says Chef Tres.

He’s known for his Mac n’ cheese with green onions and ham. You have the option of adding anything to the mac n’ cheese.

A popular burger is the Clarksdale Fry Burger, it’s got two 4-ounce patties with American cheese, mustard, pickled coleslaw and topped with homemade chili.

For a lighter option, the Lemon Butter Chicken sandwich is delicious. He sous vide the chicken and sears it to order. It’s served on a bun with lettuce, tomato and a homemade lemon aioli.

Instead of regular fried pickles as a snack, Chef Tres makes fried dill pickle nachos. He adds ham hock meat, shaved manchego cheese, comeback sauce and green onions.

“The Double Stuffed sandwich, I take a whole pork loin, fileted it out, stuff it with Italian sausage, roll it up, twist it, tie it roast it, chill it, slice it, and sear it to order,” says Chef Tres. It’s topped with a red onion marmalade that takes 6 hours to cook, melted provolone and put on a bun with a fennel aioli.

Marie’s Kitchen is located at 2483 Burgundy Street in the Marigny. It’s only open Friday through Sunday from 5 p.m. until midnight.

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