Uptown Sports Club

Uptown Sports Club looks and feels like a classic New Orleans spot, with mosaic tile floors, lazy ceiling fans, vintage lighting, and a gorgeous marble and chrome-accented wraparound bar staffed with bartenders sporting bowties. It’s set in a historic building on East 6th Street, but despite its shiny new coat of paint, the building is so old and ruggedly constructed that even cell phones can’t get a signal inside (yes, there’s wifi, and the password is “Be a sport”). Don’t let that confuse you—Uptown Sports Club is anything but old, but it manages to pull off the role of an old-school neighborhood staple surprisingly well. 

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

The place hits all the quintessential New Orleans food notes you’d expect—a raw bar with oysters, po’boys featuring everything from fried green tomatoes and gulf shrimp, and a hot roast beef sandwich made with brisket debris gravy from Franklin Barbecue. Yes, that Franklin Barbecue. This is a side project from Aaron Franklin, but it looks a little different from his legendary barbecue spot a half-mile up the road. Zapp’s potato chips and bottles of Crystal Hot Sauce top every table, while Duke’s mayonnaise and Leidenheimer's french bread get imported from New Orleans for some added authenticity.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

The drink menu has your standard beer and wine, as well as classic cocktails like French 75s. But the standout is the small menu of Freezes—thick and creamy milkshakes made using a vintage blender from the now-shuttered Clarksville institution Nau’s Pharmacy. And if you want to turn it from dessert into a dinner accompaniment, you can add a bit of booze to it, which pushes it into Midwest supper club ice cream cocktail territory (it’s Wisconsin by way of Austin by way of New Orleans, and we’re into it). We’re not sure a Freeze would pair well with a dozen oysters, but they go great with the bread pudding. It’s the boozy milkshake you never knew you needed, until now.

photo credit: Raphael Brion

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Uptown Sports Club might never end up drawing the same lines as Franklin Barbecue up the road, and that’s perfectly fine. Nobody needs to wait four hours in the sweltering sun or the blistering cold for a po’boy or a platter of oysters. It’s an all-day spot that serves as a great kicking-off point for a night on the East Side, a last-minute date night spot, or a casual weekday lunch. 

Food Rundown

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Petite Plateaux

The seafood side of the menu—the raw bar, in particular—is where Uptown Sports is at its best. The Petite Plateaux is a nice little two-person sampler of most of the hits. If you’re just coming in for drinks and light snacks, this is what we’d recommend.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Hot Roast Beef Po’Boy

The question that everybody wants to know: how is the roast beef with brisket debris gravy? It’s good, but the brisket gravy ends up pushing the whole thing a little too rich for us in sandwich form. You’re better off ordering the excellent fried gulf shrimp po’boy instead.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Uptown Burger

One of our favorite burgers in town. It’s a double patty with double cheese, but the dijon and pickles help offset some of that heaviness. This thing will leave you full, and if it doesn’t, the side of fries certainly will.