THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Big Shirley's

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Big Shirley's Restaurant Review:

This sharp-looking, casual restaurant is such a boon to the Treme neighborhood that locals consistently overlook hiccups in food and service. Chef Robert Holmes did the kitchen rounds before opening Big Shirley's, during stints at Café Degas, Mr. B's Bistro and Emeril's, and his style remains strictly native. Gumbo is a dynamic dish---no two gumbos are ever identical, even when they're made by the same chef with the same set of ingredients---but every bowl of Holmes' Creole gumbo we've tried has been outstanding, chock full of chaurice sausage and thickened slightly with filé. Other worthy dishes include fried chicken, barbecue pork ribs and New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp. Broad windows converging on the corner entrance treat the space to natural light, counterbalancing the dark cast of glossy brick walls and floors.