Louisiana's Best Guy Fieri 'Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives' Restaurant

JEFFERSON, La. — Guy Fieri has put a lot of Louisiana restaurants on the national map. Over the course of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, he has visited more than two dozen spots across the state, from the back streets of New Orleans to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The show has featured po’boy shops, BBQ joints, Creole creameries, and neighborhood bars that locals swear by.

But when food publication Delish ranked the single best Triple D stop in every state, Louisiana’s winner wasn’t a French Quarter landmark or an Uptown dining room with a James Beard pedigree.

It was a 100-year-old building on River Road in Jefferson Parish, right along the Mississippi River, that the owners describe as a neighborhood tavern, live music club, sports bar, and small-town restaurant all at once.

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What Makes the Rivershack Tavern Different From Every Other Louisiana Triple D Stop

The building that houses the Rivershack is more than a century old. It has been a house, a grocery store, a bar, and a café at various points in its life before reopening as the Rivershack Tavern in 1990. The age of the building is notable, but what turned up inside the walls is what people remember.

According to TripAdvisor, when old asbestos shingles were removed from the exterior during renovations, workers found large, hand-painted advertisements from the 1940s underneath, vibrantly colored and essentially mint-condition, sealed away for more than half a century. The Rivershack kept them.

That spirit of keeping the weird and wonderful is baked into the entire operation. The bar stools are handmade, each designed to look like a different character from the waist down: golfers, shrimpers, bikers, cowboys. Owner Donnie Thomas credits the previous owner, Jimmy Collins, for the original tackiness. Thomas says he has never wanted to change it, only add to it.

The tacky ashtray collection is another signature touch. The Rivershack has long offered a deal: bring in a sufficiently tacky ashtray, and they’ll trade you a cocktail of their choosing. That mix of genuine local character, layered history, and a kitchen that routinely surprises is what drew Guy Fieri in the first place.

What Guy Fieri Ate, and What You Should Order

Food Network describes Chef Mike Baskind as classically trained. The kitchen handles the basics, burgers, po’boys, bar food, but Baskind built the Rivershack’s reputation on daily specials that run well outside bar menu territory.

When Fieri visited, Baskind cooked:

Sherried turtle soup — a longtime signature and the dish most associated with the Rivershack’s reputation
Wivershack’s Whasckily Wabbit with Wabbit Gwavy — rabbit prepared with a Cajun-inflected gravy; the whimsical name has stuck ever since the episode aired
Red beans and rice — a Monday tradition across New Orleans, done the right way here
Gumbo — a Rivershack staple that regulars return for on its own

Beyond the Triple D dishes, the current menu includes roast beef po’boys made with pot roast-style beef served on soft bread with gravy on the side, fried shrimp po’boys, alligator sausage po’boys, shrimp and grits, Gulf seafood platters, and ribeye steaks with buttery mashed potatoes.

The bar carries 20 taps, including Louisiana brands and German imports. Margaritas and Bloody Marys are among the customer favorites.

According to the Rivershack Tavern’s own website, the kitchen opens at 11 a.m. and stays open late seven days a week. Live music runs four nights a week.

How to Get There

The Rivershack Tavern sits at 3449 River Road, Jefferson, Louisiana 70121. The phone number is (504) 834-4938. Jefferson Parish is just upriver from New Orleans proper, about a 15-minute drive from the French Quarter, which makes it a straightforward addition to any New Orleans food trip.

Hours: Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Carry-out is available by phone, though the staff notes it may not be available during busy lunch hours. An 18% gratuity is added for parties of six or more.

Every Louisiana Restaurant That Has Been on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives’

The Rivershack Tavern was the first Louisiana restaurant ever featured on the show, appearing in Season 3. Since then, Louisiana has logged more than 26 total Triple D appearances across every season. The vast majority are clustered in the New Orleans metro, with a handful across the Northshore, Baton Rouge, and the Westbank.

As of 2026, the confirmed Louisiana restaurants that have been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives include:

Jefferson

Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Rd., Jefferson

New Orleans

The Joint — 701 Mazant St.
Creole Creamery — 4924 Prytania St.
Casamento’s Restaurant — 4330 Magazine St.
Surrey’s Cafe — 1418 Magazine St.
Parasol’s Bar & Restaurant — 2533 Constance St.
Joey K’s Restaurant & Bar — 3001 Magazine St.
Sammy’s Food Service & Deli — 3000 Elysian Fields
Mahony’s Po-Boy Shop — 3454 Magazine St.
Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St.
Bourrée at Boucherie — 8115 Jeannette St.
Avery’s On Tulane — 2510 Tulane Ave. (now closed)
Marjie’s Grill — 320 S. Broad Ave. (now closed)

Mandeville

Louie & The Redhead Lady (now closed)

Slidell

L.A. Pines Cafe — 1061 Robert Rd. (now closed)

Baton Rouge

Parrain’s Seafood — 3225 Perkins Rd.
Al-Noor Kitchen — 14241 Coursey Blvd.
Dempsey Poboys — 13580 Coursey Blvd.
Elsie’s Plate and Pie — 3145 Government St.
Iverstine Butcher — 7731 Perkins Rd.

Port Allen

Cou-yon’s Cajun Bar-B-Q — 470 N. Alexander Ave.

Note: Several additional Louisiana restaurants have been featured in more recent seasons. This list reflects confirmed appearances from available sources. A few restaurants from earlier seasons have since closed.

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The One Thing Missing: Acadiana

One name conspicuously absent from that list: any restaurant from Acadiana.

Guy Fieri has not featured a Lafayette, Breaux Bridge, New Iberia, Opelousas, or any other Acadiana restaurant on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. Locals in this region have noticed. The 337 area code is home to some of the most distinctive Cajun food in the country, boudin unlike anything you’ll find on the Northshore, cracklins that draw people from three states over, and daiquiri shops that are an entirely different universe from anything New Orleans serves.