Salvo's Seafood

Here's my article on Salvo's Seafood that ran in the June 2011 of the West Bank Beacon.

Salvo's Seafood

Sal St. Philip was born and raised in Plaquemines Parish. For much of his life, he worked as a welder, fitter, and commercial fisherman. In the 1980’s, Sal and his wife Carolyn opened a bait and tackle shop on Barriere Road in Belle Chasse. They started serving sandwiches in the bait shop. Eventually, food became the biggest seller at the bait shop, and in 1991, Salvo’s Seafood moved to its current location at 7742 Highway 23 in Belle Chasse.

Salvo’s menu offers a variety of boiled and fried seafood as well as daily lunch specials. The daily lunches range in price from $6.95 - $8.99 and include shrimp stew or hamburger steak on Tuesdays; stuffed bell peppers or white beans & rabbit on Wednesdays; BBQ brisket or chicken on Thursdays; and, shrimp creole, shrimp alfredo, or jambalaya with fried catfish on Fridays.

Salvo’s fry cook turns out really good fried seafood – crispy outside yet juicy on the inside. The po-boys are stuffed with your choice of shrimp ($8.25), oysters ($10), catfish ($7.25), or softshell crab ($9.95). For another $1.25, you can get a seafood plate with any of the fried seafood plus a house salad, bread, and your choice of fries or potato salad. I recently enjoyed a delicious ½ shrimp and ½ oyster plate ($11.50) that was overflowing – could have been enough for two – but I ate it all! In addition to seafood sandwiches, Salvo’s also offers roast beef, BBQ chicken, pulled pork, and hot sausage, to name a few.

The side orders at Salvo’s offer something to please everyone. There are typical sides including fries, onion rings, potato salad, cole slaw, and baked beans. Salvo’s also serves up stuffed artichokes, crabmeat-stuffed jalapenos, stuffed crabs, and fried pickles.

On the lighter side, the menu includes a selection of salads including a Caesar salad ($5.95) to which you can add grilled chicken ($6.99), tuna ($7.99), shrimp $8.50), or scallops ($8.99). Salvo’s has a child’s menu with prices ranging between $2.75 - $6.50.

Salvo’s “After 5 p.m.” menu offers full dinner service with specialties and sides including sautéed potatoes, corn on the cob, French bread and a house salad – grilled catfish ($10.99); grilled tuna steak with grilled onions ($10.99); BBQ rib plate with choice of 2 sides (1/2 rack $9.99; whole rack $15.99), and jumbo butterflied shrimp ($14.99). Sal told me he’s recently introduced a selection of steaks to the dinner menu, prices include a baked potato and Caesar salad: 12-ounce ribeye ($15.99), 8-ounce flat iron ($10.99), and an 8-ounce filet ($17.99). Add 5 jumbo butterflied shrimp for a surf-n-turf combo for only $2 more.

Salvo’s is also a seafood market where you can buy an assortment of freshly-caught Louisiana seafood including shrimp, oysters and crawfish. Salvo’s boil pots are seemingly always active. As of the date of this writing, boiled crawfish were $3.15 per pound; buy 5 pounds or more for $2.99 per pound; and, 20 pounds or more, the price drops down to $2.59 per pound. I recently bought 40 pounds to feed a group of Alaskan friends in town for Jazz Fest. The crawfish were a bit hit!

Look for all-you-can-eat seafood boil and fry specials every night at Salvo’s. For example, on Friday nights Salvo’s features its $29, all-you-can-eat, boiled Seafood Extravaganza: snow crabs, dungeoness crabs, rock claws, stone claws, mussels, shrimp, blue crabs, crawfish, and 6 sides!

Need to put on a big boil for friends or clients? Salvo’s does on-site catering. They also ship seafood all over the U.S.

Salvo’s food is consistently good at a great price. Make sure to inquire about their Senior Citizen and Military discounts. The atmosphere is down-home comfortable and the staff always friendly.

Sal & Carolyn have worked hard to build and maintain their family business. Their daughter recently finished graduate school and is back working with them. I have been a big fan of Salvo’s for years. Next time you are in the mood for some good seafood, head on over to Salvo’s.

Salvo’s Seafood restaurant is located at 7742 Highway 23 at the corner of “I” Street, Belle Chasse, less than a half mile from the Belle Chasse tunnel. The hours are Tuesday - Thursday, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. The phone number is 504-393-7303. The web page is www.salvosseafood.com. Follow Salvo’s on Twitter at @salvosseafood.

Reprinted with permission of the West Bank Beacon.