Shrimp And Grits in New Orleans

5 restaurants in New Orleans list shrimp and grits on their menus. The cheapest is Gallier's Restaurant & Oyster Bar at $11.00, listed as Shrimp & Grits. The typical price across town is $17.50, and the dearest we found is $27.00 at Patois, so the two ends of the list are $16.00 apart, which is 145% more for the same dish. Of the 5 kitchens listed, 2 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 1 sits within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track shrimp and grits in 13 other areas and compare them all on shrimp and grits across United States. The typical price there runs $22.99 at the median, so New Orleans is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 13 of the 13. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $14.00 at Agua 301 in Washington, DC, and the highest best price is $22.00 in Marietta, GA. The nearest area with it is Fort Walton Beach, about 204 mi away, where the best price is $17.00.

Where is the cheapest shrimp and grits in New Orleans? Gallier's Restaurant & Oyster Bar, at $11.00 on 129 Carondelet St. The same dish reaches $27.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $16.00.

What should shrimp and grits cost here? About $17.50 is the typical price across the 5 kitchens in New Orleans that list it. Of the ones listed above, 2 are more than a dollar below that and 2 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Fort Walton Beach, about 204 mi away, where the best price is $17.00. That is $6.00 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.