I was trying to remember this place. Awesome po-boys!
Ok, I’m printing out this thread and taking it with me. Thanks!
Please don’t do what my mother did when she got brave while traveling and took a bus into the French Quarter to spend the day. She ate at Subway and Taco Bell. :smack: :smack: :smack:
The etouffe at Antoine’s in the French Quarter was world-class when I dined there seven years ago.
If the OP will allow me a shame filled hijack- can someone advise how to get to the St Charles streetcar if you are on foot, near the aquarium area? I was going to start a new thread asking this but saw this similar thread…
I should note that Poydras is 4 or so blocks over from Canal AWAY from the Quarter, not into the Quarter. Poydras is the street with the skyscrapers (all 4 of them).
Native checking in here.
As much as I love Camellia Grill, it’s not a short streetcar ride (anywhere from a 1/2 hour to 40 minutes) and it’s in Riverbend, not the Garden District. It’s decent diner style food, but you won’t find any Creole there. Morning omlettes with fries - yum! Late night burgers - yum!
I do not like Mother’s. I’ve been several times and have been unimpressed, particularly compared to other places in town. Some really like it, and I’m glad they do. I would not go out of my way to have it.
You’re setting your price limit too low, IMHO, to get the really good stuff, but here are my suggestions, with some repeats from above.
Coop’s Place on Decatur down near the French Market is pretty much a dive, but their rabbit jambalaya is quite good. It’s a dive. A real dive. But good.
Gumbo Shop is great. It’s near the Cathedral. Lunch or supper. Prices are what you want and everything is good.
Breakfast at La Marquise on Chartres Street, a block or two towards Canal from the Cathedral.
Muff sandwiches are great hot or cold. Central Grocery on Decatur is the best locally now that Progress Grocery closed. I like Zapp’s chips and Big Shot cream soda (local brand) but any beverage will do. Again, 1 sandwich will feed 2 people, and sometimes more.
Ditto Cafe du Monde for breakfast or a snack.
Friends swear by G.W. Fins on Bienville. Not sure of their prices, though. Their web site might help you. I suggest you get reservations.
Bayona is one of the most respected new restaurants in town. They have a web site as well. Again, reservations.
If you don’t mind riding the Canal Street Streetcar (NOT the St. Charles Streetcar) and don’t mind a 35 minute ride, go to Mandina’s at 3800 Canal Street. Cash only, no reservations. Check their web site. It’s an old neighborhood Italian/Creole place.
If you have a car or can pay for a cab, check out Dick and Jenny’s on Tchoupitoulas. Modern creole fusion food. Excellent.
Mulate’s and Tujague’s are old standby places in the FQ, along with Gallatoire’s and Antoine’s, but you might be pricing yourself out of their market at $20.00 each.
Bottom line: a restaurant has to be really bad to not make it in NOLA, so even if you head out on your own, you’ll probably do fine. Most places will let you look at the menu before seating you, so you can see what you’re in for.
Enjoy your visit!
You can take the Canal Street Streetcar (ask the driver for a tranfer ticket for an extra quarter for each person when you get on) up to St. Charles from the Aquarium, get out, go to the side of Canal opposite the FQ, wait for the next car going upriver on St. Charles, get on, give the driver your transfer ticket, and ride up to Riverbend.
Or, you can hoof the 10 - 12 blocks from the Aquarium up Canal Street to St. Charles.
’
thanks! 
I know the $20 limit is on the low side to get the “good stuff,” but we’re on a budget that became (even more) strained after the trip was planned and the rooms were booked. Saturday night’s meal probably will be more of a splurge, so we need to go easy the rest of the time.
I will avoid Subway and Taco Bell though! That really would be missing the point.
As far as I’m concerned, I could eat every meal at Cafe du Monde, just have beignets and coffee, and still want more…
cbawlmer, hope you have a wonderful time. Only wish I was there as well.
Please give us a recap when you return (so we can truly be green with envy)
I will give a recap! I’ll have to take notes on everything we eat. Well, I always thought it would be fun to be a travel writer!
We just got good news. We’re going with a group of about 17 people, but one person had to drop out so they reshuffled room assignments. Now my husband and I get our own room, instead of sharing with another person. I know what you’re all thinking of as the primary benefit of this development, but the best part actually is that now we won’t be keeping a roomie awake with our grizzlyesque snoring!
I see it’s still open, and doing quite well post-Katrina, apparently: http://www.antoines.com/accolades.html
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Mr. B’s or Palace Cafe. Both are at the high end of the price range mentioned by the OP, but Antoine’s is waayyyy past the $20 limit, and doesn’t allow casual attire either (as far as I know).
The Gumbo Ya-Ya at Mr. B’s is great, as is the BBQ shrimp. The crabmeat cheesecake at Palace Cafe is wonderful (and very rich).
That’s what a native told me when I was there a year and a half ago. They were absolutely right.
I don’t remember Antoine’s being all that expensive, and I know I was in casual attire (I was in town for a seminar and didn’t even bring a jacket and tie with me on that trip).
Wow, that weekend went by quickly. We had a lot of fun, ate some good food, and drank some octane-strength Hand Grenades.
Did you know that at 11am on a Sunday morning during Spring Break/St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Cafe Du Monde is very popular? We wanted to get some beignets and coffee, but it would have been an hour-plus wait. I am assured that equally good beignets are available in Houston, so that’s some consolation.
We also tried having lunch at Mother’s on Saturday, but there was a line down the block! This was unsurprising based on how incredible the place smelled, even from 50 yards away. It was worth the hike over there just to sniff the air, but we were way too hungry to wait that long, and it was pretty warm outside.
We decided to skip the long line and ended up at The Original Pierre Maspero’s on Chartres, where we had a delicious lunch. I had a fried crawfish po’boy and my husband had the most incredible reuben sandwich I’ve ever tasted. The sandwich came with baked potato salad that I hope to replicate at home. Our friend had a bowl of seafood bisque that really good too. We were all trying each others’ food and “MMM!”-ing like we were in a commercial for the place. If we ever get back to NO, we definitely will stop there again.
On the way back, we walked down Bourbon Street and stopped at Pat O’Briens for hurricanes and I scored the glasses I wanted. We wandered around some and checked out some cool shops. We were sweaty and exhausted after all the walking, so we made our way back to the hotel for a shower and a nap.
Saturday night our whole group trekked out to a place in Metairie (a 15-minute cab ride away from our hotel in the French Quarter) called New Orleans Food & Spirits. Someone in the group knew of the place and we weren’t disappointed. It didn’t seem very touristy; judging from the license plates in the parking lot it was popular with the locals. Good food in HUGE portions, including a comically large fried chicken club salad my husband ordered. He also ordered some gumbo, thinking that a salad might need something on the side, but that salad would have been a feast for two.
Once we got back to the hotel, everyone headed out to Bourbon Street. Wow, they have some of the sleaziest-looking strip clubs I have ever seen. Somehow the street manages to support not one, but three Hustler-branded clubs. I’m not opposed to strip joints in theory, but just walking past those places made me kind of sad. Fortunately, the sadness quickly was mitigated by the Hand Grenade I was drinking. Zoinks, that is one strong beverage. I may have drunkenly attempted a pole dance on a stop sign, but I can neither confirm nor deny this.
Overall, we had an excellent time. If we go back again, I’ll shoot for the middle of a non-holiday week to try cutting down on crowds. It was a crazy scene this weekend, and while it was fun to experience it once, I wouldn’t make a habit of it. I’m too lazy to deal with that much chaos on a regular basis!
True. I actually didn’t know what an open container law was until I moved to Baton Rouge for university. I mean, we had drive-thru frozen daiquiri shops in New Orleans and its suburbs in the 80s. And closing time? Bars in New Orleans close when there are no more customers, basically.
I’m glad you had a nice trip. New Orleans Food and Spirits is quite popular, is not touristy, but is in Bucktown, not the French Quarter, thus was not included in your responses.
Bourbon Street can be very tacky. I much prefer strolling on Royal when we stroll down there, which isn’t often. Mother’s does smell great. Personally I’m glad you didn’t wait for it, as you could have been disappointed. I have friends who love it and friends who hate it, with nobody in between.
But, one reason people enjoy port cities so much is because we have a little something for everyone, be that high end antiques or lowbrow strip clubs. And you can get as much or as little chaos as you’re comfortable with just by moving over a few blocks, at least in the FQ.