Restaurant reccomendations for New Orleans

In My Humble Opinion
1

The girflfriend and I are headed to New Orleans for 5 nights just for the hell of it.

We chose N.O. for 2 reasons:

[ol]
[li]The history of the place.[/li][li]The FOOD[/li][/ol]

I have the points of historical interest already planned out. I need help on the food.

My girlfriend and I are “foodies”. We go out to new restaurants around the bay area frequently (at least 2 to 3 new ones per month). We also cook at home and when we do we put a lot of thought into what ingredients we use, how its presented etc…

Our favorite restaurants in SF are SPQR, Anchor and Hope, Aziza, Salt House, Bar Tartine, Spruce and Boulevard.

We enjoy restaurants that like to use non-traditional choices of ingredients and preparation. I’m dying to try turtle soup in The Big Easy for example. Our tastes lean towards seafood, lamb, pork, poultry and beef in that order on the meat side.

So, do any Dopers have recommendations for us? We don’t mind paying more for good quality by the way so don’t be afraid of offering up the expensive ones. :slight_smile:

Thanks!

2

When we went to New Orleans, every damned restaurant we fell into was phenomenal. You’ll get the regular tourist recommendations, Anchor Bar, Cafe du Monde, Commander’s Palace…in all honesty, my favorite meal was at Ralph and Kacoo’s. It is more of a local place.

I can almost guarantee that you will NOT have a bad meal there, no matter how small/dirty the place may be. I doubt there is another city in the US that takes good food as seriously.

Walk until you collapse in a restaurant, you won’t be disappointed.

3

Thanks for the response Auntbeast! Spontaneous spots will be on the agenda.
I forgot to mention that we’ll be staying right smack in the heart of the french quarter. I figured we should since its our first time there. I’d prefer suggestions in that general area. However if there’s a real gem that I absolutely should not miss that requires a cab ride, we’re all over it.

Thanks again!

4

Check out the Chowhound New Orleans forum. Lots of good stuff there.

Personally I’ve enjoyed Bayona and Jacque Imo’s (uptown-take the trolley). There is bad food to be found, but even some of the small bars in NOLA have amazing offerings. Often the popular tourist places are just average (Port of Call comes to mind).

Have fun, stay safe. Let us know how it was.

5

For a down-home, not fancy meal, don’t miss Mother’s http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/

My favorites are the roast beef po-boy and the bread pudding, but there are also good seafood po-boy ando other seafood options.

6

Emeril has a restaurant in the French Quarter called NOLA that is very good. There is also the classic, Brennan’s, which I believe is in the Garden District.

Of course, I haven’t been there since before the hurricane, so for all I know those joints are gone, gone, gone…TRM

7

My favorite from our last trip was Cochon. They do amazing things with pork. It’s also fairly casual, which I prefer over more fancy settings.

Restaurant August, John Besh’s flagship, was also excellent. My only complaint was that the main dining room doesn’t really have tables for two, so the two of us were seated at a huge table–not the best setting for our anniversary.

We’ve been to Bayona twice and we’ve never had a disappointing dish.

We went to a New Year’s Eve dinner at a place called Eat that was a surprise favorite. It’s BYOB with no corkage, which was nice on NYE. They’re big on fresh and local ingredients.

Our other Quarter staples are Johnny’s Po-Boys and the Acme Oyster House.

I could do a whole other post on bars and cocktails. If you like that sort of thing at all, I highly recommend the New Orleans Original Cocktail Tour from Gray Line.

8

I’m heading to New Orleans in June. When I was there last year I had some pretty good German food at Jagerhaus at 833 Conti in the Quarter. Schnitzel, Spätzel, rabbit liver paté… It was all good.

I’ve had some pretty good burgers at Checkpoint Charlie’s. I don’t remember the street, but I can walk to it. Clover Grill on Bourbon and Dumaine is good for burgers or breakfast. There’s a little convenience store on Esplanade at the 10 freeway that has decent sandwiches. When I was there last year (I was staying with friends at the house across the street) I noticed a lot of the locals went there. There’s The Praline Connection in the Marigny for some good down-home cookin’.

Though I’ve been to New Orleans many times, I’ve always seemed to avoid the fancy-schmancy places like Commander’s Palace and The Lamest Hysterical – sorry, Famous Historical Court Of Two Sisters. Café du Monde is a must-go tourist destination, but in fairness the cafe au lait and beignets are good. Pretty much anywhere you go in The Crescent City, you’re bound to find good food.

9

Court of Two Sisters is a fancy joint, and it is on the street just south of Bourbon St. (I forget the name) BUT… if you go around to Bourbon St., just behind it, you’ll find *another *Court of Two Sisters, which is a walk-up counter joint, selling the same food for one tenth the price. That’s another one I recommend.

10

Two of my favorites, where you also see a lot of locals:

Deanie’s
Frankie and Johnny’s

11

I have been to a lot of the places in and around the French Quarter, few live up to the hype in my opinion and/or are so over run by tourists as to be almost unbearable. Johnny’s and Mothers both were so packed with people and the lines so long that the experiance was spoiled. Brennan’s was good but the wait was long, Tujacques, the Gally House, Ralph and Kacoos, Court of Two Sisters were ok but nothing to get excited about. For the most part you should leave the Quarter to get fabulous food.

However! There is one place that I go back to everytime I go to New Orleans, it is called Coops Place and is across from the Market on Decatur. Everything I have had there was awesome, the prices aren’t outrageous, the service was the only downside. Everybody seems to know everyone else there so I am guessing it is a local’s place and aren’t much concerned about folks they don’t know. The food more than makes up for it.

12

I’ll recommend Court of Two Sisters too (the main one.) The food is excellent, and the courtyard is ceilinged (my word) by a live tree (cypress?) It’s very cool.

13

Even if you don’t make it to Court of Two Sisters for dinner (I’ve never been, but I’ve heard good things), go to the bar on a weeknight and ask for The Diva. Trust me, you’ll know when you’ve found him. Order whatever he tells you to.

14

Of course, you have to have a beignet at Cafe du Monde to start the day.

Then walk it off around the Quarter and wind up at The Gumbo Shop for lunch.

Walk that off (if you can) and wind up at either Tujague’s or Ralph & Kacoo’s or…hell, just follow your nose! :smiley:

15

Native checking in here. I’ll echo what some have posted in that it’s such a food town that bad restaurants don’t stay open very long (if at all) and that you’ll be rewarded more often than not for acting on a hunch.

You’ll find the best food advice here: www.nomenu.com. It’s run by our local food critic Tom Fitzmorris. He’s a foodie’s foodie. I tend to agree with his rating system. He sorts it several ways; the neighborhood sorting might be the most useful to you.

My favorite places:

Lilette. Traditional French on Magazine Street.

Dick and Jenny’s on Tchoupitoulas. Modern creole NOLA fusion. No reservations.

Mandina’s on Canal. Traditional creole / Italian. Cash only; no reservations. Best turtle soup in town.

Vincent’s on St. Charles. Traditional Italian. Great veal.

‘One’ in the Carrollton area. Modern creole.

Casamento’s on Magazine. Best raw oysters in town; will close for the summer in just a few days if they haven’t already.

Camellia Grill in Riverbend for breakfast. Cash only.
Ones Friends like:

G.W. Fins in the FQ for seafood.

Bayona in the FQ for Susan Spicer’s take on food.

Iris in the FQ. Run by friends of friends but I haven’t been.

KPaul’s - Paul Prudhomme’s place is still going strong.

Vizard’s on Magazine Street.
I would make an effort to get a muffaletta for lunch. Central Grocery in the 900 block of Decatur makes the best ones. A half sandwich will feed two people. Get it to go and eat it in Jackson Square on on the river levee.

Bread pudding is a classic New Orleans dessert. It’s not what you might remember getting at camp. Worth trying at least once.

With all due respect to the person who recommended Mother’s… lunch there probably would not be a mistake but don’t go for supper. The roast beef poboy is too vinegary for my taste, the ambiance is non-existent, and the service is very poor. I have tried to like Mother’s but just cannot make myself do so.

Doctor J, I was not impressed with Cochon even though the food was good. It seems to be trying too hard to take a modern twist on Southern comfort food. When I want Southern comfort food I’ll take it straight up, thank you. I also found the dining area too big for my tastes and too noisy. Mileage varies, of course.

Coop’s is a dive but their rabbit jambalaya is always good.

16

When I was in Nawlins for a seminar in early 2001, I fell in love with Antoine’s in the French Quarter. Their etouffe will leave you rapturous; plenty of good history there, too: http://www.antoines.com/

17

That it does. I’m a big fan of the upscale Southern thing when it’s done well (it’s frequently not) and I like big and noisy. (I prefer small and noisy, but I’ll take it. What I hate is big and too quiet, which was part of my issue with August’s dining room.) I’ve heard a lot of people say you’re better off doing what we did and sticking with small plates.

I didn’t have dinner at Iris, but their bar is great. (Notice a trend here? :slight_smile: ) Their bartender is a genius in the “West Coast” school of cocktails–less emphasis on “classics”, more emphasis on fresh ingredients and unusual flavor combinations. Not much atmosphere in the bar area, and it’s a bit spendy for any serious drinking, but it’s a must if you’re serious about cocktails.

18

I’d heard that Uglesich’s was closing, but their website is still up and current, so guess not. Excellent seafood, highly recommended by NOLA local friends, off the beaten path. Really great small place that is all about food rather than fancy atmosphere.

19

I had also heard that Uglesich’s closed and just assumed the rumors were true. Traditionally they haven’t spent much (if anything) on advertising. I’d call first just to make sure they’re open. It’s well worth a trip for lunch. I wouldn’t go after dark as the neighborhood gets very sketchy very quickly. Uglesich’s is the place where the local chefs go when they want to eat out. 'Nuff said.

As I’m a fan of small and quiet, Doctor J, it’s no wonder we’d part company at Cochon. And getting many small plates is the way to go. As you pointed out upthread, they do incredible things with pork and small plates gets you a sample of their range.

20

Counterintuitively, there are many more restaurants open today than there were before Katrina. I want to say “absolutely every”, but for sure virtually every truly famous New Orleans restaurant was in the strip of the city abutting the river that was lightly damaged during Katrina. This strip includes the French Quarter and Garden District, but did not extend eastward far enough to save the Ninth Ward (which was on the wrong side of a breached levee).