If your
budget or expense account doesn't include Commander's Palace or Galatoire's, or you can't get a reservation for Emeril's,
kick back in one of these neighborhood restaurants. To really
sound like a local, be sure to order a regional beer, like Abita
or Dixie. When you order a po'boy sandwich, you'll be asked "Do you want that dressed?" This means with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles
and mayo.
One note... there are now MORE restaurants (not including chains) in operation in New Orleans than before Katrina. People here love their food and live to eat. There has also been an explosion of gelato and dessert places. I list them here.
French Quarter
-
ACME
Oyster House, 724 Iberville Street, French Quarter. Serves
up great oysters and yummy New Orleans favorites at a value
price. If the line is too long and you just want to slurp
down some raw oysters, go across the street to....
-
Felix's
Oyster House, 739 Iberville Street, French Quarter. Belly
up to the raw bar, tell the man how many you want and order
a beer. While you wait, grab the catsup, horseradish and hot
sauce and mix up your our cocktail sauce.
-
Coop's
Place, 1009 Decatur Street, French Quarter. All the New Orleans
favorites in a neighborhood joint.
-
Clover
Grill, 900 Bourbon Street, French Quarter. For a burger or
breakfast at 3:00 a.m. or at any hour.
-
Central
Grocery, 923 Decatur Street, French Quarter. Home of the muffuletta
sandwich: soft round loaf of bread stuffed with ham, salami
and mozzarella, topped with a chopped olive salad. Split one
with a friend or two, grab a handful of napkins and a beer,
and have a picnic in Jackson Square.
Uptown
-
Atchafalaya, 901 Louisiana Avenue, Garden District. Contemporary Creole cuisine. Try the fried green tomatoes and stuffed
pork chop or one of the daily specials. Also check out their weekend brunch with live music. Be sure to make reservations because this place always is packed. With good reason. (Magazine Street
bus stop: Louisiana.)
- Dick & Jenny's - Fun and funky decor with seriously good food. NEW they now accept reservations. 4501 Tchoupitoulas. (504) 894-9880. Contemporary Creole.
Casamento's Restaurant - 4330 Magazine Street. (504) 895-9761 - Oysters all ways and only open during oyster season. Cash only. (Magazine Street
bus stop: Napoleon)
- Mahony's Po-Boy Shop,
3454 Magazine Street. This place has really gotten popular, with a line out the door at lunch. But all they do is Po-Boys and they do them very well.
- Ignatius Eatery. NEW LOCATION 3121 Magazine Street. (504) 896-2225. Named after the character in John Kennedy Toole novel A Confederacy of Dunces, this casual restaurant does all the New Orleans staples - red beans, gumbo, etc. - really well. I have not been tothe new location, but I know it's bigger.
- Joey K's - 3001 Magazine St. (504) 891-0997 -Typical neighborhood place with typical New Orleans fare. Very casual. Great daily specials.
- Tracey's Irish Channel Bar - 2604 Magazine St. A great neighborhood bar that serve excellent food: po-boys, sandwichs and daily specials. If there's a sports game on you want to see, they will probably have it on one of their 18 TVs.
- Jaques-Imo's
Café, 8324 Oak Street, Carrollton. A bit more expensive
than the others listed here. It has become very popular with
both locals and tourist (reservations accepted only for parties
over 5). The atmosphere is casual and fun and the food is
to die for (and might kill you if you ate it every day). It
is a decadent, culinary delight of Creole and Southern delicacies.
Home of the battered, deep-fried, roast beef po'boy and the
shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake. Excellent New Orleans-style
BBQ shrimp as well. (St Charles streetcar stop: Oak Street)
The lunch-only sister to Jaques-Imo's is Crabby Jack's, 428 Jefferson Hwy. Just across the Parish line in Jefferson Parish, the most amazing po-boy's and killer fried chicken. Nothing fancy looking but very good.
- Dante's Kitchen, 736 Dante Street, Riverbend. (504) 861-3121 (Reservations suggested) It's gotten so hard to get into Jaques-Imo's I had to find a new favorite. This is it! (Streetcar stop-where St. Charles Ave. meets Carrollton Ave.)
- Cafe Reconcile, 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Central City (Lunch only). A cafe with a conscious. They take at-risk youth and train them how to work in a restaurant and make a better life for themselves. Located in Central City, a neighborhood struggling to com back, the food is wonderful and the prices easy on the wallet. Southern/Soul/New Orleans cuisine.
- High-Hat Cafe - 4500 Freret Street. A casual neighorhood place, serving "food from the Mississippi Delta and Louisiana. " Catfish is their specialty and is served with house-made pickles.
Mid-City
- Mandina's,
3800 Canal Street. Italian and Creole-style cuisine.
Try the turtle soup, trout meuniere or any other the other
seafood dishes. Cash only. (Canal Streetcar).
- Parkway Bakery & Tavern, 538 Hagan Avenue. If the weather is nice you can sit outdoors at a picnic table or carry your po-boy and sit by Bayou St. John. (Canal Streetcar)
Other cuisine:
-
Taquaria
Corona - cheap, fresh and deeelicious.
Uptown - 5932 Magazine St (near State St)
-
Juan's
Flying Burrito - also cheap and delicious. Funky atmosphere, great margaritas.
2018 Magazine St. (lower Garden District)and 4724 S Carrollton Ave (Mid-city at Canal).
-
Middle
Eastern - Mona's Cafe- once again, cheap and delicious. BYOB.
3 locations:
4126 Magazine St (near Napoleon Ave)
Mid-city - 3901 Banks Street
French Quarter - 504 Frenchman St. (across Esplanade St from
the French Quarter)
-
Indian - Nirvana - 4308 Magazine Street (one block east of Napoleon
Ave.) Excellent all you can eat lunch buffet.
- Irish - The Irish House Pub and Restaurant - 1432 St. Charles Ave. A recent addition to the Avenue. An Irish gastropub with both fine dining as well as a pub menu with fish n chips, mangers and mash, etc. Live music at times and a very delicious breakfast. This isn't some Irish themed chain, this is a real pub run by a real Irishman, Chef Matt Murphy, who has cooked at some of the finest restaurants in the world.
- Hotdogs - Dat Dog - 5030 Freret Street. Dat Dog opened up about a year ago on Freret Street and was an instant hit. There was always a line out the door (granted the place was tiny). They have sinced moved acorss the street into a much larger location, in a renovated gas station. They have great outdoor seating and dogs including, brats, alligator and crawfish sausage and lots of other good stuff.
- Sushi
Kyoto - 4920 Prytania (cross street - Robert, off of St.
Charles) My favorite. Try their "Who Dat?!" roll or Poke Salad. They are surprisingly kid friendly.
Sake Cafe - 4126 Magazine Street - (504) 897-0054 - very swanky and hip
-
Pizza
places
Louisiana Pizza Kitchen - 615 Carrollton (at St.Charles-Riverbend)and 95 French Market Place (French Quarter)
Reginelli's Pizzeria - 741 State St. 899-1414; 3244 Magazine St. 895-7272 (Uptown)
Slice - 1513 St. Charles Ave. 525-7437 & 5538 Magazine St. - great wine selection for a casual place.
Theo's Pizza - 4218 Magazine St. 894-8554 (near Napoleon Ave.-Uptown); 4024 Canal St. (Mid-City)
Ancora - 4508 Freret Street - Uber gormet pizza topped with their house-made salumi. One time I was there they had buffalo mozzarella that had been fown in from Italy earlier that day. Pizza oven was hand made for them in Naples, Italy and it's a work of art. Exceptional wine selections, all Italian. Not cheap but oh so good.
Midway Pizza - 4725 Freret Street. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza in New Orleans. 'Nuff said.
-
Inexpensive
French
La Madeleine Cafe - Riverbend - 601 Carrollton (at St.Charles)
-
Expensive
French
Cafe Degas - 3127 Esplanade Av (Mid-City)- reservations (504) 945-5635 Almost like eating al fresco. The dining room is practically a huge deck with a tin roof. When the weather's nice it totally open. But even when the weather's not nice they keep it comfortable and it's very romantic when it's raining.
Lilette Restaurant - 3637 Magazine St. (Uptown) (504) 895-1636 Tres cher
La Crepe Nanou - 1410 Robert Street @ Prytania Street (Uptown)- (504) 899-2670 - French Bistro. Be prepared to wait, they don't take reservations. But it's worth it and you can stand outside with a glass of wine while you wait. Very cozy and charming with great food.
-
Vincent's Italian Cuisine - 7839 Saint Charles Ave - 504-866-9313 Great service, food and atmosphere. Italian food in New Orleans is infused with a Creole twist and plenty of seafood. Now that's amore! Call for reservations.
- Tapas
RioMar. 800 S. Peters (Warehouse/Arts District). 525-3474. Spanish. Amazing food and awesome tapas and incredible seafood.
Mimi's In the Marigny, 2601 Royal St. The Marigy is in the part of town east of the French Quarter on the other side of Esplanade Avenue. Upstairs are amazing (and affordable) tapas and great wines. They also have live music and DJs and is quiet the scene after dinner.
Café Granada, 1506 S. Carrollton Ave. (Carrollton) Excellent food, relax atmosphere. Relatively unknown.
- Breakfast
Slim Goody's 3322 block Magazine (Uptown) - Breakfast and lunch only. Diner. Cash only.
Surrey's Cafe and Juice Bar, 1418 Magazine St. 504-524-3828 (Uptown) - breakfast, fresh juices
Gott Gourmet 4409 Magazine Street - weekends only. Lunch and Dinner weekdays.
- If you are craving some really good, artisan cheese, St. James Cheese Company - 5004 Prytania (Uptown) 899-4737 - is the place to go. Grab a bottle of wine at the shop next door to wash the cheese and bread down.
This list is my no means exhaustive, and are mostly the places I eat at with some frequency. Food critic Tom Fitzmorris has a web site devoted to food and restaurants. He's been cataloging and rating restaurants that have (re)opened after Katrina. He also has The Food Show 3-6pm weekdays on 1350AM and Noon-2 p.m. Saturdays on WWL 870 AM/WWL-FM 105.3 where he talks about food and only food. |