Walkin' In New Orleans
J. suggested I give her sis and bro, who are headed for New Orleans, a few tips on where to eat, drink, and catch some music. And, as usual when it comes to the Crescent City, I got kind of carried away. So at J's (as opposed to Jay's) suggestion, I'm posting it for posterity.
New Orleans has a food (and music) culture unlike any other place I've been in the US. It's not just an upper-class thing, it permeates all levels of society. So even the cheapest looking dives and holes-in-the-wall can have fantastic food, it just gets less fancy as it gets cheaper. But you'd be surprised at just how good a dish as seemingly simple as, say, a fried shrimp po'boy or red beans and rice can taste if done just right, by people who really know what they're doing, with quality fresh ingredients.
Those places where Big Easy food can fail are those that are really oriented towards vacuuming up tourist dollars, rather than serving good food to local residents. The tourist places may have menus that often look the same as those that are truly authentic, but the quality of the ingredients and cooking is way below par. Unfortunately, those are the places you'll often hit if you're going to the usual tourist haunts, like in the French Quarter: there can be some wonderful and excellent cheap food in the Quarter. But right next door will be a place with bland food with no taste, not-fresh ingredients, and no pride in the kitchen. But it will often look more appealing cause they make their money enticing tourists who'll never come back again. It's the latter places you want to avoid.
Here's some ideas, in somewhat random order, of good places to go in NOLA, mostly in and near the French Quarter. Well, I thought the were in random order, turns out I thought of them in a sort of geographically wandering mental map, so here's a map for the reader.
Brennan's brought the very fancy brunch to New Orleans. If you go to NO all sorts of people will ask you after if you had brunch at Brennans. It can be really amazing (and very fancy service) but not cheap. Like $50 not cheap for brunch (which they have 7 days a week). If you do go, it's definitely worth paying extra on the prix fixe menu for the turtle soup and the bananas foster (they invented the latter). Probably need reservations. From what I've heard it's not particularly memorable for dinner. Actually, my first trip there two years ago was amazing, my re-visit last year was less so. So your mileage may vary... but I'm willing to bet, with Brennan's long history, my one not great experience was an aberration.
The Commander's Palace has a great brunch, too, but only on weekends. Seven days a week, though, it has amazing food--been called the best restaurant in America more than once. They now have prix fixe dinners that can keep the price in the $30's (minus drinks) and lunches even cheaper. It's in the Garden District (well worth seeing on its own), not the French Quarter.
There are three really old school very fancy French Quarter New Orleans Creole restaurants that date back over a century that everyone's heard of: Antoine's, Arnaud's, and Galatoire's. I've read that Arnaud's is currently the best, Galatoire's is pretty damn good (and is both where Tennessee Williams liked to eat and where some old-line New Orleans family still go on days like Easter Sunday), and that Antoine's just isn't worth the price now, although the old school ambience is still happening. They're all fairly expensive, have similar Creole menus, and probably require both reservations and dressing up.
All three of those are on (or right off) Bourbon Street. You probably don't want to eat anywhere else on Bourbon except, perhaps, Red Fish Grill which is a Brennan restaurant and was pretty good and not terribly expensive when I went pre-Katrina: www.redfishgrill.com A lot of the other Brennan restaurants are also supposed to be good, like Mr. B's Bistro.
Like Arnaud's, etc. above, another place out of the 19th C. is Tujague's on Decatur with very old school decor and a very old school menu. They've had the same prix fixe (now about $35) 6 course meal for decades, so they've learned how to do it really well. Compare, for example, their gumbo to the very different gumbos in other restaurants. I really liked it a lot when I went pre-Katrina.
Tujague's is a block or two from the Cafe du Monde, which everyone has to go to cause it's just terrific. It's an open air cafe that's been there since the Civil War, it's open 24-hours a day, and there's really only two things on the menu: cafe au lait and beignets, both of which are pretty amazing and complement each other perfectly... another example of simple New Orleans food being exquisite. I usually go there more than once on any trip
Down Decatur is the Central Grocery (so old school they don't have a web site) a smallish crowded Italian deli that invented the muffuletta 100 years ago. Basically it's an excellent, very dense, very intense italian sandwich. A half muffuletta will fill you up all day long. It's one of the things everybody remembers about New Oreleans, and although I've had muffulettas in other places in town, none of the others have ever come close to measuring up to the original. There's only a couple of counters to eat at in the back, you can just take it out and eat in Jackson Square or somewhere out in the open nearby. They're only open for lunch (something like 10-5) and think they're closed Sundays and maybe Mondays
Johnny's Po'Boys is a lunch only place a block off Decatur on St. Louis that makes pretty amazing Po'Boys, like 40 different kinds. The fried seafood po'boys are especially good.
Not too far away on Decatur, is Cafe Maspero, which looks like it might be a touristy place but is both cheap and good and has lots of locals eating there. Nothing fancy, but pretty decent New Orleans standard cooking (Mother's is probably better, but not in the middle of the Vieux Carré). Unlike a lot of the cheap places Cafe Maspero has waiter service.
A couple blocks from the French Quarter in the CBD (Central Business District) is Mother's, which has been there for 70 some years. It has heaping helpings of all the New Orleans creole standards (red beans and rice, crawfish etoufee, jambalaya, file gumbo) along with the po'boys they were originally known for in a semi-cafeteria setting. Basic food really well done.
I've heard that both the Acme Oyster House and Felix's, right across the street from each other a block off Bourbon, are great for the raw bar thing, though I haven't tried them myself.
If you're going out to clubs or drinking Bourbon Street is really best avoided. It's basically one giant drunken frat party tourist trap. It's worth walking the street to see what it's like (at night, especially), it's not worth spending your money there. The one exception may be The Funky Pirate when Big Al Carson (very big, by all accounts) is singing some very nasty, raunchy, dirty blues there most nights of the week. I keep missing seeing his show, but hope to finally make it this year when he's on stage.
For real music clubs not on Bourbon two of the best places are The Maple Leaf out near Tulane, which is a great small club and the Rock n'Bowl... yes, it's a music club in a bowling alley and in the past has been called the best music club in the country. They both have interesting music most any night they're open. As a regular feature I'd especially recommend Zydeco Night on Thursdays at the Rock n'Bowl and Papa Grows Funk on Monday nights at the Maple Leaf.
If you're going to the Maple Leaf, one stop probably worth making is the Camellia Grill, which is a few blocks away on S. Carrollton, a diner like place that Jay--who went to high school nearby--raves about. He says the fried pies kick ass. Open early till late.
Both the music clubs above are pretty far from the French Quarter. You might be able to get to the Maple Leaf on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar now, The Rock n'Bowl will require a cab. There's a couple of big clubs I would recommend if they're having someone good, like Tipitana's and the Howlin' Wolf, but if you're not going to see someone in specific, especially at the Maple Leaf or the Rock n' Bowl, I'd totally recommend just going to Frenchmen Street, which is loaded with small music clubs on the 500 and 600 blocks. It's a couple of blocks from the the French Quarter across Esplanade Avenue in the Fauburg Marigny (the other side of the Quarter from the CBD). Just walk the street and pop in whereever something sounds good: the Blue Nile, the Apple Barrel, the Ray's Boom Boom Room, the Spotted Cat, d.b.a. Most clubs in New Orleans have low covers: in the single digits for local acts when there isn't a huge tourist influx. The exception on Frenchmen is Snug Harbor, a small jazz club that has internationally known performers, like Ellis Marsalis. That's probably the only place on Frenchmen you'd ever need to buy tix in advance.
If you're on Frenchmen, the best place to eat is likely The Praline Connection. I went there 'cause a friend said they had amazing fried chicken. She was right (plus the usual other New Orleans specialties on the menu). They're only open till 9 or 10 or so.
Near Frenchmen, right on the edge of the Quarter on Esplanade is the Port of Call, which Jay raved about until I finally went. His ravings were called for. It's tiny, it's divy, it basically just has burgers, a couple of steaks, and baked potatoes. It's pretty great. Especially if you have one of their ridiculous kitschy "polynesian" drinks. You can't tell what's in them from the menu, but they're loaded with alcohol in a good way.
One place definitely known for their drinks is Pat O'Briens. It's gigantic (takes up most of a city block), it's got a flaming fountain in the courtyard and dueling pianos, it's sure go that frat party atmosphere... but it's quite a spectacle, well worth seeing, especially to have a hurricane, which O'Briens invented post-Prohibition. A hurricane is a huge drink and it has huge amounts of rum and fruit juice, one by itself will get you pretty well onto plastered. Note that O'Briens, like many bars, will give you you drink to go (or to gaux)... drinking in public is legal in NO so long as it's in plastic, not glass. Don't waste your money eating there when you can get much better food close by.
One other exception to not going to the bars on Bourbon Street is Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, on the 900 block of Bourbon where the bars start to peter out. You want to go there at night. The building dates to the 18th C. and feels like it when it's only lit by candles in the dark. It's worth experiencing even if the patrons are mostly 21st Century college kids (though apparently on Mardis Gras day all the old line families in N.O. go there for a drink).
Another bar worth experiencing if you'll be near it anyway (but not so great to be worth going out of the way for) is The Columns right on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District. It's a small hotel inside a 19th C. mansion. The lobby/bar were used for brothel scenes in Pretty Baby, really has that fin de siècle feel.
One place worth avoiding is The Court of Two Sisters in the Quarter. It's gorgeous, old school French Quarter, but it's living off the tourist trade. The food is mediocre at best and the prices are far too high. The atmosphere alone just isn't worth the high price.
Other places that are well known: I've heard Paul Prudhomme's K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter has seen better days but hasn't yet seen lower prices and is overrun by tourists. Prudhomme's often outside in a motorized wheelchair to draw crowds. On the other hand, I have heard that Emeril's three restaurants (NOLA in the French Quarter and Emeril's New Orleans and Emeril's Delmonico in the CBD) continue to be good, but I don't know I'd spend the tab there over going to one of the places at the beginning of this note (Arnaud's, Commander's Palace, Galatoire's etc.) that are more uniquely New Orleans... but I haven't tried any of Emeril's outlets, so this year my opinion may change.
Readers: please do add your own opinionated comments.
New Orleans has a food (and music) culture unlike any other place I've been in the US. It's not just an upper-class thing, it permeates all levels of society. So even the cheapest looking dives and holes-in-the-wall can have fantastic food, it just gets less fancy as it gets cheaper. But you'd be surprised at just how good a dish as seemingly simple as, say, a fried shrimp po'boy or red beans and rice can taste if done just right, by people who really know what they're doing, with quality fresh ingredients.
Those places where Big Easy food can fail are those that are really oriented towards vacuuming up tourist dollars, rather than serving good food to local residents. The tourist places may have menus that often look the same as those that are truly authentic, but the quality of the ingredients and cooking is way below par. Unfortunately, those are the places you'll often hit if you're going to the usual tourist haunts, like in the French Quarter: there can be some wonderful and excellent cheap food in the Quarter. But right next door will be a place with bland food with no taste, not-fresh ingredients, and no pride in the kitchen. But it will often look more appealing cause they make their money enticing tourists who'll never come back again. It's the latter places you want to avoid.
Here's some ideas, in somewhat random order, of good places to go in NOLA, mostly in and near the French Quarter. Well, I thought the were in random order, turns out I thought of them in a sort of geographically wandering mental map, so here's a map for the reader.
Brennan's brought the very fancy brunch to New Orleans. If you go to NO all sorts of people will ask you after if you had brunch at Brennans. It can be really amazing (and very fancy service) but not cheap. Like $50 not cheap for brunch (which they have 7 days a week). If you do go, it's definitely worth paying extra on the prix fixe menu for the turtle soup and the bananas foster (they invented the latter). Probably need reservations. From what I've heard it's not particularly memorable for dinner. Actually, my first trip there two years ago was amazing, my re-visit last year was less so. So your mileage may vary... but I'm willing to bet, with Brennan's long history, my one not great experience was an aberration.
The Commander's Palace has a great brunch, too, but only on weekends. Seven days a week, though, it has amazing food--been called the best restaurant in America more than once. They now have prix fixe dinners that can keep the price in the $30's (minus drinks) and lunches even cheaper. It's in the Garden District (well worth seeing on its own), not the French Quarter.
There are three really old school very fancy French Quarter New Orleans Creole restaurants that date back over a century that everyone's heard of: Antoine's, Arnaud's, and Galatoire's. I've read that Arnaud's is currently the best, Galatoire's is pretty damn good (and is both where Tennessee Williams liked to eat and where some old-line New Orleans family still go on days like Easter Sunday), and that Antoine's just isn't worth the price now, although the old school ambience is still happening. They're all fairly expensive, have similar Creole menus, and probably require both reservations and dressing up.
All three of those are on (or right off) Bourbon Street. You probably don't want to eat anywhere else on Bourbon except, perhaps, Red Fish Grill which is a Brennan restaurant and was pretty good and not terribly expensive when I went pre-Katrina: www.redfishgrill.com A lot of the other Brennan restaurants are also supposed to be good, like Mr. B's Bistro.
Like Arnaud's, etc. above, another place out of the 19th C. is Tujague's on Decatur with very old school decor and a very old school menu. They've had the same prix fixe (now about $35) 6 course meal for decades, so they've learned how to do it really well. Compare, for example, their gumbo to the very different gumbos in other restaurants. I really liked it a lot when I went pre-Katrina.
Tujague's is a block or two from the Cafe du Monde, which everyone has to go to cause it's just terrific. It's an open air cafe that's been there since the Civil War, it's open 24-hours a day, and there's really only two things on the menu: cafe au lait and beignets, both of which are pretty amazing and complement each other perfectly... another example of simple New Orleans food being exquisite. I usually go there more than once on any trip
Down Decatur is the Central Grocery (so old school they don't have a web site) a smallish crowded Italian deli that invented the muffuletta 100 years ago. Basically it's an excellent, very dense, very intense italian sandwich. A half muffuletta will fill you up all day long. It's one of the things everybody remembers about New Oreleans, and although I've had muffulettas in other places in town, none of the others have ever come close to measuring up to the original. There's only a couple of counters to eat at in the back, you can just take it out and eat in Jackson Square or somewhere out in the open nearby. They're only open for lunch (something like 10-5) and think they're closed Sundays and maybe Mondays
Johnny's Po'Boys is a lunch only place a block off Decatur on St. Louis that makes pretty amazing Po'Boys, like 40 different kinds. The fried seafood po'boys are especially good.
Not too far away on Decatur, is Cafe Maspero, which looks like it might be a touristy place but is both cheap and good and has lots of locals eating there. Nothing fancy, but pretty decent New Orleans standard cooking (Mother's is probably better, but not in the middle of the Vieux Carré). Unlike a lot of the cheap places Cafe Maspero has waiter service.
A couple blocks from the French Quarter in the CBD (Central Business District) is Mother's, which has been there for 70 some years. It has heaping helpings of all the New Orleans creole standards (red beans and rice, crawfish etoufee, jambalaya, file gumbo) along with the po'boys they were originally known for in a semi-cafeteria setting. Basic food really well done.
I've heard that both the Acme Oyster House and Felix's, right across the street from each other a block off Bourbon, are great for the raw bar thing, though I haven't tried them myself.
If you're going out to clubs or drinking Bourbon Street is really best avoided. It's basically one giant drunken frat party tourist trap. It's worth walking the street to see what it's like (at night, especially), it's not worth spending your money there. The one exception may be The Funky Pirate when Big Al Carson (very big, by all accounts) is singing some very nasty, raunchy, dirty blues there most nights of the week. I keep missing seeing his show, but hope to finally make it this year when he's on stage.
For real music clubs not on Bourbon two of the best places are The Maple Leaf out near Tulane, which is a great small club and the Rock n'Bowl... yes, it's a music club in a bowling alley and in the past has been called the best music club in the country. They both have interesting music most any night they're open. As a regular feature I'd especially recommend Zydeco Night on Thursdays at the Rock n'Bowl and Papa Grows Funk on Monday nights at the Maple Leaf.
If you're going to the Maple Leaf, one stop probably worth making is the Camellia Grill, which is a few blocks away on S. Carrollton, a diner like place that Jay--who went to high school nearby--raves about. He says the fried pies kick ass. Open early till late.
Both the music clubs above are pretty far from the French Quarter. You might be able to get to the Maple Leaf on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar now, The Rock n'Bowl will require a cab. There's a couple of big clubs I would recommend if they're having someone good, like Tipitana's and the Howlin' Wolf, but if you're not going to see someone in specific, especially at the Maple Leaf or the Rock n' Bowl, I'd totally recommend just going to Frenchmen Street, which is loaded with small music clubs on the 500 and 600 blocks. It's a couple of blocks from the the French Quarter across Esplanade Avenue in the Fauburg Marigny (the other side of the Quarter from the CBD). Just walk the street and pop in whereever something sounds good: the Blue Nile, the Apple Barrel, the Ray's Boom Boom Room, the Spotted Cat, d.b.a. Most clubs in New Orleans have low covers: in the single digits for local acts when there isn't a huge tourist influx. The exception on Frenchmen is Snug Harbor, a small jazz club that has internationally known performers, like Ellis Marsalis. That's probably the only place on Frenchmen you'd ever need to buy tix in advance.
If you're on Frenchmen, the best place to eat is likely The Praline Connection. I went there 'cause a friend said they had amazing fried chicken. She was right (plus the usual other New Orleans specialties on the menu). They're only open till 9 or 10 or so.
Near Frenchmen, right on the edge of the Quarter on Esplanade is the Port of Call, which Jay raved about until I finally went. His ravings were called for. It's tiny, it's divy, it basically just has burgers, a couple of steaks, and baked potatoes. It's pretty great. Especially if you have one of their ridiculous kitschy "polynesian" drinks. You can't tell what's in them from the menu, but they're loaded with alcohol in a good way.
One place definitely known for their drinks is Pat O'Briens. It's gigantic (takes up most of a city block), it's got a flaming fountain in the courtyard and dueling pianos, it's sure go that frat party atmosphere... but it's quite a spectacle, well worth seeing, especially to have a hurricane, which O'Briens invented post-Prohibition. A hurricane is a huge drink and it has huge amounts of rum and fruit juice, one by itself will get you pretty well onto plastered. Note that O'Briens, like many bars, will give you you drink to go (or to gaux)... drinking in public is legal in NO so long as it's in plastic, not glass. Don't waste your money eating there when you can get much better food close by.
One other exception to not going to the bars on Bourbon Street is Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, on the 900 block of Bourbon where the bars start to peter out. You want to go there at night. The building dates to the 18th C. and feels like it when it's only lit by candles in the dark. It's worth experiencing even if the patrons are mostly 21st Century college kids (though apparently on Mardis Gras day all the old line families in N.O. go there for a drink).
Another bar worth experiencing if you'll be near it anyway (but not so great to be worth going out of the way for) is The Columns right on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District. It's a small hotel inside a 19th C. mansion. The lobby/bar were used for brothel scenes in Pretty Baby, really has that fin de siècle feel.
One place worth avoiding is The Court of Two Sisters in the Quarter. It's gorgeous, old school French Quarter, but it's living off the tourist trade. The food is mediocre at best and the prices are far too high. The atmosphere alone just isn't worth the high price.
Other places that are well known: I've heard Paul Prudhomme's K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter has seen better days but hasn't yet seen lower prices and is overrun by tourists. Prudhomme's often outside in a motorized wheelchair to draw crowds. On the other hand, I have heard that Emeril's three restaurants (NOLA in the French Quarter and Emeril's New Orleans and Emeril's Delmonico in the CBD) continue to be good, but I don't know I'd spend the tab there over going to one of the places at the beginning of this note (Arnaud's, Commander's Palace, Galatoire's etc.) that are more uniquely New Orleans... but I haven't tried any of Emeril's outlets, so this year my opinion may change.
Readers: please do add your own opinionated comments.