An Eater's Guide: The Best Food In New Orleans Right Now (15+ Restaurants)
Let’s talk about what is obviously the most important part of visiting New Orleans- the grub. Aside from music, the city is known for the endless options of amazing flavor and variety. Most of the food is creole or cajun inspired, which is a blend of many different cultures so when you eat in New Orleans, you’re literally getting a taste of history. I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you to try the dishes they’re know for like gumbo, étouffée, and jambalaya, but that doesn’t mean that other dishes won’t be favorable. Even the most mundane meal here will most likely still be above average on the flavor scale. The thing about the food is that you may try the same dishes, but you’ll get a different take on each dish at every restaurant. That is part of what makes finding food here so exciting. It would take forever to even make a dent in all the restaurants the city has to offer, but here are the restaurants i’ve been to or those that were highly recommended to me. Hopefully it gives you a starting to point to one of the best foodie tours you’ll likely ever embark on.
1.Oceana Grill
739 Conti St, New Orleans, LA 70130
Oceana was highly recommended by several people, and is obviously a very popular spot I presumed by the lengthy line of people down the sidewalk. I would suggest making a reservation here, although I still was seated fairly quickly. Here, I had the Taste of New Orleans, which the waitress recommended for the reason that you really do get a taste of the dishes that NOLA is known for- creole jambalaya, crawfish etoufee, and red beans and rice with smoked sausage. I don’t typically like my foods mixed together or even touching, but I didn’t mind with this bowl given the amount of flavor. It was delicious and super filling.
2.Neyow’s Creole Cafe
3332 Bienville St, New Orleans, LA 70119
*Reservation recommended
This is where I was told to get a po’ boy, so I did- shrimp, to be exact. I visited Neyow’s on my first trip to the city and I liked the po’ boy, but the bread was a little on the thicker, stiff side so I was interested in trying another restaurant. I did just that on my second trip, but it turns out that’s kind of the traditional way to eat them. I would say that it definitely helps to have the po’ boy dressed with some sort of sauce because that makes the bread a little softer and more tolerable.
3.Willa Mae’s Scotch House
2401 St Ann St., New Orleans, LA 70119
On my first visit to New Orleans, this was my favorite restaurant. It was the last place I went, and the person who recommended it was not lying when they said it was the best fried chicken ever. I had yams, mac n’ cheese and cornbread as well, which were also impeccable. I highly recommend this place, but they don’t take reservations, so you’re probably betting on getting the timing just right to be seated in a reasonable amount of time.
*Temporarily closed
4.Cafe Du Monde
800 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Located in Jackson Square, this place is most famous for their beignets and coffee. It’s a high energy place, because there are so many people in and out and it’s never not busy. You seat yourself outside, so you have to grab a table as soon as you see one open. Don’t forget to bring cash with you, since they don’t take cards, but you don’t need much, because it’s very cheap.
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5.Deanie’s Seafood
841 Iberville St, New Orleans, LA 70112
They are known obviously for what’s in the name; I had great shrimp and decent oysters and catfish, all of which I got fried rather than steamed. The food is piled high so you definitely get a bang for your buck. It’s located one street over from Bourbon, so it’s a place you can go that’s slightly removed from all of the noise and rowdiness. I was able to make a reservation years ago when I visited, but they unfortunately no longer take reservations.
6.Red Fish Grill
115 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70130
The food here was absolutely outstanding. As an appetizer I had the BBQ Oysters, which were hands down the best fried oysters I have ever had. I also had the Alligator Boudin Balls and the Alligator Sausage & Seafood Gumbo as starters. The gumbo was a little on the smoky side and was probably my least favorite item from this restaurant, but nevertheless still good.
For my entree I had Crawfish Pasta Jambalaya which was impeccable. I was expecting jambalaya with rice, but it was made with pasta. It had so much flavor and I enjoyed that it had so many types of meat in it (crawfish tails, Gulf shrimp, andouille sausage, roasted duck).
To drink, I had the specialty Frozen French 75 which was also delicious.As far as location, it’s right at the beginning of bourbon street so if you’re walking, you don’t have to go too far into the commotion to dine here.
7.Daisy Mae’s Southern fried chicken and breakfast
920 Poydras St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Daisy Mae’s has incredible fried chicken. The Chicken and Waffles meal comes with one large waffle and three pieces of chicken- a leg, breast and a thigh. Typically, I don’t eat fried chicken breasts because they tend to be on the drier side, but here I had the juiciest, best prepared chicken breast I’ve ever had. We waited about ten minutes here for a party of six, but I will caution that it’s small and they do not take reservations, so Daisy Mae’s is another restaurant where you’re betting on getting your timing just right. The very next day after we ate here, there was a line all the way down the sidewalk to get in.
8.The Fiery Crab
925 Common St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Here I had frog legs and hushpuppies as starters, both of which were very good. For lunch, I had the seafood boil, which it seemed like they were known for. They have a build your own system where you can choose exactly which seafoods you want included in your boil and how you want it seasoned. I had the headless shrimp, snow crab legs, crawfish, and lobster. It comes with sausage and potatoes as well. For seasoning, I went with the fiery special which is a combination of all of the seasonings they have. I had it by myself, but it’s definitely a shareable meal because you get so much seafood. The flavoring was great and the meal was filing.
9.Olde Nola Cookery
205 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70130
Olde Nola Cookery is located towards the beginning of Bourbon Street and we ended up eating here because they stay open pretty late (1am). We went here the very first night of my second trip to New Orleans and this time I started with the étouffée. That was the perfect choice because it was amazing. I ordered it as an appetizer, but I wished that I had ordered a full portion of it for my meal. They also bring out a plate of gator bites for the table as a starter here and those were delicious. For my meal, I gave the po’ boy a try and I felt the same way about it as the po’ boy at Neyow’s- it was decent. The thing about New Orleans is that even the meals I felt were just decent are still very good; there are just likely better versions of the meal at another restaurant. There are no reservations here, so you will likely have to stand in a pretty long line to get a table. The good thing, though, is that if you drink, there’s a place called Mango Mango next door. If you’re with party, you can step out of line in shifts to get a nice refreshing slushy drink.
10.Jimmy J’s Cafe
115 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130
We had Jimmy J’s as takeout for breakfast and I really good shrimp and grits here. It was interesting to me because the dish was seasoned like a pasta and came with a garlic bread on the side so it was very rich and flavorful. I’ve always had sweet grits, but this meal convinced me that cheesy, savory grits are more my speed than sweet grits.
11.Annunciation
1016 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70130
This was the last restaurant we visited and my favorite thing here was the Lemon Champagne cocktail. I’m really just starting to like alcoholic drinks and I had three of these if that tells you anything. For my meal, I had the shrimp étouffée that was very good. It didn’t blow my mind as much as the étouffée from Old Nola Cookery but it was still tasty. I also got a taste of the grilled lamb chops and this were really good as well. This restaurant was located in a quiet part of town so if you’re looking to get away from all of the touristy areas, I would check this one out. I’d also recommend a reservation here, but walk-ins are welcome.
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Other Suggestions
The locals were very helpful in recommending the good restaurants that weren’t necessarily the places tourists always go. Here were some of the places they swore by that I didn’t get to: