New Orleans?

Here is a list of unedited compilations that I got off of the newsgroup. Enjoy.

Pete Wung
[email removed]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Expensive:      Commander's Palace -- IMHO, pass on it.  Crowded at holiday
                time, and there are enough other places. (Washington and
                Prytania Uptown.)

                Antoine's -- My favorite classic New Orleans resturant.  The
                menu is in French, but the food is New Orleans French-Creole.
                Steaks and Pompano are the popular dishes, but my favorite
                entree is Chicken Rochambeau.  Baked Alaska a must if you're
                going with a party of 6 or more, but it has to be ordered in
                advance.  (St. Louis Street in the French Quarter).

                Galatoire's -- Right on Bourbon Street, but no reservations or
                credit cards taken.  You wait in line and pay cash, but the
                food is great.  The crab dishes are the best here.

                Brennan's -- If Antoine's is too crowded, good second choice.
                (Royal Street, around the corner from Antoine's.)

                Emeril's -- Emeril Lagasse's (former executive chef at
                Commander's) place.  Nouvelle-type cuisine, very ecletic.  Good
                fresh desserts, grilled seafood.  (800 Tchopitoulas in the
                Warehouse District.)

Less
Expensive:      Bruning's or Fitzgerald's at West End on Lake Pontchatrain.
                Both of these are good for fried seafood.

                Tujague's  -- One of the oldest in town, good classic New
                Orleans cooking, not as expensive as the 'expensive' places.
                Table d'hote menu, they always have a filet.  Good coffee.
                (Decatur St. one block down from Jackson Square.)

                Liuzza's -- Good neighborhood resturant.  Pizza, Italian
                dishes, draft beer and root beer served in 20 oz frozen mugs.
                Great onion rings.  (Bienville St. in Mid-City).

                Mandina's -- Another Mid-City neighborhood resturant.  Italian
                dishes are the best.  Good New Orleans cooking. (Canal St. in
                Mid-City.)

                Copeland's -- Owned by and named for Popeye's Fried Chicken
                king Al Copeland.  Good, spicy Creole and Cajun dishes.  If the
                expensive resturants are out of your reach, Copeland's is a
                little easier on the wallet.  Not in the class of an Antoine's
                but still good food.  (St. Charles Avenue uptown)

                Dooky Chase's -- Good 'soul food,' although that isn't really
                fair, since it's sort of a cliche.  Located next to a housing
                project, and has predominantly black clientele, so if that
                bothers you, pass it up.  (This isn't meant to be a racial
                slur but a fact of life.  I wish I had a quarter for the
                number of times people have had Dooky's recommended, only to
                hear them blast the place because of its owners and location.)
                (2301 Orleans Ave.)

Lunch, Pizza
Burgers:        Mama Rosa's -- One of the best pizza places in town, and my
                favorite.  Pizza by the slice, whole, sandwiches and Italian
                entrees.  (616 N. Rampart)

                Mother's -- Arguably the best po-boy place in town, and one
                of my top two.  (The other is Parasol's on Constance and Third,
                but you stand a better chance of finding Mother's.)  Best
                ham po-boy in town, great roast beef.  (Poydras Street across
                from the Lykes building.)

                Port O'Call and Snug Harbor -- my favorite 1/2 pound burger
                places.  These two places owned by the same people, so the
                food is essentially the same.  Burger and baked potato are
                classics.  Snug Harbor is also a very popular jazz club,
                so if you're into jazz, it makes a good night out.

This is a resturant town, so there's tons more I could suggest.  I've limited this list to my favorite places mostly in and around downtown and the French Quarter.  There are lots of ethnic resturants, good Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, etc., so let me know if that interests you also.

I'd strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of GAMBIT, a weekly newspaper that comes out on Mondays.  It has the best entertainment listings in town for live music, plus a pretty extensive resturant listing each week.  I don't know if you can get New Orleans Magazine before your trip, but this is also a good resource for food places.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here are the recommendations.  First, here are those that received more than one favorable review, plus my summary of the comments I received. The ones preceded with an asterisk are those that appear, in my highly subjective opinion, to be worth trying when I get to New Orleans.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acme Oyster Bar(4) - Good, reasonably priced seafood on Iberville Street in
                     the French Quarter.  Not much atmosphere.

The Bon Ton (2)    - Perhaps a little on the expensive side.  Good service.
                     Reservations required for dinner.

*Brigtsen's. (3)   - Those who mentioned Brigtsen's absolutely raved about it.
                     "Best meal I ever had," etc.  Don't know about prices.
                     One person mentioned they have a jacket-and-tie dress
                     code.

Central Grocery (2) - Somebody sent me a list that he had compiled about New
                      Orleans restaurants and C. Grocery was mentioned 5
                      times.  I figure it must be worth checking out.

*Commander's Palace (10) - This sounds like THE premier restaurant in all of
                          New Orleans: Great service, great food, and come
                          prepared to spend large amounts of money.
                          Jacket-and-tie dress code.  Located in the Garden
                          District.  Hard as hell to get into for dinner. More
                          than one person mentioned that they have a nice
                          Sunday brunch also.

*Copelands  (3) - More good, cheap food, located on St. Charles Avenue.  Highly
                   recommended.

*Dooky Chase  - This one was only mentioned once, but this is a soul food
               restaurant that might be an interesting change of pace after
               Creole and Cajun. Located in perhaps not the best neighborhood
               (Orleans Street north of the French Quarter).  Supposedly has a
               great art collection on the walls.

Galatoire's (3) - Supposedly the only "tourist trap" worth going to.
                  Excellent Cajun food at exhorbitant prices.  No reservations
                  accepted, so get there early.

*K_Pauls (5) - another "tourist trap" that may be worth going to.  No
              reservations accepted.  Very expensive, but worth it.

*Mosca's  - Only got one mention, but I'd like to try it.  I know some
           relatives of the owners.  The cuisine served is called
           "Creole-Italian" which I would be very interested in sampling.

*Mother's (3) - a good place for breakfast and lunch, moderately priced.
               Great po' boys and fried seafood.

*Mr. B's Bistro (3) - Highly recommended by all.  In the French Quarter.
                     Moderately priced.  Some folks can't stop raving about
                     it.

Napoleon House (2) - An old dark bar.  Great sandwiches.  Also gumbo and
                     jambalaya

Olde N'Awlins Cookery (3) - Good.  Expensive.  Chef trained under Paul
                            Prudhomme.

Royal Cafe (2) - Cheap breakfasts, expensive dinners.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the restaurants that received one favorable recommendation apiece:

Antoines
Arnaud's
Cafe DuMonde
Cafe Vieux Carre
Cammelia Grill
Carribean Room
Casamento's
Coffee Pot
Coop's
Court of the Two Sisters.
Crescent City Brewhouse
Dante's
Eddies
Felix's
Globe
Gumbo Shop
La Madaleine
La Marquise
La Provence
Mama Rosa's
Miss Ruby's
Molly's
Morning Call Coffee Stand
Old Coffee House
Patout's
Petunias
Que Sera
Ralph and Cacoo's
Ruby Red's
Snug Harbor
Tipitina's
Uglesich's
Visko's

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally, here are the New Orleans restaurants that received negative reviews.  Please note that I did not read a single "bad food" review on any of these.  The main reasons were that they were either "over-rated", "over- priced" or "a tourist trap."  In other words, not a good value for money spent.  Also note that some of these got good reviews as well:

Antione's
Brennan's
Court Of 2 Sisters
Galatoire's
K_Paul's
Le Brasseriele
Olde Nawlins Cookery
Original Joe's
The Pearl

>Central Grocery (2) - Somebody sent me a list that he had compiled about New
>                      Orleans restaurants and C. Grocery was mentioned 5
>                      times.  I figure it must be worth checking out.

It's the premier Italian grocery that sells Muffeleta sandwiches.

>Galatoire's (3) - Supposedly the only "tourist trap" worth going to.
>                  Excellent Cajun food at exhorbitant prices.  No reservations
>                  accepted, so get there early.

People get the impression that Galatoire's is a 'tourist trap' because it is located right on Bourbon Street, but this isn't the case.  Also, the price is no more than the other better places in town.   A top restaurant in New Orleans is going to run $30-$40 per person, drinks and wine extra.  Wine in restaurants tends to be very overpriced in almost every restaurant, when compared to other cities in the country.  That doesn't mean that the places here have poor wine lists, but the markup is higher than one would expect.

Another misconception people have about New Orleans restaurants is the difference between 'Creole' and 'Cajun' food.  Traditional New Orleans food (what you'll find at Commander's, Mr. B's, Antoine's, Galatoire's, etc.) is called Creole or Creole-French.  'Cajun' is Southwest Louisiana cuisine, and there are very few places that serve it in New Orleans.  K-Paul's, Mulate's, and Copeland's are the three best.

>*K_Pauls (5) - another "tourist trap" that may be worth going to.  No
>              reservations accepted.  Very expensive, but worth it.

Not worth the wait in line.  You'll find that there are very few natives that eat here because of the crowd.  It's not fair to call Prudhomme's restaurant a 'tourist trap,' because the food is good quality and the prices are in line with the other better places in town, but it's so crowded that only tourists eat there.

>Napoleon House (2) - An old dark bar.  Great sandwiches.  Also gumbo and
>                     jambalaya

Good Muffeleta if Central Grocery is too crowded.

>Olde N'Awlins Cookery (3) - Good.  Expensive.  Chef trained under Paul
>                            Prudhomme.

This place is now under new ownership and management.  The chef your article refers to is George Rhode IV, who has been gone from the Cookery for about three years now.  It's gone down a great deal since his departure.

In your section on places that got negative reviews, most of them are good restaurants, but they're in the high end on price.   That doesn't necessarily mean they're bad, just pricey.

As I said, your article is basically solid, and makes a good comprehensive overview to the city's restaurants.  Thanks for compiling and re-posting it. I've only been following this group for about three weeks, so I didn't see its last appearance here.

Judith M. wrote:
> A friend is going to New Orleans next week. He'd like to
> know about non-touristy, good restaurants serving local
> specialities.
>
A couple of small, low-key places that I haven't seen mentioned in any of the New Orleans compilations:

Mais Oui - very small (only 6 or 7 tables) soul food place (which may be
  misleading; a bit more elegance to the food than, say, Chez Helene).
  Located on Magazine St.  No alcohol, but you can bring your own wine.

I forget the name, but a small (approx. 10 tables) Italian place upstairs
  over a bar called the Apple Barrel on Frenchman St. (in Marigny, which is
  a neighborhood adjacent to the French Quarter).

I ate at both of these on my most recent trip to New Orleans (Jazz Fest). Neither will ever be written up in Bon Appetit or Gourmet, but they both have good food, and are a real bargain.  Quiet and intimate are plusses, if you're in that kind of mood.

On a more upscale and probably more touristy note, I have a friend in N.O. whose favorite (new) restaurant at the moment is Spunto's, located in the French Quarter.  I went by one afternoon, but they weren't open. It's a really beautiful room, and the menu looked to be very imaginative. Italian, and fairly reasonably pricey, from the looks of it.

Larry Owen

p.s.  I'm also fond of the afore-mentioned Chez Helene (the original on N. Robertson street, not the one in the French Quarter) for soul food.

Andersob wrote:
>Been there many times, but can't tell friends the names or locations of
>great restaurants in the Big Easy. Need info before 5/3/95. Thanks.

If you're looking for restaurant names for folks coming next weekend for Jazz Fest, be forewarned that it'll be tough getting reservations at this late date. If you're looking for "grand" cuisine, try the places that don't take reservations, like Galatoire's.  If you're looking for good food in a more casual atmosphere, there's Mandina's on Canal St., and Liuzza's on Bienville. If you've got a craving for a great hamburger, try Lakeview Harbor on Harrison Ave, rather than Port of Call on Esplanade.  For seafood, tell 'em about Bruning's out at West End, or Carmine's in Bucktown.

For a more detailed listing, check out Virtually New Orleans, my web site.  The URL is in my sig.

Cheers,
Ed.

Mike N. wrote:

>To anyone living in and around New Orleans at the present time or recent past, are there
>any recommendations of great places to go for groups of 5-8 people - places where I'd kick
>myself for missing when in a great food town like New ORleans - where I can make reservations
>in the next week or so?  (I know a lot of good places the reservations are to be made
>exactly 30 days in advance.)
>
>I'm there in a little more than a month for a conference, and I wanted to make reservations
>for a few nights (probably 3 total - Weds., Friday, Saturday), partly to make sure that I hit
>some of the real highlights, and also very much to avoid the typical conference pattern of
>starting to walk out the doors with a couple of friends, and slowly accreting stragglers,
>until suddenly you're a group of 18 or more and can only fit in the Applebee's.  I'm looking
>for good places that can fit a small, managable group (but not necessarily the cozy, romantic
>restaurant for two - I'm not *that* fond of any of my colleagues).

We don't live there, but we're there about four times a year.

If you want truly excellent food, even by NO standards:

- La Crepe Nanou is a ton of fun, and doesn't take reservations. It's also in a residential area (Garden District), and known to very few tourists. We go there every time in NO. And it has excellent food.

- Peristyle can handle 5-8 easily, and is among the very best.

- Might be tightfor more than 6 in Brigtsen's, but the food is superb amd Frank's in the kitchen every night (unlike most other name chefs).

- Bayona is similarly superb and can handle the group.

Unless it's a monster big conference, you stand a good chance of getting into any of these.

These places, plus one other too small to handle groups, are the gustatory highlights of NO for us. We don't usually bother with any of the Brennans' places, certainly since Jamie Shannon passed on. And Emeril's disappoints -- even Nola is more enjoyable.

-- Larry