says... > > I am planning a trip to New Orleans very soon and would like some >suggestions for good authentic Creole or Canjun style restaurants. >Would appreciate some that are very good but not as well known. They don't >have to be in the French Quarter either. I already know about Brennan's, >The Commanders Palace, Galatoire. Where do the locals go? When it comes to the "classic" restaurants, the locals go to them all, right along with the tourists. Each place has a loyal following. Of the three restaurants you've mentioned, my favorite is Galatoire's. We recently did Breakfast at Brennan's, which was pretty good, and Commander's is consistently one of the best places to eat in town. Antoine's, Arnaud's, the Rib Room, and Mr. B.'s are all excellent choices. If your budget is limited, I'd definitely recommend the Rib Room or Arnaud's for lunch. They've got great under-$15 specials for lunch. Then there are the "nouvelle" restaurants. These are the places that are owned and/or operated by mainly younger chefs and management. There's Emeril's, owned/operated by Emeril Lagasse, who was executive chef at Commander's before opening his own place. Emeril's pork chop is great, as are the barbecued shrimp, and hell, just about everything on the menu. Get his banana cream pie for dessert. Then there's Bayona, on Dauphine St. in the Quarter. Bayona is Susan Spicer's place. It's less noisy than Emeril's, less hustle-bustle. The food is excellent. In the same "nouvelle" category are Mike's on the Avenue, and Brigtsen's uptown. When locals aren't spending the big bucks for one of the "top" restaurants we're eating at some of the "neighborhood" places. In the Quarter, this means places like Cafe Maspero, Napoleon House or Port of Call. In Mid-City, there's Mandina's or Liuzza's. Out at West End and Bucktown, there's Bruning's, Carmine's, and R&O's. Less atmosphere than the "better" places, the food is likelier to be simpler (fried or broiled seafood, basic pasta dishes, varying dinner specials, po-boys), but quite good, and affordable. For more restaurant info, check out Virtually New Orleans, my web page. The URL is in my sig. Cheers, Ed.
New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Restaurants?
Someone wrote: >We (about ten adults) will be spending a weekend in New Orleans this >month. What are the best restaurants? >I remember Court of the Two Sisters for brunch. Is that still good? >Thanks for your help. Court of Two Sisters is still pretty good. I prefer Brennan's for brunch, but that's a decision where you can't really go wrong. If all of you can handle a fairly high-priced meal, consider an evening at Antoine's or Arnaud's, and reserve one of the private dining rooms at either place. The food's the same served in the main dining rooms, but there's a certain elegance about the smaller rooms that can't be beat. For lots of restaurant reviews and picks and such, check out my Dining section on Virtually New Orleans (the URL is in my sig). In addition to Antoine's or Arnaud's, consider Emeril's in the Warehouse District, Graham's in the Pelham Hotel on Magazine St., and Palace Cafe' on Canal St. All of those are winners, and can easily cope with a party of ten. If you plan on staying out in the Quarter until late, nothing beats breakfast at 3am like Clover Grill on Bourbon Street. It's definitely an interesting experience! Cheers, Ed.
> >Court of Two Sisters is still pretty good. I prefer Brennan's for brunch, but >that's a decision where you can't really go wrong. If all of you can handle a >fairly high-priced meal, consider an evening at Antoine's or Arnaud's, and >reserve one of the private dining rooms at either place. The food's the same >served in the main dining rooms, but there's a certain elegance about the >smaller rooms that can't be beat. For lots of restaurant reviews and picks >and such, check out my Dining section on Virtually New Orleans (the URL is in >my sig). In addition to Antoine's or Arnaud's, consider Emeril's in the >Warehouse District, Graham's in the Pelham Hotel on Magazine St., and Palace >Cafe' on Canal St. Or: Mike's on the Avenue, Bayona, NoLa. All of those are winners, and can easily cope with a party >of ten. If you plan on staying out in the Quarter until late, nothing beats >breakfast at 3am like Clover Grill on Bourbon Street. It's definitely an >interesting experience! > >Cheers, >Ed. > >-- > |Edward J. Branley [email removed] |Moderator, New Orleans Mailing List.| > |Yatcom Communications, New Orleans, LA|To join, send a message to: | > |Visit VIRTUALLY NEW ORLEANS: |[email removed] | > |http://www.yatcom.com/~vno |with JOIN NEW-ORLEANS in the body. | > >
score one for the Hummingbird Grill for late night [food]. It's a dive, but a classic one. The Clover Grill is also quite good/cheap for breakfast.
Greetings, My personal opinion...Stay away from the Two Sisters!!! I heard a lot about the place from people who used to live in Now Orleans years ago and I decided I had to give it a try...Jeez, what a mistake!!! For atmosphere (if you're in to that sort of thing) Two Sister's is really great. Just what you'd expect from a restaurant with a long reputation in New Orleans. As for the food, you can probably do better at some restaurant chain. Lot's of cold items (mostly cheese). Not many hot items. A big platter of Craw Fish in the middle of the food line. And the Eggs Benedict were truely a disappointment. Champagne is an additional charge as well. I don't remember what the price of the brunch was, but it sure as heck wasn't cheap. Trust me... Go somewhere else!!!!! Two Sisters (IMHO) is a ripoff.. Later, Jim >We (about ten adults) will be spending a weekend in New Orleans this >month. What are the best restaurants? >I remember Court of the Two Sisters for brunch. Is that still good? >Thanks for your help. >Jennie Jansen >Jennie Jansen > ** >[email removed]
A personal favorite that often gets missed - Alex Patout's on Royal in the Quarter. And if this is your only trip to New Orleans, you must eat at Commander's Palace, everything there is always perfect, in my experience. Breakfast should be at Brennan's.
Jennie J. wrote: >We (about ten adults) will be spending a weekend in New Orleans this >month. What are the best restaurants? >I remember Court of the Two Sisters for brunch. Is that still good? >Thanks for your help. > >My wife and I were there this past summer and we tried The Court of Two Sisters. It was very good and there was plenty to choose from. For dinner I would recommend Commander's Palace in the Garden District. The food was excellent and their bread pudding was out of this world! We also tried NOLAS in the French quarter. It is relatively new and was founded by Emeril Lagasse, the owner of Emerils. It's a bit less expensive but has a very different and wonderful menu. Have fun and Bon Apetite! >
Lots of posters will cover the icon spots. I recommend two bargain picks: FINE DINING - Early-bird special at the Pellican Club 5:30-6 p.m. Great ambiance and a three-course fixed-price menu under $20. A French Quarter favorite with the locals. FUN FOODS - Oyster Happy-Hour at Houlihans in the Quarter. Drink specials, two-bit oysters and big $2.50 seafood appetizers. Drank pints of micro-brew, ate oysters, calamari and popcorn shrimp for two hours with a companion--and left with change from a $20. Check 'em out.
Someone wrote: >The one I got to in my four days there was Galatoire's. I wanted >to go to Dooky Chase's, too, but my white friends chickened out (I >guess it is in a pretty dangerous part of town). Dooky Chase's is on Orleans Avenue, right across from the Iberville housing project. It is indeed a bad part of town, but Dooky's is on the corner, across from the project, not *in* it. If you go early (5-7pm), and park right next to the restaurant, you'd probably be OK. Overall, I'd say it's not a journey you'd want to recommend to a visitor to the city who isn't street-savvy. I'd also probably not suggest it to a group of partying white boys, frankly. You guys would have just as soon tattooed "TARGET" on your foreheads. :-) >(1)How do you rate Galatoire's against the others in this thread? Galatoire's is usually in everyone's top 5. It's an "old-line" place. Lots of locals have loyalties to various old-line places because of family, friends, etc. For example, my father-in-law was an Antoine's person. Others are Galatoire's people, etc. If you want seafood at a high-end New Orleans place, Galatoire's is it. The biggest turn-off people have about Galatoire's is that they don't take reservations. You've got to stand in line out on Bourbon St. This is usually no big deal, but you need to plan a backup whenever you plan to go there. >(2)How stupid were my white friends? Damn, this is a tough one. I'm hard pressed to say they were stupid, because it really is getting to be a bad place for *anyone* to be over there on Orleans. The problem is that Mrs. Chase is one of the best chefs in New Orleans. I'd say your friends erred on the side of caution, and none of you were the victims of a violent crime. Better that than becoming the top story three nights running on the local news, while all of us here wring our hands and wonder what the incident will do to our national image. >PSI'm white, too, in case you're wondering. Something like 80% of murder victims in the city in '95 were black, so it's an equal-opportunity type thing. :-) Cheers, Ed.
Someone wrote: > >A personal favorite that often gets missed - Alex Patout's on Royal in the >Quarter. >And if this is your only trip to New Orleans, you must eat at Commander's >Palace, everything there is always perfect, in my experience. >Breakfast should be at Brennan's. Can't disagree about Alex Patout's. Good place. Commander's is number one on many people's "must eat" lists, but it's only about fifth for me. I'd go to Antoine's, Galatoire's, Emeril's and Mr. B's before making it to Commander's. I also wholeheartedly second Breakfast at Brennan's. Last time we went was back in May. I. wrote it up for the web site: http://www.yatcom.com/neworl/dining/brennans/brekbren.html There are links to recipes for many of the dishes they do for breakfast. Cheers, Ed.
Someone wrote: > >Lots of posters will cover the icon spots. I recommend two bargain >picks: > >FINE DINING - Early-bird special at the Pellican Club 5:30-6 p.m. Great >ambiance and a three-course fixed-price menu under $20. A French Quarter >favorite with the locals. My only beef with the Pelican Club is their service is spotty. It's one of those places where lunch can turn into a two-hour affair because they're just so damn slow taking your order and bringing your check. And that's not even with the place full! >FUN FOODS - Oyster Happy-Hour at Houlihans in the Quarter. Drink >specials, two-bit oysters and big $2.50 seafood appetizers. Drank pints >of micro-brew, ate oysters, calamari and popcorn shrimp for two hours >with a companion--and left with change from a $20. Houlihan's used to be a big place for us back when I was in college in the late '70s. Haven't been there much since then. I'd suspect it's a cut above the Friday's they opened on Royal St. last year, however. :-) Cheers, Ed.
Just about everywhere you eat in New Orleans is going to be good! My preference is in Bucktown which is a neighborhood by the lake. Here you will find where the locals eat - POboys, softshell crab and my personnel favorite is the stuffed artichoke at Carmines Italian Restaurant. This area is loaded with good restaurants and in a good part of town.