New Orleans Bound.....

This is not real cajun (neither is most New Orleans resturants), but it is good. Eat at Drago's. Get the char broiled oysters.

http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/

 

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Pralines from Aunt Sally's. You will not regret it.

 

Beignets there are no joke. Must do.

 

I have not been to Drago's, but it is highly rated. Most New Orleans restaurants will be more Creole than Cajun. One pretty good Cajun restaurant within walking distance of your hotel is http://www.thebontoncafe.com/index.html but they are not open during the weekend. You'll also be a short walk to the original http://www.emerils.com/ --Again, more Creole than Cajun, but makes some decent food for a Massachusettes boy. Another place within walking distance is http://cochonrestaurant.com/html/menu.html which has pretty good, and highly rated Cajun food--however, it might be a bit too authentic for some tastes. Check out the menu first. Another great place, and some of the best food I put in my mouth last week when I was there was at http://www.lukeneworleans.com/pdf/luke_menu_dinner.pdf --this place doesn't even bill itself as Creole, but rather a French brasserie. Still, John Besh will always pull from local ingredients, and I had the best greens I've ever had in my life last week while there. He also makes this salad with fried oysters, bacon, and avacado that is so good, it hurts (I'd rather eat a burger at Luke than at Port of Call, also). In fact, some of his other restaurants like http://www.restaurantaugust.com/ and http://domenicarestaurant.com/ have provided some incredible meals there as well.

New Orleans culture revolves around eating. You can find a bad meal there, but you really have to work at it. another one of my favorite meals last week was at http://www.pralineconnection.com/Menu.html --they bill themselves as soul food, but there was definitely the Louisiana connection on the menu. Granted, all I had was fried chicken, greens, cornbread, and mac and cheese. Damn it was good. I did NOT lose any weight on that trip. It is walking from your hotel, but most people would find it a hike. We like the long walks though.........they help us digest the food for the next big meal.

 

To put it simply, creole is city food and cajun is country food. Cajun food is really from the area around Lafayette and Breaux Bridge, not New Orleans. New Orleans is famous for creole food.

You could likely get all of the food you mentioned above in both creole and cajun resturants, but they would be prepared quite differently.

 

K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. Cant go wrong there.

http://www.chefpaul.com/kpaul

Also agree with Rookie on Drago's char broiled oysters.

 

The best jambalaya can be found at Coop's in the French Quarter - it's a real hole in the wall.

For everything else, head to Olivier's. Don't waste time standing in line for K-Paul's or any other place. You think the locals stand in those lines?

 

cochon/butcher
felix's for oysters
parasols is called something else now so i don't know if the po boys are still good

 

You know... you could have just mixed this with the SNORING thread...

So what did you figure out to do?

 

Whatever you do, don't go to that bar where those teens were shot to death the other day.

 

I did not like August. It was expensive, small portions, and average at best. This was right after Besh made a run on The Next Iron Chef, so we specifically sought out one of his restaurants. The quality might have suffered due to his recent fame. I hope its better now.

I've been to Bourbon House several times and its always been very good.
NOLA, which is one of Emeril's restaurants, was also good.
Galatoire's is good. We just walked in off the street. A Jacket is required, which I did not have, so they provided one. I also enjoyed Mr. B's Bistro and Antoine's.

There were a couple of cafe's that were not very good, but I can't remember their names. Almost all the sit down restaurants were good to excellent.

If you are on a budget, I suggest going to some of the nicer restaurants at lunch.

 

Take the Katrina destruction tour.

 

I don't recall, but actually I think 5 were shot and only 1 died, I think. Stay safe - I'm not sure how safe it is in many parts of New Orleans post-Katrina. Maybe things have improved a lot.

 

Awesome: Biegnets at Cafe Du Monde
So-so: Mother's
Horrible: Acme Oyster House - this place is packed only because it's been on cooking shows. Frankly, it's overpriced and the portions are meager at best.

 

-Frenchman street for live music.
-Coops Place for really good fried chicken & the most authentic jambalaya in the city. Its cheap too.
-Too bad you just missed Carnival