New Orleans Food Guide

1840 founded — the oldest continuously operating family-owned restaurant in the United States, now in its 5th generation under the Alciatore family. Oysters Rockefeller was invented here in 1899 (named for the richness of the green herb sauce — never reveal the secret recipe rule still holds). The restaurant occupies 15 dining rooms across a French Quarter mansion, each with distinct decor and stories (the Mystery Room hides a speakeasy door from Prohibition). Service is old-school formal — bow-tied waiters who've worked there decades.

1893 Garden District icon in the turquoise Victorian mansion — the Brennan family flagship and the training ground for an absurd percentage of America's best chefs (Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, Jamie Shannon, Tory McPhail, Meg Bickford all worked here). The 25¢ martinis at lunch (limit 3 per guest) are a legendary signature — paired with the Sunday Jazz Brunch where a roving brass band moves between dining rooms. Bread Pudding Soufflé is the dessert canon.

1905 — the most distinctly New Orleans of the heritage restaurants. The Friday Lunch is a city institution: lawyers, judges, politicians, and old-family Uptowners arrive at 11:00 sharp, eat for 4-5 hours, drink absinthe + Sazeracs, and don't return to work. The 1st floor has no reservations (first-come line forms 9am for 11:30 opening on Fridays); the 2nd floor takes reservations. Crystal chandeliers, mirrored walls, white tablecloths, bow-tied waiters who remember your name and your father's name.

1946 — the iconic pink building on Royal Street where Bananas Foster was invented in 1951 (chef Paul Blangé created it for the visiting Richard Foster). Today the Bananas Foster tableside flambé spectacle is the New Orleans dessert moment everyone takes a video of. The restaurant specializes in Breakfast at Brennan's (multi-course New Orleans-style breakfast that became a 1956 cookbook bestseller). Eggs Hussarde + Eggs Sardou are the canonical breakfast dishes.

1918 Creole institution founded by French wine salesman Count Arnaud Cazenave. The restaurant occupies 12 connected French Quarter buildings, has a tiny on-premises Mardi Gras Museum (free entry, upstairs), and the French 75 Bar (named for the cocktail invented at the original Harry's Bar Paris) is one of the city's best classic-cocktail spots. Less famous than Antoine's or Galatoire's but equally heritage-tier and often easier reservations.

French Quarter's locals' favorite Cajun spot — cash-only, 21+ only (no kids), dark wood, sticky floors, jukebox, and a kitchen that makes the best Cajun food in the Quarter at half the tourist-restaurant price. The Taste Plate ($15) lets you sample 5 dishes including the legendary Rabbit + Sausage Jambalaya. Coop's is the kind of place where locals eat after work and tourists eventually figure out is the real deal.

1938 founded — CBD canonical po'boy + Cajun soul food spot. The Ferdi Po'boy (baked ham + roast beef + debris gravy on French bread) is the signature dish, ranked among the top po'boys in the city for 85+ years. Cafeteria-style service: queue at the counter, order, sit at long communal tables. Locals + business lunch + tourists all mixed together. The 'World's Best Baked Ham' claim is locally accepted.

1957 founded in Treme neighborhood — Willie Mae Seaton's tiny soul food kitchen that earned Food Network's 'America's Best Fried Chicken' designation, James Beard 'America's Classics' Award, and Anthony Bourdain's repeated visits. The chicken is brined for a day, double-dipped in seasoned flour + buttermilk, fried in a 50-year-old cast iron skillet. Sides of butter beans + red beans + rice + cornbread complete the platter. Treme is the historic Black neighborhood adjacent to French Quarter — birthplace of jazz second-lines.

1862 founded — the most iconic NOLA food destination. Open 24/7 (closed Christmas Day only). Menu has 5 items: beignets ($5 for 3), café au lait ($3), iced coffee ($3.50), milk ($3), orange juice ($3.50). Beignets are square pillows of deep-fried dough buried in powdered sugar; café au lait is half coffee with chicory + half steamed milk. The chicory addition dates to the Civil War when coffee was scarce and chicory root extended the supply. French Market location is canonical (other Café du Monde locations are licensed franchises with less atmosphere).

Multiple French Quarter locations — the Café du Monde alternative with shorter queue and live jazz daily at the Bourbon Street location (Steamboat Willie + jazz musicians 11:00-15:00). The beignets are similar quality to Café du Monde (some swear better), the café au lait is comparable, and the jazz adds the cultural soundtrack that Café du Monde lacks. Locations on Bourbon, Decatur, Royal, and at Louis Armstrong Park.

1995 founded — the first African-American-owned praline business in New Orleans, run by Loretta Harrison + family. Pralines are NOLA's signature candy (creamy fudge-like discs of sugar + cream + butter + pecans), and Loretta's are widely considered the best. The Praline Beignet (Loretta's 2010 invention) combines beignet dough with praline center — uniquely NOLA dessert hybrid. Multiple French Market stalls + the original 'House of Praline' location.

1910 founded — French Quarter's iconic oyster house and the originator of the Chargrilled Oyster (grilled on the half-shell with garlic butter + Parmesan + parsley until the shells blacken). Raw oysters $1.50-2.50 each, dozen $18-30. The Chargrilled Oysters ($14 for 5) are the signature — invented here, copied everywhere, never bettered. Counter seating watches the shuckers; tables for groups.

1918 founded — Uptown locals' #1 po'boy spot for 4 generations of the Domilise family. Cash only, 30-minute queue standard at lunch, locals lined up around the block — and worth every minute. The Shrimp Po'boy (fried Gulf shrimp on French bread with lettuce, tomato, mayo) is widely considered the best in New Orleans. Located in a residential Uptown neighborhood (not a tourist area), which is exactly the point.

1911 founded — Mid-City's iconic po'boy spot. Originally a bakery, it became a tavern + po'boy shop in the 1920s. Obama visited in 2010 (the booth has a photo). The Roast Beef + Gravy Po'boy is the signature — thinly sliced beef + dark brown gravy soaking into the French bread (eat with napkins). Drive-thru po'boy window for takeaway.

1906 founded — Italian grocery + deli on Decatur Street where Sicilian-American immigrant Salvatore Lupo invented the Muffuletta in 1906 for Italian working dockmen. The sandwich is mortadella, salami, capicola, ham, provolone, and mozzarella with olive salad (chopped olives + giardiniera + olive oil) on a round sesame-seeded Sicilian loaf. The olive salad makes the sandwich — locals smuggle jars home to recreate it.

Chef Donald Link's flagship Cajun farm-to-table restaurant in the Warehouse District. James Beard Award (Best Chef South 2007). Cochon = 'pig' in French, and the menu is pork-forward: whole roasted Louisiana Cochon, smoked pork ribs, boudin sausage, headcheese, andouille. The Wood-Fired Oysters (cooked in their shells over a wood fire with garlic butter + chili) are the canonical opener. Casual + cool industrial setting.

Chef Nina Compton's flagship — born St. Lucia, trained Daniel Boulud + Norman Van Aken, Top Chef Season 11 fan favorite. The kitchen reinterprets Caribbean classics through Creole technique: curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi (Italian + Caribbean), conch croquettes, cow's heel soup, jerk chicken. Inside the Old No. 77 Hotel — cozy, art-filled setting. James Beard nominated multiple years.

Chef Tenney Flynn's modern seafood restaurant — daily-changing menu printed in the afternoon based on what arrived from the Gulf, Asia, and the Northeast that morning. The most sophisticated non-Cajun seafood in the city. Bacon-Wrapped Scallops + Lobster Dumplings are signature carryover items. Whole fish presentations elaborately tableside. Smart casual elegant setting in the French Quarter.

1933 founded — the Hurricane cocktail was invented here in the 1940s when wartime rum was over-supplied (other liquors were rationed). Today the Hurricane comes in a 26-oz keepsake hurricane-lamp glass. Three rooms: the Patio (flaming fountain + courtyard dining), the Main Bar, and the Dueling Pianos bar (two pianos playing requests + sing-alongs simultaneously every night from 17:00). Touristy by design + locals love it anyway.

1949 — the only revolving carousel bar in the world. The 25-seat carousel bar rotates one complete revolution every 15 minutes. The Vieux Carré cocktail (named for the French Quarter neighborhood) was invented here in 1938 by bartender Walter Bergeron — rye whiskey + cognac + sweet vermouth + Benedictine + Peychaud's bitters. Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemingway all wrote here. Live jazz nightly.

1722 building — claimed to be the oldest continuously operating bar in the United States (and one of the oldest surviving buildings in the French Quarter, predating the 1788 + 1794 fires that destroyed most of the original French colonial architecture). Reputedly used by pirate brothers Jean + Pierre Lafitte as a blacksmith front for their smuggling operation. No electric lights — only candles. Dark, atmospheric, smoky. The Voodoo Daiquiri (frozen purple grape slushie) is the signature drink.