Information

INFORMATION YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT

The French Quarter

New Orleans is a fascinating city of contradictions, a melting pot of French, Spanish, Creole and Southern styles that perfectly blends elegance and decadence, Old South gentility and urban sophistication, rowdy debauchery and opulent excess, all in the grand shadow of St. Louis Cathedral against a backdrop of gloriously faded 18^th and 19^th-century architecture.

It’s difficult to imagine a more seductive or romantic American city.  After all, this is where Rhett Butler brought Scarlett O’Hara for their honeymoon.  The seemingly endless pleasures of the Big Easy are jam-packed within the lively grid of streets that make up the Vieux Carre or French Quarter, the heavily touristed yet heavily residential heart of the city.  A compact, ninety-square-block neighborhood of narrow cobbled streets originally laid out by the French and Spanish in the 1720s.  Streets lined with landmark buildings house swanky stores selling museum-quality antiques alongside T-shirt shops hawking alligator back-scratchers and brilliantly colored feather boas all hours of the night or day. 

On the streets you’ll risk sensory overload from the magicians, jazz musicians, tarot readers, and tap dancers who use bottle caps on their shoes.  Jackson Square, situated on the Mississippi River, is the center of all the activity and home to the world famous Café du Monde, an alfresco, 24-hour café famous for beignets - deep-fried doughnuts dusted in mounds of powdered sugar – and chicory-charged café au lait, a curious custom left over from the Civil War.  With Mardi Gras, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The French Quarter Festival, The New Orleans Film Festival, The Tennessee Williams Festival, the Halloween and Christmas seasons, and bars and restaurants that never close – ever – almost every weekend promises a festival of some kind. 

New Orleans Restaurant Picks

In the Crescent City food is a religion.  A place where the funkiest neighborhood spot is every bit as much worth visiting as the grandest Creole restaurant.  That said, we thought we’d share a few of our favorites with our guests...

In the city where Jazz was born, the Jazz Brunch at Commanders Palace is a weekend tradition cherished by New Orleanians as well as tourists.  Located in a blue and white Victorian mansion in the mythic Garden District, Commander’s is the very essence of New Orleans gracious dining tradition with a decidedly Creole menu.  Ask for the upstairs Garden Room, favored by locals, or enjoy the shade of the ancient oaks on the courtyard.  Order the signature turtle soup au sherry, the pecan-encrusted gulf fish, and the legendary bread pudding soufflé, and take a stroll through historic St. Louis Cemetery, just across the street, to end the experience.

COMMANDER’S PALACE  1403 Washington Avenue  Tel. 504 899-8221

In the French Quarter, dining at Galatoire’s has been a French Quarter tradition for more than a century.  Its democratic no-reservations policy means that celebrities, visitors, and regulars alike sometimes have to line up along Bourbon Street, the men dressed in jackets to uphold the restaurant’s vintage dress code, despite often hellish summer temperatures.  Inside, the timeless décor of brass fixtures, sparkling mirrors, polished woods, and black, white, and green-tiled floors has not changed over the years, nor has the menu.  Tuxedoed waiters serve appetizers of Shrimp Remoulade or Oysters Rockefeller, and entrees such as Lamb Chops Bearnaise, Trout Marguery, or grilled Pompano straight from the Gulf.  We recommend lunch rather than dinner and a martini rather than wine.

GALATOIRE’S  209 Bourbon St.  Tel. 504 525-2021

If you’d rather avoid the white-linen experience, head for the Acme Oyster House, New Orleans most venerated dive since it opened in 1910.  Down-home, unpretentious, and always full, Acme promises a Big Easy evening of elbow-to-elbow bonhomie with locals, luminaries, and Dick and Jane from Syracuse, all of whom come for the consistently excellent food, washed down by local Abita beer, served ice-cold.  In addition to its award-winning fresh and salty raw oysters and fried shrimp or oyster po’boys there is also a full menu of local delicacies prepared to perfection:  gumbo poopa, Creole jambalaya, and crawfish etouffee.  The enormous mirror behind the marble-topped raw bar reflects the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-wolf-down-them-oysters scene, with a team of five shuckers bantering non-stop while opening about 5000 oysters per day.

ACME OYSTER HOUSE  724 Iberville St.  Tel. 504 522-5973

Other holy highlights for food worshippers include Uglesich’s, where one bite of the fried seafood po’boy will explain why the line often stretches out the door and around the corner.  1238 Baronne Street  Tel.  504 523-8571.  The weathered and funky Napolean House is another winner, serving a muffuletta sandwich that’s said to be the best in town.  Their legendary Pimm’s Cup cocktail is not to be ignored either.  500 Chartres Street  Tel. 504 524-9752.  A few other contenders are Emeril’s own NOLA, 534 St. Louis St.  Tel. 504 522-6652, the high-alter haute of tradition-bound Antoine’s, 713 St. Louis St  Tel. 504 581-4422, the more contemporary globe-hopping menu at Bayona, 430 Dauphine St.  Tel. 504 525-4455, and the po’ boy haven of Mothers, at the French Quarter’s edge, 401 Poydras  Tel. 504 523-9656.