January 30, 2013
Festival season lures hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Orleans every year for a concentrated dose of the city's best music, food, art and culture. After long days and nights of soaking up New Orleans and dancing in our streets, sitting down to a full-blown meal in one of the city's top restaurants might not fit the bill. If you're looking for easy eats - great bar snacks, small plates and casual, local fare - head to these restaurants.
Killer Po-Boys at Erin Rose Bar (811 Conti, 504.252.6745)
Great classic po-boys are easy to come by in New Orleans (a bad po-boy won't last long in this town), but if you're looking for the next generation of the Big Easy's best sammich, head to the Erin Rose bar, just a few steps away from Bourbon Street. In the back of this smoky dive, you'll find imaginative riffs on the traditional po-boy, like crispy, Moroccan spiced lamb sausage patties dressed with tzatziki and shredded carrots or the shrimp, alligator and pork meatball po-boy delivered with a char-scented tomato sauce and Manchego cheese. The short list of po-boys changes with the availability of ingredients and the whims of the chef/owners, Cam Boudreaux and April Bellow, both veterans of New Orleans' fine dining restaurants.
Dreamy Weenies (740 N. Rampart St., 504.872.0157)
If the thought of eating a hot dog in New Orleans conjures up bad notions of the dare-you-to-eat-it variety served up by New Orleans' iconic Lucky Dog vendors, allow us to help you erase that memory with the new dog in town. Dreamy Weenies, a cheery, spacious joint at the top edge of the French Quarter across from Louis Armstrong Park, offers old fashioned classics and NOLA-style wieners(think: dogs topped with BBQ shrimp sauce and rice, red beans), along with Kosher, Halal and vegan options and non-traditional add-ons like curry sauce and lebna cheese. Don't miss the hand-dipped corn dog.
Praline Connection (542 Frenchmen Street, 504.943.3934)
Ask a native New Orleanian, and they'll tell you the best place to find authentic Creole and Cajun food is at home on the family table. If you can't swing an invite to a local's table, the Praline Connection serves the next best thing: a hearty, classic menu of home-style Cajun/Creole Soul food. This is where you want to go for fine examples of file gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp etouffee and bread pudding. Praline Connection's fried chicken is also a crowd favorite. The restaurant is an old-school anchor of Frenchmen Street's dining scene, but most visitors know their menu from standing gigs vending at New Orleans festivals. (Their fried chicken livers with pepper jelly separate the tourists from the diehards at Jazz Fest.)
Three Muses (536 Frenchmen St., 504.252.4801)
This jewel box on Frenchmen Street has the New Orleans trifecta: great food, cocktails and music every day of the week (except Tuesday, when they're closed). Chef Daniel Esses has curated a sexy small plates menu that spans the globe from New Orleans to the Far East. You'll find everything from finger snacks, like Japanese edamame and crispy fries topped with feta, to hearty bites, including lamb sliders, hanger steak and fish tacos, all done with a heavy focus on quality, seasonal ingredients. Vegetarians will also find plenty to root for in Three Muses' thoughtful lineup of veggie offerings (the butternut squash ravioli has been known to convert carnivores).
New Orleans Seafood & Hamburger Co. (541 Decatur St., 504.309.7902)
Locals know this New Orleans chain of restaurants for their award-winning list of burgers, but the new location in the French Quarter offers visitors a little something extra: an oyster bar stocked with Gulf bivalves served on the half-shell and every other way we eat 'em - broiled, baked, Rockefeller-style and more. Best of all: unlike other French Quarter oyster bars on every traveler's radar, you won't have to stand in line to get to them.
Saints & Sinners (627 Bourbon Street, 504.528.9307)
If you don't know who Channing Tatum is, chances are you weren't aware of the uber-hype leading up to the opening of Bourbon Street's newest bar/restaurant. Hint: he's a megawatt star known as much for his rippling, often shirtless Pecs as his roles in blockbusters like Magic Mike and Step Up. Tatum is also part owner of Saints & Sinners, a bordello-meets-Bourbon Street venue that serves New Orleans fare in a nightclub setting. Expect the standards - crawfish etouffee, red beans & rice, jambalaya, po-boys and "ersters" - all served with kitschy names that nod to the restaurant's inspiration: New Orleans' famous red-light Storyville district.
Killer Po-Boys at Erin Rose Bar (811 Conti, 504.252.6745)
Great classic po-boys are easy to come by in New Orleans (a bad po-boy won't last long in this town), but if you're looking for the next generation of the Big Easy's best sammich, head to the Erin Rose bar, just a few steps away from Bourbon Street. In the back of this smoky dive, you'll find imaginative riffs on the traditional po-boy, like crispy, Moroccan spiced lamb sausage patties dressed with tzatziki and shredded carrots or the shrimp, alligator and pork meatball po-boy delivered with a char-scented tomato sauce and Manchego cheese. The short list of po-boys changes with the availability of ingredients and the whims of the chef/owners, Cam Boudreaux and April Bellow, both veterans of New Orleans' fine dining restaurants.
Dreamy Weenies (740 N. Rampart St., 504.872.0157)
If the thought of eating a hot dog in New Orleans conjures up bad notions of the dare-you-to-eat-it variety served up by New Orleans' iconic Lucky Dog vendors, allow us to help you erase that memory with the new dog in town. Dreamy Weenies, a cheery, spacious joint at the top edge of the French Quarter across from Louis Armstrong Park, offers old fashioned classics and NOLA-style wieners(think: dogs topped with BBQ shrimp sauce and rice, red beans), along with Kosher, Halal and vegan options and non-traditional add-ons like curry sauce and lebna cheese. Don't miss the hand-dipped corn dog.
Praline Connection (542 Frenchmen Street, 504.943.3934)
Ask a native New Orleanian, and they'll tell you the best place to find authentic Creole and Cajun food is at home on the family table. If you can't swing an invite to a local's table, the Praline Connection serves the next best thing: a hearty, classic menu of home-style Cajun/Creole Soul food. This is where you want to go for fine examples of file gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp etouffee and bread pudding. Praline Connection's fried chicken is also a crowd favorite. The restaurant is an old-school anchor of Frenchmen Street's dining scene, but most visitors know their menu from standing gigs vending at New Orleans festivals. (Their fried chicken livers with pepper jelly separate the tourists from the diehards at Jazz Fest.)
Three Muses (536 Frenchmen St., 504.252.4801)
This jewel box on Frenchmen Street has the New Orleans trifecta: great food, cocktails and music every day of the week (except Tuesday, when they're closed). Chef Daniel Esses has curated a sexy small plates menu that spans the globe from New Orleans to the Far East. You'll find everything from finger snacks, like Japanese edamame and crispy fries topped with feta, to hearty bites, including lamb sliders, hanger steak and fish tacos, all done with a heavy focus on quality, seasonal ingredients. Vegetarians will also find plenty to root for in Three Muses' thoughtful lineup of veggie offerings (the butternut squash ravioli has been known to convert carnivores).
New Orleans Seafood & Hamburger Co. (541 Decatur St., 504.309.7902)
Locals know this New Orleans chain of restaurants for their award-winning list of burgers, but the new location in the French Quarter offers visitors a little something extra: an oyster bar stocked with Gulf bivalves served on the half-shell and every other way we eat 'em - broiled, baked, Rockefeller-style and more. Best of all: unlike other French Quarter oyster bars on every traveler's radar, you won't have to stand in line to get to them.
Saints & Sinners (627 Bourbon Street, 504.528.9307)
If you don't know who Channing Tatum is, chances are you weren't aware of the uber-hype leading up to the opening of Bourbon Street's newest bar/restaurant. Hint: he's a megawatt star known as much for his rippling, often shirtless Pecs as his roles in blockbusters like Magic Mike and Step Up. Tatum is also part owner of Saints & Sinners, a bordello-meets-Bourbon Street venue that serves New Orleans fare in a nightclub setting. Expect the standards - crawfish etouffee, red beans & rice, jambalaya, po-boys and "ersters" - all served with kitschy names that nod to the restaurant's inspiration: New Orleans' famous red-light Storyville district.
