The Crescent City Offers a Variety of Dishes
Just mentioning New Orleans brings thoughts of mouthwatering foods from a scrumptious Gumbo to the sweetness of its famous Beignets. On the banks of the Mississippi River, New Orleans has served up a variety of local favorites including Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya, Po-Boys and the decadent dessert of Bananas Foster. A city that survived devastating hurricanes, the War of 1812, being sold in the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. After each challenge, New Orleans fights back to regain and surpass its place as the famous Crescent City on the Mississippi River. A thriving city, New Orleans has a love affair with its traditional fare including Creole cuisine and Cajun dishes. A city where one can dine in a romantic restaurant with pristine white-linen tablecloths, a bustling bistro in the French Quarter, or experience the flavors and excitement of a cooking class. Visitors will delight in the tantalizing tastes of New Orleans from the old familiar eateries to new exciting dining venues.
Yes, we’ve visited New Orleans several times while attending conferences, going to the Sugar Bowl to cheer on the Florida Gators, and taking buses from New Orleans to Baton Rouge for the LSU verses Florida games. Any past visit related to a specific event. For this visit we wish to experience some new areas of New Orleans while gaining more insight into this amazing city. On prior visits our dining experiences have included the fantastic multi-course breakfast at Brennan’s with the finale of flaming Bananas Foster, exquisite dining a Commanders Palace, the ultimate upscale venue at Emeril’s New Orleans, and delectable dinner at Antoine’s. Additionally, we enjoyed the casual eateries including good ol’ home-cooked meals at the famous Mother’s Restaurant. On this visit we find unique dining options while avoiding the crowds and lines of the well-known restaurants on a busy holiday weekend.
A TASTE of NEW ORLEANS’ CUISINE- New Orleans School of Cooking
Seeking to get a full dining experience of Louisiana Cajun and Creole cooking, we sign-up for the Cooking Demonstration Class at New Orleans School of Cooking. Seated in the converted 19th century molasses warehouse in the French Quarter, we are ready to learn cooking techniques and EAT. Michael, our chef, entertains us with his background, the history of each food he is preparing, and numerous cooking tips. He has personal tales of growing up in Louisiana along with tips with each recipe. As the class begins, we savor delicious hot biscuits that we sprinkle with their Cajun Powder Sweet Treat, a mixture of cinnamon, sugar and pure vanilla, or their special syrup. YUMMY! Michael’s timing is terrific as he makes the various dishes. Initially, he makes the White Chocolate Bread Pudding with cranberries to allow time for it to bake. The key ingredient is “stale French bread.”
Michael is amazing as he shares intriguing details about each dish, “the tricks of the trade” for making the dish, and its special history. He quickly and easily fascinates us with his cooking knowledge and skills plus provides an education on the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and its unique history. It’s fun to watching him prepare each dish while keeping to the time schedule. Our cooking treats today are the fresh hot biscuits, Gumbo, Jambalaya, White Chocolate Bread Pudding, and Pralines. Michael finishes with a flare, as each dish is served at the end of class along with a cold bottle of Abita, a local beer, or ice tea. AWESOME! The cooking class is entertaining and instructive. The finale of tasting each of these specialty dishes of New Orleans is definitely a tantalizing finish to the Cooking Demonstration Class. We highly recommend the New Orleans School of Cooking as a “must do” on a visit to New Orleans. The Class is fun while also being educational on the foods, instructive on how to prepare each dish, and ends with a tasty serving of each dish. DELICIOUS!
DINING OUT IN NEW ORLEANS
Lunches & More!
What better way to start our first day in New Orleans than lunch at a local eatery. Just around the corner from our hotel is Daisy Dukes on St. Charles Street. With a tag line of: Nuttin’ Fancy, Just Great Southern Eatin’, we are ready for a scrumptious lunch. This casual relaxed eatery definitely emphasizes its southern atmosphere featuring authentic Cajun and southern dining. Their Lunch Special of ½ Shrimp Po-Boy with a cup of Gumbo is FANTASTIC. So much flavor of the succulent fried shrimp on fresh French bread and the thick tasty Gumbo. In our Cooking Demonstration Class, we learn that to be called a Po-Boy it has to be on fresh French bread. Another great lunch is a happenstance. Walking along Bourbon Street after a morning of riding the City Sightseeing Hop-On Hop-Off bus, we are ready for lunch in a cool setting. A gentleman standing outside Mambo’s invites us in to the restaurant. Seeking a light lunch we opt to share the Louisiana Crab Cakes Appetizer along with a cold beer. The Louisiana Crab Cakes definitely are “Everybody’s favorite.” Wow, the two large crab cakes are topped with crawfish and mushroom cream sauce. Excellent! A perfect lunch for us. Mambo’s is the only restaurant with rooftop dining on Bourbon Street. On this warm day, we enjoy being downstairs by the bar in the cool Air Conditioning.
Unbelievable! I have been to New Orleans many times but have never had the famous Beignet at Cafe Du Monde. Now to experience the well-known “sweet treat” of New Orleans. On our City Sightseeing Bus, our guide, “No Line Linda,” highly recommends going at non-peak hours to avoid the lines at many of the famous eateries. So about 3:00PM, there is no line at Café Du Monde. Hurrah! We pop inside and spot one empty table. The serving is three beignets totally covered in powdered sugar. It’s TERRIFIC! Who doesn’t like fried dough loaded with powdered sugar. Be prepared to have powdered sugar everywhere. We also find a great place for Happy Hour at Luke! Stopping in for drinks, Luke’s the Happy Hour features drinks and several appetizers, including oysters for half price. Luke’s dinner menu looks terrific, too.
DELECTABLE DINING FOR DINNER
On this visit to New Orleans, we find three very unique restaurants for dinner. Visiting on Memorial Weekend, we intentionally avoid New Orleans’ most popular restaurants that consistently have long lines and long waits. Often, we use our Open Table App to have confirmed reservations. TripAdvisor is also handy for looking at ratings and reviews of restaurants. Another convenience is we select restaurants within walking distance. We are thrilled with the three dinner venues on this visit that are true “hidden gems.”
TUJAGUE’S – Serving New Orleans for over 160 years!
While enjoying Happy Hour drinks at Luke, we chat with a couple who are frequent visitors to New Orleans. Asking for a special dining recommendation, they immediately suggest Tujague’s (pronounced two Jack’s). With reservations, we enjoy a nice stroll to the restaurant on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. Arriving at Tujague’s, we learn it’s the second oldest restaurant in New Orleans. Known as the birthplace of brunch, it is also home to the oldest stand-up bar in America. In fact, Tujague’s has been a favorite restaurant in New Orleans for over 160 years. At our table for two, by the window, we enjoy people watching as we sip our drinks and delight in the hot fresh French bread before dinner.
As we look out the window we exclaim, it’s a parade! Actually it is a parade or rally of Polaris Stingers! Each vehicle is painted a bright color and decorated with lights. Amazing! There must be over a 100 Stingers in this parade. Only in New Orleans! According to our City Sightseeing guides, New Orleans has well over 400 events or activities each year above and beyond Mardi Gras.
Our dinner begins with a wonderful Tujague’s House Salad. It is a mix of fresh baby lettuce, red onions, cucumber, feta, sugar cane vinaigrette that is especially tasty. The Gulf Fish (Black Drum) Bienville has a savory creamy crab butter sauce. My Scallops are definitely succulent with a wonderful sauce. Each dish bursts with its own special flavor. As we finish dinner, Richard declares this is the best meal on this visit to New Orleans. Tujague’s is awesome! It definitely lives up to being an unbelievable Creole dining experience. Truly a neighborhood restaurant, located in America’s oldest neighborhood—the French Quarter. While the dining area we are in is small, Tujague’s has multiple dining rooms including upstairs private dining rooms. Definitely one of New Orleans’ most famous and historic restaurants.
TRENASSE Delicious Dining!
After a full day of sightseeing, a lot of walking, and tasty lunch, we are looking for a restaurant close to our hotel. With great reviews on TripAdvisor, we make reservations for Trenasse, a store front restaurant located in the heart of New Orleans at the Intercontinental Hotel. Their menu features Gulf Coast Cuisine with a South Louisiana Flare. We both opt for a lighter dinner and are thrilled with our choices. The Shrimp Cocktail has HUGE fresh shrimp with heads on them that are excellent. While their CBD Salad is very fresh with flavors of sweet corn, radishes, tomatoes and more. Savory describes the Louisiana Crawfish Pie with a creamy crawfish étouffée baked in a handmade crust. It’s excellent! We enjoy a very nice dinner in this restaurant’s welcoming setting. Curious about the restaurant’s name, we find that Trenasse is a Cajun word describing a small ditch through the marsh used as shortcut by fishermen and trappers. A terrific dining venue!
Tasty Seafood Options at Red Fish Grill
With a saying that “Friends don’t let friends eat frozen fish” we select Red Fish Grill for dinner based on its variety of fresh seafood dishes. As we quickly learn in New Orleans, the Brennan family has restaurants of all kinds. Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Restaurant is a vibrant restaurant on the first block of Bourbon Street specializing in locally-sourced seasonal fresh Gulf fish, oysters, shrimp, crab, and crawfish. Seeking a lighter meal, I order the Crab Fingers Meunière. An awesome appetizer of crispy crab fingers with Meunière, a French sauce of brown butter, chopped parsley and lemon. The tasty home-made biscuits are flakey and hot. Richard is thrilled with the Shrimp Creole. Huge shrimp are in this tantalizing Creole sauce of heirloom tomatoes, fennel, mirliton, celery, onion, bell pepper, basil all served over quinoa. Each dish is perfect for us. We relax in the laid back vibe of Red Fish with its festive décor.
If you go:
Foodies will find a fantastic array and variety of foods in New Orleans. A city that truly has a love affair with its foods. Traditional Creole, Cajun and southern favorites are easily available in its multitude of eateries. Additionally, other cuisines can be found for those seeking new tastes or a spin on old traditions. Do research to find eateries that best meet your dining preferences. In addition to websites, such as, Open Table, Yelp, and TripAdvisor check out local recommendations at the Visitors Center and always ask for suggestions from a local for an off the beaten path eatery. You’ll be glad you did! Additionally, make reservations especially for dinner, to assure timely seating. Don’t spend your getaway waiting in lines. Wherever you dine in the Crescent City, you will delight in the tantalizing tastes of this amazing city.