A few days in New Orleans

[Missy]

I'll be on a business trip to NO in a couple of weeks. I've reserved one night at Clancy's, one at Brigtsen's. What am I in for? My fear is that the food at those places looks rather similar. Perhaps I'd be better off with another choice?

Any good lunch choices (up- or downscale) within walking distance of the hotel?

Also, I arrive early (8:30 a.m.) on a Sunday. My plan is to drop the luggage at the hotel (Hilton Riverside) and walk and eat until 4 p.m., when I have to get back to a meeting (hotel food dinner). Can anyone give me some good hints on how to spend a productive day, hopefully returning stuffed enough that I won't have to endure meeting food, and exercised enough so that I won't have to endure my fat jeans?

[bleachboy]

Some places I like:

La Madeleine French Bakery (547 St Ann St)

A great French bakery located in an old ice cream parlor. Get a tart or whatnot, and sit around and drink coffee. A good long walk from just about anywhere.

Mother's (401 Poydras St)

A great and inexpensive Po Boy with charming (if you're a tourist) service. In the CBD, across the street from the W hotel, only about 2 blocks from your hotel, IIRC. The best bread pudding I've found, anywhere, and they give you like a pint to an order.

Herbsaint (701 Saint Charles Ave)

Also in the CBD. Great French-Creole food, try the Duck Confit or for a snack the Charcuterie Selection. The chef there was sous chef at Bayona for a long time, and I think Susan Spicer owns the place. (See below)

Bayona (430 Dauphine)

A block or so away from Bourbon, this is one of my favorite restaurants in the USA. Definitely get the sweetbreads, the black bean cake, and the quail salad. Go here for dinner. I can't get enough of chef Susan Spicer's cooking.

Also, any of Emeril's restaurants are excellent, just try to ignore the obnoxious Emeril groupies. Finally, I hear Peristyle (1041 Dumaine St) is awesome, but I won't be there until the end of November, but I can report after that.

Note that if you want jambalaya, gumbo, blackened XYZ ("cajun food"), you should go someplace like K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen (416 Chartres).

If I were you, I would cancel my reservation at Brigtsen's and make it Bayona instead. It's romantic, charming, and utterly scrumptious. They have a website here.

[jbraynolds]

Herbsaint is my favorite, I suppose. Peristyle is remarkable...get the crab/beet/horseradish salad. You can also have a few apps in the bar area. Very, very nice people and wonderful food. The new chef at Cuvee is doing a great job, by the way. And, yes, the Emeril's group is great if busy as all get out. Lunch at Delmonico is one of the best deals in the country and the wine lists at all of Emeril's places are excellent. If you do go to Clancy's, make sure that you try the smoked soft shell crabs.

[Mayhaw Man]

In the "best deals" category I would like to put in my vote for Commander's Palace. Three course lunch for under $20 with one dollar martinis. You can include bread pudding soufflee as long as you order when you sit down, as it is made to order and takes a while (fine at dinner, but usually a little too long at lunch). Weekdays only.

I like Clancy's (get the mussel's, they are awesome and the liquid they are served in is good enough to drink. Bad manners i know, but you don't know any of those people ) and Brigsten's. I enjoyed Cuvee (and Kenny La Cour's Northshore place is good as well, Dakota).

Herbsaint, Bayona, and Peristyle are all great (although I think Bayona is rediculously expensive, but I live in New Orleans and probably think alot of things expensive many of you left and right coasters would not blink at)

For a Sunday casual walk and eat, you could do worse than a snack at the bar at both the Palace Cafe and Mr. B's, coffee and pastry at CC's and finish up with a big meal at NOLA (Emeril's BIG food place). Yes it is full of sycophants who are hoping for a glimpse of the little Portugese elf yelling Bam!, but it is an interesting place to eat a casually served, but delicious, over the top type meal. The double cut porkchop with sweet potatoes is good and the desserts are good to great (the portions are rediculously large, so plan on sharing or not eating it all or exploding, your choice)

*edited for crummy typing

Edited October 24, 2003 by Mayhaw Man (log)

[bleachboy]

In the "best deals" category I would like to put in my vote for Commander's Palace. Three course lunch for under $20 with one dollar martinis. You can include bread pudding soufflee as long as you order when you sit down, as it is made to order and takes a while (fine at dinner, but usually a little too long at lunch). Weekdays only.

One dollar martinis? I had no idea! I have eaten at Commander's for dinner and was underwhelmed (but, admittedly, suffering from a horribly-sprained-the-previous-day ankle) but getting drunk and sated for $24 (plus probably about another $6 for the cab to my company's apartment on Camp St) sounds good to me! Followed by a nap of course.

One other thing to mention, going for brunch/lunch at Galatoire's (209 Bourbon) is a real hoot.

[Dave the Cook]

This goes back aways, but the last time I was in New Orleans, I had dinner at Upperline in the Garden District. Not only was the food great, it was nice to get out of the Quarter and the CBD for a while. The trolley ride is pleasant, too.

Is it still any good?

[PopsicleToze]

Upperline is excellent, as always. I have never heard of one negative review of the place, even from locals. My favorite is the trout meuniere, but many people love Upperline's duck dishes, also. The restaurant is no longer open for lunch, however.

[APPS411]

A good lunch place with a great sampling of NO cuisine is Mr. B's Bistro. Very reasonable and always packed around lunchtime. Famous for their BBQ shrimp. Messy but real good.

I third the Upperline vote. It has become a recent favorite of mine. A good creole/french contemporary mix. Very pleasant staff and away from the french quarter which is nice for a change.

Wasn't too impressed w/ Bayona. Emerills Delmonico has a decent menu. But stay awa from his signature place. Great decor but never had a good meal there except for the fried calamari app.

[beegew]

Just got back from Nawlins on Monday. Thursday was dinner at Feelings Café, in the Bywater district. Always consistently yummy, with a Gulf Fish (almost always drum)Florentine that I've formed a hideous addiction to, and that my husband NEVER orders, preferring to eat something different each time, as he counts on filching off my plate. Lunch and brunch are at Elizabeth's. Incredible stuff there.

Friday night dinner at the Red Fish Grill. Pricey, and service like lightening. Well worth going at least once, BUT...tell them right up front that you want to eat at your own pace, and let them know you mean it. It will be a leisurely, delightful dinner, as it should be, for what they charge.

Saturday we broke down, and ate at Emeril's. My girlfriend had made the reservations a month before, for seating at the counter. (There's only 2 seatings ~ 6 and 9 p.m.) After all I've read, and his show wears on me, I was not looking forward to it, but HEY! She was buying. Well, knock me over with a spoon. It was fantastic. The service was exemplary, the food, from complimentary appetizer through dessert, was divine, and we will gladly go back. The grill meister for the evening was ever so personable and indeed a meister. Watching the kitchen in full swing with your own tour guide is an illuminating experience. (My husband made points when he caught sight of his chef paws and exclaimed 'Eric! You have hands like a gladiator!') The only downside is an over priced wine list-yeeow! We'll check the corkage fee before the next visit. (Hubby said to add: Cocktails were also on the $$ side, but worthy, portion-wise.)

The problem with visiting New Orleans is finding places you adore, and then breaking out of the rut to try somewhere new. Helluva problem for a city to have, huh?

[Rachel Perlow]

One other thing to mention, going for brunch/lunch at Galatoire's (209 Bourbon) is a real hoot.

Is brunch/lunch only on Sunday, or weekdays too? Explanation please, how is it a "real hoot"?

[Mayhaw Man]

One other thing to mention, going for brunch/lunch at Galatoire's (209 Bourbon) is a real hoot.

Is brunch/lunch only on Sunday, or weekdays too? Explanation please, how is it a "real hoot"?

Lunch is everyday.

I believe the "hoot" he is referring to is that Galitoire's is old New Orleans at it's quirkiest. The menu doesn't change much. People tend to order the same thing over and over from the same waiter that they "had" when they were children. Wine buckets are placed on the floor, bread is placed directly on the table cloth and the powdered sugar from the fried eggplant appetizer (mmmmmm) is on everything and everybody.

Until the upstairs opened (huge news in New Orleans) there were people who made a reasonable amount of money standing in line to hold lunch spots for people, as they did not take reservations for about the first 75 years.

I have been eating there my ntire life. Had my first communion dinner there, met my future inlaws there, etc. Pretty much every large event in my life and the lives of many other New Orleanians has been celebrated there. It is THE classic in a town full of classics. It is fun for locals who come in and gladhand it around with familiar faces and it is fun for out of towners to come in and watch the spectacle and eat some fabulous food at the same time.

There is a bizarre sense of "sameness" there that is hard to find anywhere else. Certainly Antoine's is older, but it is stuffy and the food is frankly, though classically done, average at best.

I have attached an article which kind of explains how seriously people take this place. This whole thing got blown way out of proportion and became silly in the extreme. If you will look at the archives on NOLA.com and slick on Chris Rose, you will find some very opinionated and very funny coverage of the bizarre events surrounding the controversial switch from hand chipped to cubed ice

Seriously silly business about ice

[jbraynolds]

I was with of a group of high-end out of town chefs and wine importers who were in N.O. for a charity dinner and we all went to Galatoire's for lunch. Everyone had a blast. Lots of Champagne, Bloody Marys, Martinis, Gimlets and Sazeracs and, yes, great classic dishes. Remarkable time...gotta mix the powdered sugar with Tabasco. Has to be one of the great N.O. dining experiences