The Greatest Locations to Eat within the Huge Straightforward. New Orleans!
New Orleans is one of the largest cities in America. The city is one of the most unique in the country, combining southern culture, French colonial aesthetics, and African American energy to create a city that stands out for its way of life, culture, and food landscape.
The city of New Orleans began its European history in the 17th century with French fur traders. The area was “New France” and stretched from Quebec City in the north to Newfoundland in the east and down to the Mississippi and Ohio valleys to Louisiana in the south. The only things that bordered on it were the American colonies to the east and the prairies to the west. Louisiana is named after the French King Louis XIV and was bought by the Americans in 1803. As early as the early 19th century, the city was a major human melting pot, and New Orleans is a major port city, which also added to its diverse mix of residents and visitors.
I have a long history with New Orleans and have traveled there many times for both work and pleasure. Joy is much more fun. And eating is a popular pastime there. Still a beehive full of diversity, history, and fun, New Orleans is one of the greatest food cities in the country. So check out some of these amazing places to eat iconic New Orleans food.
Johnny’s Po’Boys
The Po’Boy is a sandwich that’s synonymous with classic New Orleans cuisine. The sandwich is the invention of the working class and the genius of southern cuisine. Inspired by the food of the country and the people who founded the city long ago, the Po’Boy is as New Orleans as a sandwich can get. Po’Boys were invented in 1929 to feed striking tram workers and to give food to the unpaid striking workers on the picket line (hence the name). The sandwich is usually filled on crispy French bread and contains beef and fried seafood, usually prawns then topped with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, mayonnaise and sometimes onions.
A Po’Boy institution in the French Quarter since the 1950s, Johnny’s Po’Boys has always been a family-owned destination. The place is little more than a takeout counter so it’s a great place to stop by if you’re looking for a taste of history and you’re on the go. In addition to the Po’Boy, they also serve other New Orleans classics such as gumbo and jambalaya.
Stop by Johnny Po ‘Boys for a great sandwich.
Barrows catfish
Catfish has always been a popular choice for fish meat in the south, and Barrow’s Catfish is a legendary spot with some of the best fried catfish in the state. The restaurant’s history begins in the 1940s when William “cap” Barrow and his wife May founded the original Barrow’s Shady Inn restaurant. The inn serves fried catfish platters on the back door and is popular primarily for its catfish. Since then, they have opened a full-fledged restaurant with a bar and a jukebox that plays the hits.
Barrows Shady Inn stayed until 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit and they had to relocate. Now Barrow’s Barrow’s Catfish opened to the same great recipes as the original Barrow’s, including a new and improved dining area with memorabilia and delicious New Orleanian dishes like gumbo. Po’boys and, of course, flaky and delicious fried catfish.
Commanders Palace
When talking about the history of the New Orleans culinary scene, few places have the same setting as Commander’s Palace. Located on a tree-lined street in the Garden District, Commander’s Palace is a place of greatness. It has been a fine dining restaurant since 1880, making it one of the oldest eateries in town, and has seen famous chefs from Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse come through its doors.
The restaurant is award-winning and offers a glimpse into New Orleans culinary history with Haute Southern dishes that have won seven James Beard Awards. The iconic Victorian mansion is hard to miss and whether you’re looking for a romantic dinner for two or celebrating something with a large crowd, the atmosphere here is energetic and the food is incredibly delicious.
Piece of meat
This Mid City restaurant offers Mediterranean grills a chance. As the name suggests, meat is on the menu here, but more than just a place to enjoy hearty meat specialties, it’s also a place that pays tribute to the craft. Piece Of Meat is also a butcher shop where the products are slaughtered on site and come from local and sustainably managed farms. It’s old school butcher shop with new school ideas and it comes together to do something amazing. Steaks, beef brisket, ribs and sausages are in abundance here and everything is perfectly prepared.
For great Mediterranean grilling, Piece of Meat is just right for you.
Addis Nola
As proof of the steadily growing and far-reaching diversity of the city, Addis Nola brings a little foretaste of Africa to the big city. The small place opened in 2019, but is already making a big name for itself for those in the city who want to discover something new. Ethiopian cuisine is slowly making its way into American cuisine and Addis Nola is the place to be in New Orleans if you want to discover and try something new. Chef Samuel Shiferaw offers a wide variety of stews and stir-fries that are amazing, filling, and vegetarian. Heaps of red lentils, chickpeas, cabbage and carrots go well with freshly baked injera (Ethiopian flatbread).
Coffee in the world
If there’s one restaurant in town that has seen it all, it’s Café du Monde. The café’s location in the French Quarter dates back to before the area was settled. The area of the nearby market was a popular place for Choctaw indigenous people to trade their wares. When the French settled the area, they set up a market here and the French Quarter grew. In 1862, the Café du Monde opened upright in the middle of the action.
The Café du Monde is itself a testament to the spirit of the city. Nothing can stop it. The restaurant is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and only closes at Christmas and occasionally due to hurricanes. The restaurant has featured in numerous novels and books, TV shows such as The Simpsons and Tremé, and films such as Now You See Me and Chef.
But what makes it different from a café in the city? When the French settled the area, they brought coffee with them, and during the Civil War, coffee mixed with chicory became a popular product as it gave a chocolate-like taste and made it possible to further distribute the supply of coffee beans amid the shortage of bean. Café du Monde resold this and it became a hit. After the Acadiens were forcibly relocated, many ended up in Louisiana (and became Cajuns). They brought with them the French tradition of beignet, which is probably the menu item in the Café du Monde. The square piece of fried dough resembles a donut, but has no hole in the middle and is served covered with a thick layer of powdered sugar.
The menu at Café du Monde is a monument to simplicity. It is the living testament to the saying, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. The menu has hardly changed in over 100 years and offers black or “au lait” coffee, white or chocolate milk, orange juice and of course their legendary fritters.
Mother’s restaurant
Mother’s Restaurant is another New Orleans place you wouldn’t even know. The place has been open since 1938 and when they say “they don’t do it like they used to” it goes for Mother’s Restaurant. Mother’s was essentially based on selling hearty and cheap meals to everyone from longshore to lawyers to marines. Located between the waterfront and the courthouse, people looking for a Po’Boy or red bean and rice filling on the way would stop by Mother’s. In fact, legendary New Orleans jazz musician Louis Armstrong was such a fan of red beans and rice that he signed his letters “red beans and yours”.
Though Mother’s Restaurant has aged, it has never forgotten its working class origins and still serves affordable and fresh foods that the locals love, like jambalaya, gumbo, and of course, red beans and 40s rice.
Nothing special, but mothers is what I call “Gooood eatin …”.
Dooky Chase
Founded by the infamous Leah Chase, the matriarch of Creole cuisine, Dooky Chase is a place that fills your stomach as well as your soul. In 1946 Case married the jazz trumpeter Edgar “Dooky” Chase II, whose parents owned a small shop in Treme that sold lottery tickets and po’boy sandwiches. In the 1950s, Chase worked in the restaurant with her husband and over time turned it into a seated eatery. She changed the menu to reflect her Creole origins and served people who would otherwise have been prohibited from dining only in “whites”. Facilities. As such, Dooky Chase became a hot spot for civil rights activists as it was one of the few places where African American leaders could meet and discuss strategy. Chase would soon serve people like Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Rider, and AP Tureaud.
After Katrina, her restaurant was flooded but soon reopened for numerous awards, including a James Beard Award and a visit from Presidents Bush and Obama. Dooky Chase served people from James Baldwin, Hank Aaron, and Ray Charles (who mentions the restaurant in his song Early morning blues).
Dooky Chase is still strong today, and her Paris-trained grandson Edgar Chase takes over the helm in the kitchen. Chase’s Roast Chicken, Gumbo Z’herbes, and Shrimp Clemenceau are still served the way Leah Chase used to.
Jacques-Imos
For almost 20 years this restaurant has also been a kind of “anti” restaurant. Noticeable by the big sign outside that reads “hot beer, lousy food and bad service” you might be wondering why you would ever want to go inside. Just don’t listen to the sign and do it anyway. There’s a reason this place has been around for two decades and because the food is far from lousy. Serving some of the best blackened redfish and other Creole classics like boudin sausage, Jacques-Imos is a staple in the community for a reason not kidding.
Central grocery store
The Italian-American community of New Orleans has a long history. With the country bringing many immigrants into handicrafts in the early 20th century, affordable, filling food was a must. Enter Central Grocery. In the French Quarter, right next to the Café du Monde, is the Italian grocery store-restaurant Central Grocery. It was founded in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo and sold cold cuts, olives, cheese and vegetables mainly to Italian farm workers. Realizing that eating all of these things separately was becoming unwieldy, he put it on two slices of Sicilian sesame bread and called it the muffuletta. The salty-fleshy texture of meat and cheese, crowned by the saltyness of the olives and pickled vegetables, dips into the bread for a delicious sandwich that is more New Orleans than Italian.
Our last word
The New Orleans food scene is probably one of the most diverse and eclectic in the country. It’s influenced by so many things and so many people, all of whom have left their mark on the city and its food landscape. Although a dish may end up being from a specific culture, it eventually becomes New Orleanian.
