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New Orleans
An Essential Taste of New Orleans
From stalwarts for Creole cuisine to celebrity chefs, these are the culinary musts when visiting the Big Easy
By Renée S. Suen
Few American cities capture the attention of food lovers like New Orleans. Here, food plays a central role in the city’s identity, along with the distinctive flavours of Creole and Cajun cuisines. Heavily influenced by its history, New Orleans’ unique culinary heritage—its signature bites like po’ boys, red beans and rice or even the colourful king cake—results from the intersection of French, Spanish, West African and Italian cultures with local Native American and African-American cuisines.
From decades-old stalwarts to popular neighbourhood haunts, a visit to Louisiana’s largest city is rich with delicious finds. Whether it’s beignets, gumbo or downing a Hurricane cocktail while strolling down Bourbon Street (yes, open containers are legal in the French Quarter), eating and drinking in New Orleans is vibrant and extremely accessible. These are the musts.
For Classic Creole
As the grand dame of New Orleans-style fine dining, Commander’s Palace is a beloved landmark eatery. This Garden District Victorian-era mansion restaurant is where star chefs, including Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse, started their careers. The kitchen, now under its first female executive chef Meg Bickford, prepares an haute menu featuring local farm-raised products and bayou treasures. Besides great hospitality and service, it also has benchmark-setting Creole dishes like turtle soup that’s finished table-side with a splash of aged sherry and an ethereal bread pudding soufflé.
Known for its Southern hospitality, Brennan’s is also famous for serving fancy breakfasts. The historic French Quarter restaurant, which completed a massive multi-million-dollar renovation 10 years ago, boasts a dazzling space where Creole cuisine is served including traditional numbers like seafood gumbo and eggs Hussarde, an original take on eggs Benedict that’s blanketed with Marchand du vin (red wine reduction) and hollandaise sauces. But don’t miss the bananas foster. The crowd-pleasing classic New Orleans dessert of bananas flambéed with rum served over ice cream was birthed in this dining room.
A Quintessential Must-Stop
Perhaps the best-known pairing in the Big Easy is found at this iconic French Quarter landmark across Jackson Square. Since opening in 1862 in the bustling French Market, Café Du Monde has been drawing crowds for its beignets—square-shaped pieces of leavened dough that are deep-fried and served three to an order buried under a mountain of confectioners’ sugar. Enjoy it with the signature French chicory coffee served au lait as you people watch from one of the café’s many formica tables.
For Food Network TV Fans
Renowned culinary personality Emeril Lagasse has been an inspiration to chefs and home cooks who recognize the charismatic chef from his much-loved show, Emeril Live. His flagship restaurant, Emeril’s, is a fine dining institution infused with Southern hospitality. Reopened in late 2023 under the leadership of Lagasse’s 21-year-old son, E.J., the intimate tasting-menu-only experience offers a classic menu of refined Louisiana cooking rooted in Emeril’s signature bold flavours, and a seasonal menu from locally sourced ingredients.
For Unparalleled Sandwiches
Few things top a well-constructed sandwich, and New Orleans knows how to build some of the best. There’s the gargantuan muffuletta sandwich, created by Central Grocery in 1906, that piles cold cuts, cheese and olive salad between a halved round of Sicilian bread. Find a fine version at Cochon Butcher. While the po’ boy dates back to the 1920s, these days the airy New Orleans-style French bread can be stuffed with everything from roast beef to fried seafood like Gulf oysters and shrimp, or even smoked alligator sausage, which you’ll find at Parkway Bakery & Tavern. Newer players like Turkey and the Wolf have become a favourite because of the delicious twists it puts on childhood classics. Take the collard green melt. Here, rich butter-griddled bread separates a layer of crunchy coleslaw from flavour-packed braised collard greens that drips with a spicy pickled cherry pepper-studded Russian dressing.
Toast a Classic
Synonymous with the Crescent City, the timeless Sazerac is a stiff slow sipper. Concocted by Creole apothecary Antoine Peychaud in 1838, the cognac turned rye whisky-based cocktail is made from the Peychaud family’s bitters with a little sugar served in an absinthe-rinsed glass with a twist of lemon peel. The city hosts many excellent options, but the Art Deco-style Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel has been serving it to everyone who’s anyone since 1938.
Travel planner
For more travel information about New Orleans, visit NewOrleans.com
