15 Best Restaurants in New Orleans That You Must Try (2024)
New Orleans is known for its gastronomic influence. You can find French Italian cajun creole and other food interacting influences all over the city. It is the land of po’boys, etouffee, and gumbo. While you are in New Orleans, you should not miss out on its signature food which is creole. Immigrants from West Africa, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany generally influence the signature dish. These immigrants are known to find their way to Louisiana even before it became a part of the United States of America.
No doubt the city is fantastic for your vacation activities like city Park, capturing Frenchman’s garden and Marie Laveau’s tomb. Just like this city, even the cuisine here in New Orleans is ever-changing. New Orleans has a lot to do, and it can be challenging to know where you should start from. For instance, whether Danish-inspired ebelskivers or Vietnamese-inflected Mardi Gras kicking cake, you name it, and you find it here.
You can find plenty of restaurants here; whether you are looking for drinks late, night snacks, brunch or breakfast, or even occasional meals, a list of iconic New Orleans restaurants has your back.
Some of the best restaurants in New Orleans that you must try are as follows.
1. Brennan’s Restaurant
While in New Orleans, you should start your day with just the right cocktail. A morning sip at Brennan’s restaurant is a logical prerequisite. Since the early 50s, the restaurant has been serving boozy breakfasts. While you are here, you should not miss out on Brandy milk punch, the brunch staple in New Orleans featuring freshly grated nutmeg as a dressing. You can binge on some spicy barbecued lobster while sipping on your favorite cocktail. The best part about the place is that the deserts are also alcohol-soaked, and bananas foster was first started in Brennan’s restaurant. The exciting dessert dish features a dramatic finale where the rum is flamed.
2. Bywater American Bistro
The Bistro is nestled in Nina Compton, which is an industrial space. This space is known as an American industrial restaurant. When you visit this restaurant, you should try jerk chicken rice and crispy hogs. The best of all year is the gulf fish, presented in thoughtful ways just like the rabbit Curry.
3. Café Beignet
While in New Orleans, you can wake up and stroll over to this café on royal street. The doughnut is the standard breakfast dish you can relish first thing in the morning. The only reason you should have Donuts here is that the dough is made fresh every day and kept for 3 hours to rise, which is the secret to its light texture. Then the dough is deep fried and ready to be served after a Blizzard of powdered sugar. You can pair it with the signature chicory coffee from the café, which has the perfect balance of bitterness and sweetness.
4. Junction
Head to a junction if you are craving some burgers while in New Orleans. The specialty of these burgers is that the grass-fed meat is ordered from a cattle ranch owned by Llyod Miller. At least half a dozen basic burger variations are available at this bar, so you must head here and enjoy the best burgers in town.
5. Cochon
The restaurant is nestled in a warehouse specializing in comfort food Cajun flavors. Some of the must-try hearty dishes here include fried alligator featuring chili garlic mayonnaise. Rabbit and dumplings on another must-try dish here. It features a warm stew featuring savory hubs. The dish is served in a separate iron skillet.
6. Walkers BBQ
Regarding Po boys, shrimp and oysters are synonymous, but at this restaurant, seafood is swapped out for suckling pig or French Louisiana cochon de lait. Wanda Walker owns the restaurant and uses pork butt as the significant ingredient. This ingredient is perfectly seasoned, and the owner does not leave any stone untouched to create a crispy black bark. Sandwiches are the signature dish here, where the typical PO boy baguette is cut into slices, spiced with Cajun sauce, and stuffed with Smokey creamy coleslaw.
7. Antoine’s Restaurant
The restaurant is about history, as the menu here has been unchanged for a century. In 1889 oysters Rockefeller were created in the restaurant, and the exact recipe is still used today. To date, this is a must-have dish in this restaurant. The buttery-rich sauce features around four types of greens. It is piped in oysters, and the oysters are then baked in a special oven. Baked Alaska egg Sardou and Brandy’s spiked coffee are some of the must-indulge items on the menu. The luxurious services and surroundings draw customers to this restaurant even after being in the vicinity for 200 years.
8. Brown Butter Southern Kitchen and Bar
The casual restaurant is located in the mid-city strip mall. You can relish some South-inspired dishes while you are here. The burger is the signature dish of this restaurant as it features a short brisket trip Patty coated in Brie cheese and quenched in bacon onion jam. The patty is placed on a bun dipped in garlic aioli and covered with Sunnyside egg, enhancing the richness. Don’t forget to pair the burger with a thin fried pickle for better enjoyment.
9. Central Grocery
Central Grocery is placed in the small Italian markets where you can relish a flat sandwich for 3 pounds, and it is worth it while you are in New Orleans. A study loaf is used to place all the basic cold cuts. The restaurant sources all the bread from bakeries in the vicinity to support the meat filling. The loaf is cut in half, brushed with some olive oil, and Swiss cheese slice upon slice of capicola mortadella provolone is layered and more cold cuts are added. All salads are used to add the final touch to the sandwich, which creates a delicious flavor.
10. Arnaud’s
Enjoy a romantic date night with your better half at Arnaud’s, as the restaurant is known for its fantastic cocktails and soft candlelight. The main dining room features a mezzanine, popularly as the lover’s lookout. Bananas foster is a famous dessert, especially for date nights here, featuring a local invention and a dramatic presentation on the table. The dish is perfect for two as the bananas are half and sauteed in a caramel sauce featuring brown sugar and crème of banana liqueur and dunked with Jamaican rum for a dramatic presentation on the table. Cinnamon adds to the drama as the bananas are blazed until a crisp, delicate shell caramelizes around them. The final touch of vanilla ice cream adds richness to the dish.
11. Cane and Table
Nestled near one of the oldest ports of New Orleans. The restaurant has a prominent forex culinary heritage menu. Recipe rum ribs are a must-have in this restaurant as the ribs here are seasoned and grilled, featuring a mixture of 3-year-old Guyanese rum onions, garlic, ginger, Peppers, etc. The tender meat is drenched in buttermilk after a 3-hour turn in the oven. The house blend floor is added to make the dish extra crunchy. Sweet papaya chutney adds to the flavor.
12. Elizabeth’s
You can have a tremendous late-night celebration at Elizabeth’s in New Orleans. The locals relish a hearty country breakfast here. The centerpiece is all about meat, and its succulent pork is smoked on the site. For the signature dish, the chef uses heritage Berkshire pork which features excellent marbling to ensure optimum flavor. The meat is then hit with spicy laden dry rub and pecan wood used as the smoking wood. The dishes are then served with a sausage studded gravy, praline bacon, Sunnyside eggs, and cheese grits.
13. Mothers’ Restaurant
If you are looking for comfort food, their mother’s restaurant has everything you would love to relish. Everything is available all day, whether it’s classic po boys or breakfast items. Bread pudding here is worth the wait, and you often see a line out the door. The traditional bread pudding dish is served with some added fruits. You can taste cherry Peach pear in every spoon of the parting. The pudding is so soft that you would relish it in every bite. If you want to have something savory, then you can try omelets filled with crawfish etouffee.
14. Hight Hat Café
Even though it was recently opened in 2010, this café has won hearts. The menu featuring Louisiana staples makes you feel at home. Fried oyster remoulade PO boy is delicious and one of the best po boys you can have around the city. The gulf oysters are drenched in cornmeal dredge, which is deep fried and placed in homemade remoulade that enhances the rich taste of the typical mayonnaise. The oysters are dipped in the classic pop boy loaf, toasted in mayonnaise, and paired with tomato and lettuce on top.
15. Restaurant August
The great 19th-century space offers modern French cuisine featuring crystal chandeliers, antique mirrors, and polished wood floors. Most dishes are made from local ingredients like handmade potato gnocchi in the blue crab. The dishes are served in rich vermouth spiked sauce, and the blue carbs add Briney flavors to each bite.
When in New Orleans, your tummy and taste buds are going to be super happy, as you will get to relish some very scrumptious dishes. Get ready to experience and taste the mouth-watering food, which will help you be in paradise. Every restaurant here is unique in its own way, and has so much to offer, right from beautiful ambience, tasty food, exciting mocktails, the view and what not!
We are sure you will have a gala and most memorable time at New Orleans!