Best Dishes in New Orleans
50 restaurants to explore
Restaurants in New Orleans
50 restaurantsAlma Cafe
Honduran·Bywater·$$
Honduran food by James Beard semifinalist Melissa Araujo — pollo chuco and baleadas are the street food her grandmother cooked in San Pedro Sula.
Antoine's
Creole·French Quarter·$$$$
The 1840 birthplace of Oysters Rockefeller — America's oldest family-run restaurant still doing French-Creole the way Antoine Alciatore invented it.
Arnaud's
Creole·French Quarter·$$$
The 100-year-old French Quarter fine diner with a Mardi Gras Museum upstairs and Sunday Jazz Brunch downstairs — where Creole classics still taste the way your grandmother meant them.
Atchafalaya
Creole·Irish Channel·$$
The Irish Channel cottage where shrimp and grits, duck hash, and stuffed redfish reveal Chef Chip Flanagan's modern Creole vision.
Bacchanal Wine
Wine Bar·Bywater·$$
Wine bar and garden music venue in a 200-year-old building where you choose bottles from the cellar then settle in the backyard for live jazz.
Brennan's
Creole·French Quarter·$$$$
The 1946 restaurant that invented Bananas Foster and still makes them tableside with butter, brown sugar, and rum that ignite in front of you.
Brigtsen's
Creole·Riverbend·$$$
The Riverbend kitchen where Chef Frank Brigtsen's contemporary Louisiana cooking uses local seafood and seasonal vegetables.
Buffa's Bar & Restaurant
American·Marigny·$
24-hour diner and dive bar on Esplanade — voted best bar food in New Orleans 12 years straight, since 1939.
Café Beignet
Cafe·French Quarter·$
Since 1990, the lighter-weight alternative to Café du Monde with actual chairs, a full menu, and live jazz on Bourbon Street — beignets served hot and fluffy.
Café du Monde
Cafe·French Quarter·$
Since 1862, the open-air coffee stand on Decatur Street serving beignets and chicory coffee 24 hours to everyone from tourists to locals heading home.
Central Grocery
Italian·French Quarter·$
The 1906 Italian grocery where Salvatore Lupo invented the muffuletta — still made the same way with the original olive salad recipe.
Clancy's
Creole·Uptown·$$$
The Uptown Creole legend where fried oysters with brie and smoked soft-shell crab define neighborhood elegance.
Cochon
Cajun·Warehouse District·$$$
Michelin-recognized Cajun boucherie where wood-fired oysters and cochon de lait outshine fancier classics.
Cochon Butcher
Cajun·Warehouse District·$
Michelin-endorsed Cajun deli where the muffuletta ranks among the best sandwiches in North America.
Commander's Palace
Creole·Garden District·$$$$
The haute Creole temple where tableside service and bread pudding soufflé define New Orleans fine dining.
Coop's Place
Cajun·French Quarter·$
The Decatur Street dive bar since 1983 where the fried chicken is serious, the jambalaya tastes like it's been cooking for hours, and you'll wait outside but it's worth it.
Dakar NOLA
Senegalese·Lower Garden District·$$$$
James Beard Best New Restaurant 2024—a seven-course Senegalese tasting menu that begins with ataya tea and palm bread, ranked #6 in North America's 50 Best.
Dat Dog
Hot Dogs·Marigny·$
Late-night gourmet hot dogs over Frenchmen Street's best balcony — alligator sausage, duck confit, and crawfish etouffee dogs.
Deanie's Seafood
Seafood·Bucktown·$$
50+ years in Bucktown — boiled crawfish, shrimp, and crab from a historic fishing dock.
Domilise's
Po-Boys·Uptown·$
The 100-year-old po-boy corner where Leidenheimer bread and fried oysters define the gold standard.
Dong Phuong
Vietnamese·New Orleans East·$
James Beard Award-winning Vietnamese bakery since 1982 — banh mi counter and seasonal king cakes.
Dooky Chase's
Creole·Treme·$$
Where Leah Chase's Creole cooking and civil rights legacy live on — James Beard Classics Award winner, Michelin Bib Gourmand, since 1941.
Drago's Seafood Restaurant
Seafood·CBD·$$
The Hilton restaurant that invented charbroiled oysters with Parmesan in 1993—still turning out 900+ dozen daily.
Elizabeth's Restaurant
Creole·Bywater·$
Where fried oysters crown eggs Florentine and praline bacon is so good the New York Times ran a feature on it.
Emeril's
Creole·Warehouse District·$$$$
New Orleans' first two-Michelin-star restaurant—a tasting menu that begins in the kitchen with a shrimp tart welcome.
Evviva
Italian·Marigny·$$
James Beard award winner Rebecca Wilcomb's new Italian restaurant in Marigny with daily-changing menu and deviled chicken livers in spiced gumbo roux.
Frankie & Johnny's
Seafood·Uptown·$
The Uptown seafood shack since 1942 where fried platters and boiled seafood are piled high and prices stay low.
Galatoire's
Creole·French Quarter·$$$$
The 1905 Bourbon Street classic where jackets are required, servers know every table, and the menu hasn't changed enough to confuse anyone who ate here 50 years ago.
Gris-Gris
Creole·Lower Garden District·$$
The Lower Garden District casual spot where the shrimp and grits sauce takes five days to prepare and shines.
Herbsaint
French·CBD·$$$
Chef Donald Link's flagship since 2000—French-Southern kitchen where spaghetti with guanciale ranks above most pastas in New Orleans.
High Hat Cafe
Southern·Freret·$
Southern soul food on Freret Street — catfish, fried chicken, and smoked pork in a 1920s bakery.
Junebug
Southern·Warehouse District·$$
Executive Chef Shannon Bingham's new late-night dining bar in a historic jazz studio—French-Southern small plates and cocktails until midnight.
Li'l Dizzy's Cafe
Creole·Tremé·$
Next-generation Dooky Chase family outpost in Tremé — soul cooking going back to 1947.
Liuzza's by the Track
Creole·Mid-City·$$
1936 Fair Grounds institution — BBQ shrimp po'boy on a pistolette, dark roux gumbo, no frills.
Melba's
Creole·9th Ward·$$
24/7 po'boys and gumbo in the 9th Ward — born from Katrina rubble, still standing.
Mr. John's Steakhouse
Steakhouse·Garden District·$$$$
The old-school Garden District steakhouse where USDA Prime beef is seared at 1800 degrees on a Montague broiler.
Neyow's Creole Cafe
Creole·Mid-City·$$
Grandmother's Creole recipes in Mid-City — red beans, fried chicken, char-grilled oysters.
Paladar 511
Italian·Marigny·$$
Seasonal Italian meets Gulf seafood in a warehouse with soaring ceilings — the pasta is housemade, the fish is local, reservations vanish in hours.
Parkway Bakery & Tavern
Po'Boy·Mid-City·$
Oversized po'boys since 1911 — roast beef debris, shrimp, and oysters on fresh-baked bread.
Pascal's Manale
Italian-Creole·Uptown·$$$
The Uptown legend where barbecued shrimp were invented in 1953 and remain the gold standard.
Pêche Seafood Grill
Seafood·Warehouse District·$$$
James Beard-winning seafood in the Warehouse District—whole fish charred over hardwood, raw oysters from the Gulf.
Pizza Delicious
Pizza·Bywater·$
Brooklyn-born pizza in Bywater — #31 best pizza in America 2025, the place that taught New Orleans to queue for NY slices.
Saint Claire
French·Algiers·$$$$
Algiers oasis opened June 2025 — Chef Melissa Martin's French-country dining in a 1920s home.
Saint-Germain
Contemporary·Bywater·$$$$
Michelin one-star tasting menu in a Bywater shotgun house—a ten-course exploration that moves you through the restaurant, starting at the bar.
Stuph'd Beignets & Burgers
American·Bywater·$
Creole crawfish and crabmeat stuff beignets with house-made gourmet burgers in Bywater since 2016.
Sylvain
Southern·French Quarter·$$
The unruly Southern bistro in an 18th-century carriage house where the cocktails riff on classics and fried green tomatoes lead the menu.
The Kingsway
Asian Fusion·Uptown·$$$$
The Uptown tasting menu restaurant where Chef Ashwin Vilkhu's pan-Asian cuisine draws from family memory and refined technique.
Verti Marte
Deli·French Quarter·$
The 24-hour deli since 1968 where po'boys are serious business, the muffuletta made Wall Street Journal's top 5, and Anthony Bourdain ate here.
Willa Jean
Southern·CBD·$$
James Beard pastry chef Kelly Fields' CBD bakery-café—biscuits so iconic that locals arrive early to avoid hour-long waits.
Zasu
Seafood·Mid-City·$$$$
Michelin-starred cottage in Mid-City — Chef Sue Zemanick's French seafood, unexpected setting.