Best of New Orleans
ByAndrew Evans
November 10, 2011
4 min readThe time has come to judge and be judged. Though it’s always hard to choose what’s best in any place, I’m presenting a list of all my New Orleans favorites. As always, feel free to add your own favorites in the comments: New Orleans has no end of hidden gems.
FOOD
- Best menu: Jacques-Imo’s
- Best dive restaurant: Adolfo’s
- Best cocktail bar: Tonique
- Best brunch: Satsuma Cafe
- Best diner: Stanley
- Best French cuisine: Arnaud’s
- Best fine dining: Restaurant August
- Best beignets: Café du Monde, obviously
- Best muffaletta: Central Grocery
- Best po’ boy: Guy’s Po’ Boys “The Bomb” (grilled shrimp & fried catfish)
- Best pralines: Loretta’s (peanut butter is the best of the best)
- Best seafood: Commander’s Palace
- Best bacon: praline bacon: @ Elizabeth’s
- Best bread pudding: Drago’s
- Best jambalaya: John Besh
- Best gumbo: Patois
- Best oysters: Abstain. (I won’t even go there because I want to be able to show my face in New Orleans again. You just have to try them all.)
- Best gas station gourmet: Hubig’s pies
HOTELS
- Best bed-and-breakfast: Marigny Manor House
- Best room with a view: Westin New Orleans Canal Place (28th floor)
- Best boutique hotel: Maison Dupuy
- Best bed off Bourbon Street: Hotel Marais
- Best breakfast buffet: Hyatt Regency
MUSIC
- Best musical discovery: Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue
- Best nightspot: Mimi’s in the Marigny
- Best jukebox: Maple Leaf Bar
- Best scene after 2 a.m.: Candlelight Lounge
- Best big jazz: Treme Brass Band
- Best band I stumbled upon in the street: Sam Doores & the Tumbleweeds
SHOPPING
- Best masks: Maskarade
- Best feather boas: Mardi Gras World
- Best costume shop: Carl Mack Presents
- Best magic spells: Witchy Living
- Best bookstore: Faubourg Marigny Books
- Best store for a writer: Papier Plume
And a few more personal favorites:
- Favorite park: City Park
- Favorite street in the French Quarter: Royal Street
- Favorite church: St. Patrick’s on Camp Street
- Best tailgating: Loyola Avenue before a Saints game.
- Best house-gawking: St. Charles Avenue (Uptown), Magazine Street (Garden District) and Barracks Street (French Quarter)
- Best people-watching: CVS on Canal Street after midnight
- Best gym: New Orleans Athletic Club
- Best sober fun: New Orleans Healing Center
- Favorite runs: along the Mississippi waterfront, along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, or on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar tracks
- Best activity for children: Louisiana Swamp Exhibit at Audubon Zoo
- Best tourist trap that’s still worth doing: Steamboat Natchez
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