Best of New Orleans

The 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