9 Must-Try Foods in New Orleans That Make This City a Food Lover’s Paradise
Plan a trip to New Orleans around meals and the itinerary builds itself. There’s a powdered-sugar stop in the morning, a sandwich that feeds two at lunch, and a dinner that tends to involve butter.
Nine places keep surfacing in local guides, travel roundups, and Reddit threads. Each one is paired with the order people recommend most.
Café du Monde
The open-air café on Decatur Street serves beignets and beignets only, ideally with café au lait. They are hot, square, and buried in powdered sugar.
Order three with a chicory coffee, hot or iced. It’s cash only, and the place gets packed, though one writer says it’s worth the crowds.
The French Quarter flagship is open 24 hours. Peek through the back window to watch the dough get made.
Central Grocery & Deli
This Italian grocery is the muffuletta’s birthplace. The sandwich is stacked with ham, salami, mortadella, and provolone, then topped with olive salad on a large round loaf.
Local chefs rate it highly. One says the bread is why a cold muffuletta works so well here, and another carries a whole one around the city in his backpack.
Order the classic, served at room temperature. Travelers say the olive salad is what makes it sing.
Parkway Bakery & Tavern
Parkway is the Mid-City po’boy shop that locals and visitors both name. The line can be long, and one visitor says it sometimes reaches out the door.
The most mentioned order in visitor tips is the surf and turf, with roast beef and fried shrimp in one sandwich. One reviewer says it’s worth the hype.
Fans of seafood go for the fried shrimp, since the batter is light and the Gulf shrimp is fresh. The roast beef version is very juicy, so grab extra napkins.
One tip from regulars: order at the bar to skip the counter line. Save room for the bread pudding.
Willie Mae’s
For years the fried chicken here has been the city’s most talked-about plate. The original Tremé building closed after a fire, and the restaurant has since reopened downtown on Baronne Street.
The order is the fried chicken. One review described it as vintage New Orleans at its best, and compared the experience to eating in someone’s house.
Reservations are advised at the new location. Before the move, lunch waits reportedly reached two hours.
Travel writers also recommend the fried chicken with red beans and rice on the side.
Dooky Chase’s Restaurant
Dooky Chase’s in Tremé is the place for Creole cooking. One guide calls it one of the best places for Creole food in existence.
The fried chicken is the headline order. Garden & Gun describes a thigh that drops crunchy crust into the red beans.
Add the family gumbo, a brothy version loaded with ham, sausage, shrimp, and crab. It tastes light and bright.
Shrimp Clemenceau, with mushrooms, potatoes, and green peas, is another signature plate. Check ahead about reservations.
Drago’s
Drago’s is the stop for oysters that never touch a shucking knife. Gulf oysters hit a hot grill and come out sizzling with garlic, herb butter, and Parmesan.
One reviewer calls them buttery, garlicky, Parmesan-y and adds that “other places do them, but none so well.” Redditors also recommend the charbroiled oysters.
Order more than you think you need. The advice is to double whatever number you had in mind.
Ask for French bread to soak up the extra butter.
Pascal’s Manale
Barbecue shrimp in New Orleans has nothing to do with a grill. The dish is jumbo, shell-on shrimp cooked in a pool of butter, garlic, and Creole spices.
Fodor’s calls Pascal’s the dish’s birthplace and the barbecue shrimp the house specialty. The shrimp are still in the shell, so the meal is messy.
It’s worth it, according to Time Out, which says to expect a mess but advises doing it anyway. Order bread to mop up the sauce.
The old oyster bar is also worth a stop. Fodor’s suggests it may be the best place in the city for raw oysters.
Brennan’s
Brennan’s is the restaurant that made bananas Foster famous. The dessert comes to the table flambéed in dark rum and is served over vanilla ice cream.
The spectacle is part of the draw. Many guests come in only for dessert, according to a roundup that quotes the owner calling it very rich and sinful.
Travel writers call it the place to savor the original. Order it at the end of a meal, or make dessert the whole plan.
The turtle soup with sherry is the other dish people recommend most here.
Joey K’s Restaurant & Bar
New Orleans cooks red beans on Mondays, and this casual Magazine Street spot does it well. One guide calls it a funky, come-as-you-are eatery with red beans that might beat your mama’s.
Order the red beans and rice with smoked sausage. Time Out describes a substantial plate that’s the kind of comfort the city does best.
The beans are simmered low and slow, and the sausage adds a smoky edge. It’s an easy lunch to fit between bigger meals.
If Monday is your day, plan around it. Red beans are the traditional Monday dish in the city.
