Eat Well New Orleans Style

This town has its own unique food, and an amazing list of restauarants. Here’s a list culled and edited from Fodor’s:

Best Restaurant in the Quarter: It’s right on the edge — of the neighborhood, but not this category. Marisol’s, 437 Esplanade Ave. (tel. 504/943-1912), has the most interesting and inventive food in the city at this time. Each night, the menu changes according to the chef’s whim. This means chances are taken, both by the chef and by the diners, but in a town that too often features culinary followers rather than leaders, we are glad someone is so boldly forging ahead. Open for business.

Best for cheap scenery: Listen to the jazz at Café du Monde, 800 Decatur St. (tel. 504/581-2914), where getting powdered sugar all over yourself is half the fun. It’s large and open-air, and street performers are always around. Open for business.

Best Gumbo: More fighting words, but you can’t go wrong at Dooky Chase, 2301 Orleans Ave. (tel. 504/821-0600), or Galatoire’s,
209 Bourbon St. (tel. 504/525-2021).

Best Barbecued Shrimp: That’s Cajun-style, in a spicy, garlicky butter sauce, and while Pascal’s Manale, 1838 Napoleon Ave. (tel. 504/895-4877), invented it (and has the largest shrimp), And for fans, Liuzza’s by the Track up in Mid-Town does it on a po’ boy!

Best Oysters: Or “ersters” as the locals would say. Locals insist that Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar, 739 Iberville St. (tel. 504/522-4440), has the best.

Best Contemporary Creole: The food at Brigtsen’s, 723 Dante St. (tel. 504/861-7610), and Upperline, 1413 Upperline St. (tel. 504/891-9822), is consistently interesting, innovative, and delicious.

Best Classic New Orleans Restaurant: Of the three mainstays of New Orleans dining (the others being Galatoire’s and Antoine’s), Arnaud’s, 813 Bienville St. (tel. 504/523-5433), is the one where you can count on getting a consistently good (and maybe even great) meal in the same way, and in the exact same surroundings, that generations of New Orleanians have done before you. A word of caution: bring your VISA, ‘cause this food ain’t cheap.

Best Po’ Boys: The drippy monster creations at Mother’s, 401 Poydras St. (tel. 504/523-9656), are the bomb and the buttah.

Best Muffulettas: You really haven’t had a sandwich until you’ve tried a muffuletta, and no one beats Central Grocery, 923 Decatur St. (tel. 504/523-1620).

Best Hot Dogs: Lucky Dogs are so good they are the only puchcart vendors licensed in the French Quarter. These dawgs are legendary.