I often tell visitors to New Orleans that most restaurants in the French Quarter tend to be decent to pretty good at the bare minimum. This is because of the immense amount of competition that exists within this neighborhood. The French Quarter is overflowing with some of the best regarded restaurants within a city that is known for its cooking. Simply stated, if a restaurant is not able to produce a quality dining experience, then it simply does not last long in the neighborhood. Today, I would like to highlight a few more of the restaurants that I have had the pleasure of eating at while I have been living in New Orleans.
Mr. Ed’s Seafood & Oyster Bar
Mr. Ed’s is a seafood and Cajun restaurant that has been gaining traction within the region over the last few years. It has opened several locations within the French Quarter including a recent opening of a restaurant located right on Bourbon Street. They are especially well known for their oysters. Due to this reputation, I made sure that the first meal I had during my initial visit to Mr. Eds was their Rockefeller and Bienville oyster combo. Their take on Rockefeller adds on crawfish while Bienville gets a generous portion of shrimp on top. The oysters themselves were large as well. In addition, I order a side of jambalaya, gumbo, and etouffee to test their local staples and all 3 items exceeded expectations. While their Bourbon Street is often the most popular due to its status as the most recently open-ended, all their locations offer the same menu. This gives visitors the option of enjoying Mr. Ed’s among the hustle and bustle of Bourbon Street itself or enjoy a more leisurely meal in one of their other nearby French Quarter locations.
Gumbo Shop
From one restaurant that offers local staples to another, the Gumbo Shop first opened its doors in 1948 and has been operating in the French Quarter ever since. They offer courtyard dining which enhances the ambiance of the meal and offers patrons the chance to temporarily escape the noise found within the French Quarter on a regular basis if they choose to do so. If not, having a meal in their dining room is great for people watching, especially since the Gumbo Shop is located right next to iconic Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral. While they offer many New Orleans dishes ranging from etouffee to fried seafood; they are unsurprisingly best known for their gumbo. As we continuing our journey of trying out each restaurant within New Orleans we knew there was only one logical choice for what to order here during our first visit... Gumbo! Much like every other dining experience we have had within the French Quarter, we discovered this restaurant’s reputation for offering high quality gumbo was well earned. Both their seafood and chicken andouille gumbos were superb and among the best that we had tried in the city. Awesome restaurant with a great ambiance located right next to iconic Jackson Square. The meal was further enhanced by the vintage murals of New Orleans found on the walls of their dining room and the jazz music that could be heard in the air coming from the street performers that are always playing at nearby Jackson Square.
Tujague’s
Tujague’s is truly one of the cultural and historic icons of the French Quarter. The original location was first opened in 1856 and had become one of the staple bars and restaurants of the neighborhood; initially being located near the French Market. In the early 2000s, the restaurant had to relocate to a new address a few blocks down the street to a new location. Despite the move, the menu and ambiance of the original restaurant was recreated on its new home on Decatur Street. During one of our adventures into the French Quarter, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to have lunch at one of the city's oldest restaurants, were we enjoyed some sweet potato soup, seafood gumbo, and BBQ shrimp. The BBQ shrimp stood out as one of the best we have had within New Orleans.
Criollo
Moving from one New Orleans to another, the location of Criollo is the primary item that sets this restaurant apart from many others. Located inside the lobby of the iconic Monteleone Hotel on Royal Street, this is the city’s most successful privately owned hotels and is a sight to be behold with a gorgeous lobby and front facia that is covered in carved marble. Criollo proved to be an excellent restaurant to enjoy a quality brunch within the French Quarter. One our most recent trip to this establishment, we enjoyed a honey and strawberry baked brie as well as an order of strawberry and apple cinnamon beignets. Washed it all down with a cafe au lait while listening to classical music performed by two live musicians that were serenading the restaurant from the stage setup in the middle of the restaurant. This is a restaurant I would highly be recommended to anyone visiting this city. If nothing else, wandering through the hotel itself is well worth the time to take in the craftsmanship that can be seen in every corner of the hotel. While you are there, be sure to check out the famous carousel bar on the other side of this restaurant; an artfully restored and functional carnival carousel that functions as a bar.
Acme Oyster House
Acme Oyster house is often featured on travel and food shows and has become one of the most popular restaurants in New Orleans as a result. Because of this, lines that are multiple blocks long are not an uncommon site if you show up to Acme during their lunch of dinner rushes. In addition, the restaurant is often filled up entirely. While this may be overwhelming for some, at the same time this does provide a very lively and energetic environment that is part of the reason it has attained so much popularly, in addition to the quality oysters that they regularly serve here. Whether it is their raw oysters on a half shell, or their charbroiled oysters cooked over a grill; oyster aficionado’s well view this restaurant as a quality and memorable experience. For those brave enough, you can even try out their oyster challenge; 12 dozen oyster on the half shell that must be completed within an hour. Be sure to look at their Hall of Fame mounted on the wall to see the names of who have been able to complete this challenge in the past, including Adam Richmond who featured this challenge on his popular Man vs. Food show.
Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar
For those seeking a bit more of a laid-back atmosphere instead, the venture across the street from Acme and give Felix a shot instead. This Cajun restaurant that specializes in oysters is located right on Bourbon Street has been on my list for several months before I was finally able to try it. As with all other restaurants on this list, it did not disappoint at all. Much like Acme and Mr. Ed’s, Felix is best known for its variety of Oysters. During my first visit to Felix, I had their oysters Felix; fried oysters served with their secret roux-based sauce. I mixed it with their oysters du jour, which happened to be oysters on the half shell served with melted parmesan-based sauce that day. This oyster’s de jour menu option is one of my favorite aspects of Felix’s since you never know what new recipe the chef will be offering on any given day you decide to visit this restaurant. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I often tell people that every restaurant in the French Quarter is required to be great out of necessity simply because of the immense competition in the area. Even less well-known restaurants still serve incredible food, and this restaurant is an example of just that.
I hope these ideas provide motivation and inspiration for my readers who are considering adding New Orleans to their travel plans. This unique culinary city offers many more amazing restaurants to try out and I look forward to sharing these with you on upcoming posts. But that will have to wait for another day…
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