New Orleans Recs

[winnied]

H and I are tentatively planning a trip to NOLA for spring 2013. Any recs? We'll probably do our hotel through Priceline but any restaurant and activity recs would be fantastic! Budget is flexible and we love food, music, walking around neighborhoods, and history.

[winterbride1220]

you will love NOLA. landmarks are the Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait. Mothers for homestyle breakfast, diner food, etc. the Emeril Lagasse restaurant.

also, we did a boat tour that was impressive.

walking architectural tour

just a great city.

[Deleted]

I like August restaurant. It was the only placed we planned to eat and actually made it there. There are so many restaurants in the French Quarter that you will stumble over them, with their menus posted at the door and sample dishes sitting outside, you'll be able to find good food pretty quick. I also enjoyed Sucre for dessert.

Cajun Encounters does city tours and swamp tours. We did a swamp tour and it was really awesome. Google the company and book your tickets online to save a few dollars. Our guide grew up in the area and told us amazing stories about the swamp, local history, his family history, etc. It was educational and very interesting. The don't do airboat tours because it disrupts the wildlife and they can't get as deep into the swamp with them either. We got to see so many animals in their natural habitat and it was actually really beautiful deep in the swamp with all the moss hanging on the trees.

I also think the cemetaries are very interesting.

We also looked into Mardi Gras World, the aquarium, and a steam boat trip. We'll have to try those next time.

[omeomi]

Restaurants:
Nicer - Commander's Palace, Galatoire's, Brennan's
Breakfast - Camellia Grill (toward the end of the St Charles trolley line). Get there early because they only seat about 12-15 people.

Pat O'Briens is a great dueling piano bar in the Quarter.

Of course, as PP said, Cafe DuMonde is a must do.

I had a blast doing a swamp tour the last time I was there. Also, the haunted tours in the evenings are fun.

I've been to Mardi Gras World, it was ok. But I'm not a huge Mardi Gras kind of person.

Definitely walk around the Garden District. Lovely homes/neighborhoods there.

I've always stayed at the Bourbon Orleans in the Quarter. Nice place, decently priced, and great location if you plan on doing a lot of evening stuff throughout the Quarter/Bourbon St.

[dorothyinAus]

Not sure when you are planning to visit, but there are a few big events in NOLA in the spring. Not the least of which is Jazz Fest which is the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May (April 26 - May 5). But before the Jazz Fest is French Quarter Fest (April 11-14) and the weekend around St. Patrick's day is pretty busy with city-wide celebrations/parades. Hotels and restaurants can be packed during the big festival weekends so if you know when you are coming, it's best to book early.

Spring is can be very hot, so prepare for the possibilities of summer like heat and humidity. If you are there in May, you can indulge in snowballs -- Plum Street and Hansen's Sno-Biz are the best. The Creole Creamery on Prytania has great ice cream, and is just a couple blocks off the St. Charles Avenue Streetar line.

I can definitely recommend Commander's Palace, Galatoire's, and Antoine's for fancy meals. I like Zea and Pascal's Manale for more casual meals and Franky & Johnny's or Joey K's for a true New Orleans neighborhood restaurant experience. Angelo Brocato has great Italian pastries.

[Deleted]

Our favorite breakfast was at Ruby Slipper Cafe, we ate here twice.
Our favorite dinner was at Sylvain.
We also had a nice lunch at Red Fish Grill.
I was wholly unimpressed with Herbsaint.
Drinks at Hermes Bar.

The aquarium was quite nice and a great way to beat the heat. We went for memorial day weekend. We took the trolley out through the garden district and walked, walked, walked.

[Dusky]

For food - I really liked Central Grocery. The store itself doesn't look like much, so don't let it fool you. The muffulettas there are fantastic.

[Nonny]

Ditto a bunch of the PP's recommendations. When we went last year the only place we knew for sure we'd hit was Commander's Palace and Cafe Du Monde. But really what we ended up doing was eating our way around and stumbling across awesome places by accident.

I'd heard about Restaurant August and when we wandered past it we ate their for lunch (amazing! hands down better than Commander's Palace, which was good, but not spectacular). Mother's ended up being across the street from our hotel (Lowes) and we kept seeing super longs lines there all the time, so we went there one day and had Po Boy's, grits, and pecan pie. Yum! We ended up at Acme Oyster house because my H wanted crawfish boil and found them on Yelp! LOL! We also stopped for muffuletta's at Central Grocery one lunch as well, and I can't tell you how sad I am that I can't eat them regularly in Seattle.

We also did a swamp tour with Cajun Encounters thanks to a recommendation from here, and it was very enjoyable. The one downside though was it was about 2 hour round trip on a bus, which really cut into our day. But still worth it.

[winnied]

Thanks for your help!

[shauni27]

I just loved walking around and exploring, and both times I have been have been really short trips, so I have never done a full guided tour, etc. But the cemetery tours looked really interesting.

I loved Deannies, Mothers, Acme, and Pat O'Brien's was great fun as well. I feel like you cannot go wrong with great food in Nola!

[horseoutside]

I love NOLA! You've got some great recommendations so far but I'd add Lafitte's blacksmith bar and Frenchman St.