What to do in New Orleans?

[Joshua Dorkin]

I'm planning a trip to New Orleans and was wondering if anyone had suggestions what to do while I'm there. Any great tours to take? Favorite restaurants? Bakeries? Best places for some jazz? Any cool local stuff to do that most tourists wish they knew about? Any feedback would be awesome.

[Richard Tuley]

Long time listener, first time caller.

I love your show.  I'm from Atlanta but I have friend's and family there and have been there at least a dozen times.

My vote is for   http://www.lafittesblacksmithshop.com/AboutUs.html

arguably the oldest bar in america, and a great piano bar at night!

I also like  http://www.mardigrasworld.com/tours/about-us/

its where they store all the floats from mardi gras parades, very unique.

http://menaspalace.com/

a great local restaurant that's not expensive.

[Scott Stevens]

Hey Josh,

I went to school two hours away in Mobile, Alabama and worked there for a couple months at Tulane in N.O when I first went on active duty with the Army. I would say to take a Streetcar ride down Saint Charles Avenue and back. That's the only route I'd go, don't bother going up Canal Street or along the river. 

One good place alot of locals, and some tourists go for breakfast is the Trolley Stop along Saint Charles Avenue. I don't eat Seafood, so outside of that suggestion, I can't recommend restaurants. I enjoy bbq, and it wasn't that good in N.O. 

If you like to run, check out Audubon Park. Even if you don't, it's a nice place to walk through, and across from Tulane. That and Magazine street may have some shops to go through. 

I actually just enjoyed walking through the French Quarter and looking into the houses and courtyards. When you walk through the streets, the part of the house you see is actually the back of the house. If you want to hear jazz, you could probably hear some on Royal Street closer to canal street.

For Jazz, and where the locals go, you'll want to go to the Fauborg Marigny. There should be some bars there that play jazz. Two things you can find in N.O are beignets, which I'd go to Cafe Du Monde for. I'd also get some Pralines while there. Personally, I liked them from Laura's Candies along Chartres street the best, but they're all over. 

You may try a ghost tour there. One place you may look up prior to going is the Lalaurie Mansion on Royal Street. I always stop by and stare when I'm in N.O. 

A word on safety, as I'm sure you are aware, N.O isn't the safest place, but don't let that scare you. You'll be safe throughout the French Quarter,, most of the Central Business District, and along Saint Charles Avenue and should be fine a block North of Saint Charles and a few blocks south. You should be fine in a little ways in the Marigny as well. Sections can change like a checkerboard, so one minute you'll see huge houses along Saint Charles and a block or two up and it's run down, but at least you have a good indicator of when the place turns bad. Enjoy it, it's hard to not enjoy the city. Expect it to be somewhat unclean and you won't be dissapointed. It's the one city I don't mind that it's dirty. It has somewhat of a do as you please attitude. You can drink on the streets throughout the city (double check that when you are there), but I have never seen any issues with drinking all over the city on the streets.

[Noah Brandon]

I'm with Richard when I say Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is worth a go. Really neat bar. 

Mimi's in the Marigny for good bar food and wonderful dancing upstairs on Friday Nights with a 70's funk DJ (at least that's the way I've known it to be). 

Atchafalya- make your own bloody mary bar at brunch. AMAZING food!

Columns Hotel- for an elegant, peaceful night of cocktails... they sometimes have great live music- depends on the night. 

The Delechaise- AMAZING food and cocktails! Get the duck fat fries!

Preservation Hall- for jazz. Most people - tourists and non tourists know this spot and love it for live jazz. 

GREAT spots that some tourists know about, but are still wonderful: Port of Call and Pat O'Brians... worth going :)

Blue Nile, Maison, Apple Barrel, - These are live music venues on Frenchman Street. Frenchman is getting increasingly popular. It used to be locals only, but now many people know about it. It is a GREAT nightlife spot!

Cure Bar and Publiq on Freret Street. Freret is WONDERFUL during the day and at night. It is uptown, but definitely worth the cab fare. Monkey Hill on Magazine is also wonderful. 

One of the most magical places on earth and best bars in the world is located in Hotel Montelone- it is called Carousel Bar. GO!!! Get a Ramos Gin Fizz. 

If you wanna get down LATE at night make sure to go to The Gold Mine in the Quarter and/or The Saint (not in the quarter... couldn't tell you where it is--- kind of in a Bermuda Triangle of NOLA- just tell the cab driver- The Saint- he'll know!)

Live music- Tipitinas- there are two locations- one near the quarter and one uptown.

FOOD: Dick & Jenny's on Tchoupatoulas, St. James Cheese Company (lunch spot) on Prytania

Cute movie theatre- The Prytania Theatre. 

If you like theatre- see ANYTHING The NOLA Project is doing while you are there. 

[Braden Smith]

Hi Joshua,

I live and work in New Orleans. To answer your questions:

Any great tours to take? 

See here - http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/tours/

I think any of those tours would be interesting for you.

Favorite restaurants?

Some of my favorite restaurants are as follows:

Breakfast/Brunch -

Dantes's Kitchen, Cafe Degas, La Crepe Nanou, Ruby Slipper, Surrey's, Satsuma

Bakeries?

Not sure what you are looking for with bakeries, but this link as some good ones - http://www.gonola.com/2013/07/30/gonola-top-5-new-...

Donuts -

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/new-orleans/best-donu... and also must try District Donuts for some very unique and creative donuts - http://www.donutsandsliders.com/#about

Lunch -

Dat Dog, Sante Fe, Cochon Butcher, Milk Bar, The Joint (BBQ), Rum House, Luke

Dinner -

Bourbon House, Mr B's, Maximos, Mr Johns Steakhouse, Desi Vega's Steakhouse, GW Fins, La Petit Grocery, MiLa, Emeril's NOLA, Delmonico, Sylvain, Meauxbar, Root, Oxalis, Herbsaint, Clancy's, La Petitie Grocery, Commander's Palace, Bayona, Muriel's, Tableau, Restaurant August... there's just too many good restaurants here! (Around 1400 or more) Check out this site for reviews from local food critic - http://nomenu.com/

Best places for some jazz?

All of these places are good - http://goneworleans.about.com/od/nightlife/tp/Jazz..., but try Preservation Hall or Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse. Also might catch some good music at the Carousel Bar & Lounge at the Hotel Monteleone or at Bacchanal's in the Bywater which I highly recommend - http://www.bacchanalwine.com/

Any cool local stuff to do that most tourists wish they knew about?

Check out Bacchanal in the Bywater and visit Cresecent Park during the day - http://www.nola.gov/city/crescent-park/. Frenchman Street at night is much better than Bourbon Street or the French Quarter and they also have the Frenchman Street Art Market - http://frenchmenartmarket.com/. Delachaise on St Charles uptown is another cool spot to relax with cool patio outside. The Columns Hotel on St Charles has a nice patio also. The Fly behind Audubon Zoo is a park on the river worth checking out - http://www.neworleansonline.com/directory/location.... Shows at the Saenger Theatre or Mahalia Jackson Theatre. Dday museum, NOMA, Contemporary Arts Center.

And depending on what time of year you plan to visit there will be some sort of festival or festivals going on as we have them pretty much year round for everything you could possible think of.

If you need any guidance when you visit feel free to reach out.

[Harry Asnien]

There are some awesome places above, Braden nailed it.

One thing I didn't know until I moved down here is that the Vietnamese food is amazing. Lots of the Vietnamese population lives in Gretna ("on the westbank") and my favorite there is Tan Dinh:
http://m.yelp.com/biz/tan-dinh-gretna

In New Orleans proper, my favorite is Pho Noi Viet:
http://m.yelp.com/biz/pho-noi-viet-new-orleans

Best bakeries are La Boulangerie on Magazine Uptown:
http://m.yelp.com/biz/la-boulangerie-new-orleans-3

And my local one is Maple St Patisserie:
http://m.yelp.com/biz/maple-street-patisserie-new-orleans

Also, make sure to hit the sculpture garden in City Park, it's free and amazing.

Make sure you're ready to eat ALOT.
Enjoy!

Harry

[Karyn T.]

Muffuletta.  Eat one.  Preferably from Central Grocery.

Seriously, I had them delivered to me in Everett (I got a dozen...they freeze well!), they're so good.  

Hmmm, I think I need to place another order now......

[Janice Harvison]

My kids enjoy the New Orleans Zoo, if you are traveling with children.

[Cal C.]

let the Vietnamese cook you up a big mess of beignets at cafe du Monde!  We also really enjoyed the WWII museum, even my non history oriented wife.  

[Joshua Dorkin]

Awesome advice so far guys!  Thanks.  I'll be in town with @Brandon Turner for a conference . . . just hoping to get some ideas and you have all really helped.

[Charles Mouille]

Karyn Tapley you are absolutely correct about the Central grocery  Muffuletta it is the best in town. My Italian roots come from Sicily so I guess I'm partial to the Central. Josh I hope you guys try it. Also a great seafood restaurant to go to is Deanie's Seafood in Metairie it's only about 15 Minutes from the french Quarter. If you don't want to leave the french quarter area there's Drago's  seafood and Acme Oyster House. Hope you guys have fun.

[Michael Coggins]

Hey guys first time poster here. Couple of things:

1. Everything listed so far is great. My only critic is it's mostly the tourist stuff although in NOLA the line between locals and tourist blurs easily. Here are my recommendations:
1. Where is your hotel? Several heavily advertised hotels are in less than desirable areas and if you are not careful you will have to take an armored car everywhere....no not really but some areas have nicer thirds who say please. Lol.

2. Antoine's may be the oldest restaurant establishment in the country and is worth a try for history and architecture people.

3. I always recommend the world war 2 museum. Not only is it world class but it's an important reminder.

4. For jazz, there are two places on Tchoupitoulas st. (Chop - a - two - las). Which are great. Dos jefes is a little known cigar bar where locals go and play late at night. Tipitinas is also very nice. They have a cool foundation where they help kids get into music.

5. Other restaurants where the locals go: Toni Angelo's, la Bocca steak house, Arnauds, foodies really like anything owned by the Brennan family.

6. Swamp yours can be had out of lafitte. Worth doing once.

Depending on the days you will be here there are several great lunch/brunch experiences. If you need anything while you are here or have questions send me a PM I'll give you my digits.

[Michael Coggins]

I apologize in advance for the ridiculous auto correct mistakes in that post

[Brandon Johnson]

Originally posted by @Charles Mouille:

Karyn Tapley you are absolutely correct about the Central grocery  Muffuletta it is the best in town. My Italian roots come from Sicily so I guess I'm partial to the Central. Josh I hope you guys try it. Also a great seafood restaurant to go to is Deanie's Seafood in Metairie it's only about 15 Minutes from the french Quarter. If you don't want to leave the french quarter area there's Drago's  seafood and Acme Oyster House. Hope you guys have fun.

I agree Deanie's Seafood is excellent, but did you know they have a location in the Quarter?

[Charles Mouille]

Hi Brandon I did not know they had a Deanie's Seafood in the French Quarter and I'm a Native of New Orleans thanks for the info. Brandon.

[Brad M.]

Hard to add much to the great recommendations above, but one of my favorite places for jazz when in NO is Fritzel's. They have a great house jazz band. It is small, and set up with a few rows of bleachers so there is no bad seat in the house.

Hotel Monteleone is also one of my favorite places. This is where we always stay, and the Carousel Bar is not to be missed (the whole bar slowly spins around...sounds worse than it is!). Eddie and Marvin are great bartenders, and there is usually good live music.

[Henry Amen]

Jacques Imos for dinner! Really cool spot

[Paul Donoho]

totally depends on the experience you want to have!  if you want touristy, you can get more than your fill of it.  if you want local, you can change your life with it ;-p  my 6 years living uptown and going to Tulane have had the biggest impact on my life and, even touring a decent amount of this world, nothing compares to the food, music and vibe of 'nawlins.  

Central Grocery muffaletta that Karyn Tapley mentioned is spot on, all i'd add is wash it down with a Barq's root beer while sitting at the Mississippi river.  you'll be glad ya did ;-p  http://www.yelp.com/biz/central-grocery-co-new-orl...

cafe du monde beignets have been mentioned and are a must do, for the people watching as much as anything.  and it puts you right at the french market, a great site to walk about.  if you're into it, on the other end of the french market you'll find the Old US Mint Museum.

if you're into architecture, on a residential scale, check out the Gallier House Museum in the quarter.  pretty mind blowing what they were doing in the late 1800's technologically

i don't think that Camellia Grill uptown on Carrollton Ave has been mentioned but it is an institution and you'll never get as good a service for diner breakfast anywhere else!  get the pecan pie warmed on the grill...  http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-camellia-grill-new-orl...

another place near and dear to my and my wife's heart is frankie and johnnies, also uptown (you'll see the theme here is we were poor college kids - yes, even tulane has some - living uptown, but in new orleans five bucks would still get you amazing real food) http://www.yelp.com/biz/frankie-and-johnnys-bar-an...

check out the Praline Connection for real food too (remember, i mentioned life changing experiences), and in faubourg marigny it's right near a lot of this other stuff http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-praline-connection-new...

for my money most of the music clubs in faubourg marigny and carrollton avenue area are awesome.  i stay away from anything french quarter anymore ;-p  and already mentioned Tipitina's is IT

laissez les bon temps rouler!

[Joshua Dorkin]

Hey Everyone -- @Brandon Turner and I had a great time in New Orleans and some of your feedback came in very handy.  Thanks guys! You rock.

[Karyn T.]

Come on!  Spill the beans!  Did you have a Muffeletta or not?!? ;)