Welcome to the USA’s best food city
When it comes to destinations in the United States, few have culinary traditions as distinct as New Orleans. Here’s how to experience them.
TripAdvisor has given out its 2024 gongs and New Orleans has taken out top spot for cuisine. It’s not hard to see why. There’s a blend of tradition and innovation when it comes to ingredients, recipes and techniques. But if you’re visiting New Orleans – also known as NOLA for short – for the first time, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve come up with 10 must-do food and drink experiences.
1. Get out with Dr Gumbo
There are a lot of food tours in New Orleans, but this four-hour walking itinerary through the lively French Quarter gives you an incredible overview of the city’s history, people and culinary traditions. You’ll get to try up to nine of NOLA’s unique dishes, including muffuletta and gumbo, and sip famous cocktails, all at some of the best restaurants and bars in town.
2. Start your day right
There was a time when Australians would struggle to find a decent coffee anywhere in the US. Thankfully, times have changed and espresso is a thing just about everywhere. In New Orleans, Fourth Wall is an unpretentious spot where you can kick off with an excellent cortado or dirty chai latte and a pastry from Ayu Bakehouse. Best of all is the serene, walled courtyard with its lush plantings out back.
3. Hooray for beignets
These fried pastry puffs doused in icing sugar are the New Orleans’ version of a doughnut except they’re square and don’t have a hole. The most famous place to get beignets (pronounced ben-yay) is Café du Monde at the French Market, where there’s been a stand since 1862. There’s a quieter option in City Park, which is perfect after a walk in the serene Sydney and Walda Bestoff Sculpture Garden.
4. Brunch in style
Brunch was arguably invented in New Orleans in the 1880s and it’s still serious business. The teal-striped Commander’s Palace might, to the untrained eye, seem a bit touristy, but locals make up a huge number of the around 600 guests it serves each Sunday for jazz brunch. The service is impeccable, the three-course Creole meal extravagant, and the entire experience unforgettable. You can’t get any more New Orleans than eating cochon de lait eggs benedict while listening to a three-piece band play ‘In the Mood’. Bookings are essential.
5. Discover food history
The southern states all have their specialties and traditions, from Georgia peaches to Alabama white sauce. You can discover them all at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, where artefacts have been arranged to give visitors a food tour of the south. There’s even part of Mississippi’s The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint, which burnt down in 2012 – don’t worry, it was quickly rebuilt by its fans, the ShedHeds.
6. New world order
While most New Orleans food has French, Spanish and Caribbean influences, you’ll find cuisine from around the world. In fact, Dakar NOLA – a modern Senegalese restaurant where chef Serigne Mbaye creates a tasting menu using local produce and seafood – was awarded 2024 Best New Restaurant at the James Beard Awards in June. Right now, it’s booked out about a month in advance.
7. Stir it up
One of the city’s most famous cocktails, a Sazerac, combines rye whiskey, Peychaud’s bitters, Herbsaint – Louisiana’s absinthe substitute – and sugar, and was first made at a Royal Street apothecary in the 1830s. Find out its history, how each of its elements is made and even get a couple of samples at Sazerac House. There are tonnes of interactive displays spread across three floors and it’s free to visit. Later in the day, head to Jewel of the South, named Best Bar in the US by James Beard, for its excellent rendition of the Sazerac.
8. The big occasion
Emeril Lagasse is a legend in New Orleans, and his 21-year-old son EJ (Emeril John Legasse IV) is carrying on family traditions at Emeril’s. Full-length windows allow diners to see the precision work taking place in the kitchen, as they work their way through either the classic or seasonal tasting menu, featuring hyperlocal and regional produce. It’s one memorable occasion, so dress up, take your time and enjoy it all.
9. Eat good, do better
Café Reconcile is a super-popular neighbourhood spot that offers 14-week paid internships to young people aged 16 to 24. During that time, they learn about hospitality, explore career and educational pathways and get one-on-one coaching, which means whenever you eat at Café Reconcile you’re helping the community. The light, bright eatery also serves great Louisiana lunches, including crispy turkey necks, gumbo, fried green tomato sandwiches, red beans and rice, and catfish plates.
10. Best of the rest
There are so many New Orleans dishes that haven’t been mentioned. Try them at venues low-key and luxe: baked oysters at Miss River; gumbo at Brigtsen’s; jambalaya at Coop’s Place; crawfish étouffée at Mother’s (you can even have it in an omelette for breakfast); po’boys at Killer PoBoys; turtle soup at Galatoire’s; barbecue shrimp at Rosedale; and bananas foster at Brennan’s, where it was first prepared in 1951.