When visiting New Orleans there are two things to consider. 1- where to stay and 2-where to eat. In this post I will focus on the where to eat to provide you with good eats, restaurants and a little on the history of creole cuisine.

Creole and Cajun cuisine began in 1704 with the mixture of the local tribes and European settlers. What makes this cuisine so unique is the combination of the French, Spanish, West African, Italian, Irish, German and Amerindian influences from the population in New Orleans that was present before the sale of the State to the U.S. Typical creole food include jambalaya, oysters Rockefeller, seafood gumbo, crawfish boil, shrimp and grits, southern oxtail soup and bread pudding with whisky and vanilla sauce. It all sounds delicious right? Well, it really is a must to try all these if you are in this city! Below are some of the top restaurants in New Orleans that are highly rated and recommended.

 

Luke

This restaurant has been published in the Travel, Leisure, E, 10 Best, Yelp and Trip Advisor. It is a very well-known restaurant and highly recommend. I true enjoyed every dish that we had at this restaurant and received the best southern hospitality. This restaurant has chef John Besh, who is well known among the industry. The restaurant is located in the business district, which is only  a few minutes away and within walking distance to the main attractions. If you are looking for an upscale restaurant with excellent service and delicious creole food, this is the place for you! Dishes we recommend are the shrimp and grits, crispy brussel sprouts, stuffed shrimp and blue crab oysters and the Brendan bread pudding which is delicious. A very unique thing about this restaurant is that if there is something you really liked they actually give you the recipe printed out for you to take home and prepare. They also have a cooking book with all the recipes to all their dishes for sale.

 

Ruby Slipper

This is a family restaurant that is open 363 days of the year opening only for breakfast, lunch or brunch. It is a family owned and operated restaurant and their service is superb! It is conveniently located near the French quarters and close to all the action. My boyfriend and I had breakfast here twice and we really enjoyed the food and good service.  The best dish we had I would say is the egg benedicts over fried chicken. I am a lover of egg benedicts, but never had them this style with fried chicken, pork, seafood as they serve them here. If you are in search for a good breakfast restaurant I would recommend this one. The dishes we recommend are Chicken St Charles, Eggs Cochon, The Peacemaker if you like a mix of different egg benedicts and their pancakes.

 

Acme Oyster House

This is by far the most popular restaurant for oysters. There is a huge line outside the door everyday just to be able to get in and be seated, this is how popular this place is. This restaurant is located in the French Quarter right next to the famous Bourbon St and is well known for its their Louisiana style oysters and New Orleans classics. I suggest going here during the week or earlier in the day when is not as busy if you do not want to be waiting hours to be seated. We came here on a Tuesday and the wait time was very short. Some recommendations are their chargrilled oysters, friend crab claws and crawfish tails, seafood gumbo and pecan cobbler.

 

Stanley

Another good breakfast restaurant is Stanley. This restaurant is conveniently located in Jackson Square in the French Quarter. The restaurant is well known for serving many different styles of egg benedicts such as with oysters, pork and corn beef. Some of our recommendations are Corn beef hash, pancakes, and Brieux Bridge egg benedicts. Absolutely love the pancakes here are they were served with ice cream on top.

 

Café Du Monde

New Orleans is well known for its beignets. You will see that most local stores sell the dough to make beignets and the coffee with the name Café Du Monde. The reason for this is that is the most popular Hors d’oeuvre place in the city for these pastries. If you like beignets you need to give this place a try. It has the highest ratings from all the restaurants in the city and is open 24 hours a day conveniently located in Jackson Square in the French Quarters.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post and got you interested in creole cuisine! It is a must!