New Orleans is a restaurant town, and there are countless ways to cut into its riches.
My newly released guide gives you 30 top restaurants around town covering a broad spectrum of styles and price ranges.
That includes the top-cut, the upper-echelon restaurants that count as bucket list destinations, giving more a culinary performance than just a meal out. They are very expensive, but for the price offer unforgettable dining experiences.
Here’s a look at those picks from the overall guide, which you can find here.
At Brennan’s restaurant in the French Quarter, the dining room features paintings of old Mardi Gras floats. (Photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Brennan’s Restaurant
417 Royal St., French Quarter, $$$$
Majestic in scale and historic elegance, imbued with history and a mighty wine list — they don’t build restaurants like Brennan’s anymore. Fortunately, restaurateur Ralph Brennan decided to resurrect this one a decade ago.
The courtyard at Brennan’s Restaurant on Royal Street. (Staff file photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Today it feels like a grand dame that has kept up with the times. Chef Ryan Hacker’s menus honor the Creole tradition here by moving it forward.
The Commander’s Palace bread pudding souffle. (Photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
CHRIS GRANGER
Commander’s Palace
1403 Washington Ave., Garden District, $$$$
This mansion is the flagship of modern New Orleans dining, where a big-deal meal can also feel like a party.
A waiter keeps his eyes on a table of diners at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. (File photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
CHRIS GRANGER
A hub for the local culinary community with a long history and reach, it brings the fun but is also braced by high standards held over generations. Lunch can be relatively affordable (those 25-cent martinis!) or go big with chef Meg Bickford’s playground of a menu. For a casual take on Commander’s style, see its kid-sister cafe Le Petit Bleu next door for a bowl of gumbo, salad or just a coffee.
Emeril Lagasse and son E.J. Lagasse at Emeril’s restaurant.
Photo by Chris Granger
Emeril’s Restaurant
800 Tchoupitoulas St., Warehouse District, $$$$$
The new Emeril’s argues that New Orleans has a place at the highest level of global gastronomy, and it succeeds. Led by the celebrity chef’s son, E.J. Lagasse, it’s now a tasting menu restaurant where every detail of the experience has been calculated for high-touch excellence.
The Wine Bar at Emeril’s has its own menu of dishes served at the bar and around the lounge attached to Emeril’s Restaurant in New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Wine Bar at Emeril’s gives a more casual glimpse of the new era here. And a new way to try it out with a Friday lunch four-course tasting menu begins Nov. 1 (see more here).
Chef Serigne Mbaye decorates a plate of redfish at Dakar NOLA.
Photo by Sophia Germer / The Times-Picayune
Dakar NOLA
3814 Magazine St., Uptown, $$$$$
Some dishes tell stories. This entire restaurant is the tale of chef Serigne Mbaye’s journey from Senegal through modern American cuisine.
Chef Serigne Mbaye prepares the dining room at Dakar NOLA, his modern Senegalese restaurant in New Orleans. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Sophia Germer
It’s a tasting menu restaurant where the whole dining room partakes at once, through courses that show the African roots running through Louisiana flavor. It feels simultaneously inspiring, intimate and of the moment.
Art nouveau design and a verdant flower motif are part of MaMou, a French restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
MaMou
942 N. Rampart St., French Quarter, $$$$
In this tiny, art nouveau jewel box of a bistro, chef Tom Branighan explores what New Orleans cuisine would be like today if the city had spent more time under the French flag. It’s intricately wrought and technically precise modern French cuisine with a Creole accent.
Fish a la Florentine with caviar and a wreath of parmesan at MaMou, a French restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The room is romantic, the menu is thrilling and the wine list is deep enough for a restaurant four times the size.
Coral trout with smoked tomato broth and parmesan tuile was part of a recent 10-course tasting menu at Saint-Germain restaurant in the Bywater.
Photo by Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune
Saint-Germain
3054 St. Claude Ave., Bywater, $$$$$
A bucket list-tasting menu restaurant is hiding in this humble-seeming shotgun house. The bearing is casual in the 12-seat dining room.
The dining room at Saint-Germain is a small, casual setting for a 10-course tasting menu in the Bywater. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
All the intensity seems concentrated on the French bistro technique that co-chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith transform with doses of fermentation, aging and unforeseen pairings. The no-reservations patio is open if you just want to drink great wine outside.