Cafes & Desserts of New Orleans

With so many delicious food choices within the French Quarter in New Orleans, your picks are virtually endless.  But after every great meal comes the best part – the dessert!  When you’re looking for a scrumptious after dinner (or anytime) treat, consider trying these tasty desserts.

Since 1862, Cafe du Monde has been the place to people watch and enjoy their world famous beignets.   Just what is a beignet?  It’s a freshly prepared, hot, French-style doughnut that is fried and loaded up with tons of powdered sugar which are served in a set of three at Cafe du Monde.  They look so yummy and the intention is always to eat them somewhat delicately, but soon you’ll join the others as they wipe powdered sugar from their faces, hair, and clothing – all in fun, of course.  Cafe du Monde also has a satellite location at the Riverwalk Marketplace.

Accompany these delectable beignets with an enjoyable cup of chicory coffee sold either black or au lait (half coffee and half milk).  In fact, these are the only two items on the Cafe du Monde menu – coffee and beignets, which makes for an easy choice.  Sometimes the restaurant can get crowded on an early Sunday morning but relax and enjoy the street performers that regularly entertain the Cafe du Monde restaurant goers.

Another New Orleans delicacy to try is their famous Pecan Pie – and make sure you pronounce it pecan (pi-con), not pecan (pee-can), for a pee can is something you keep under your bed for use in the middle of the night, or so New Orleans tour guides say.  For one of the best pecan pies in all of New Orleans, try Brigtsen’s Restaurant located on Dante Street.

Since 1905, Angelo Brocato’s has been serving up ice cream and pastries to both locals and visitors alike.  Although not located in the French Quarter, it’s definitely worth the trip along the New Orleans Canal streetcar route to 214 N. Carrollton Avenue.  Favorites at Angelo Brocato’s include biscotti, fig cookies, and delicious Cannoli; popular ice cream choices include spumoni (pistachios, fruit, lemon), lemon ice, or any of their gelato flavors.  Angelo Brocato’s is also known for their fabulous coffee and espresso drinks.

Claiming to make best pralines in all of New Orleans, Southern Candymakers has been offering sweet treats in New Orleans since 1992.  Although their specialty is creamy pralines, Southern Candymakers also has a great selection of caramels, toffees, chocolate, nuts, along with a selection of sugar-free delicacies.

Flickr.com Photo Credit: Pastry Case by Pink_Fish 13

Cooking & Cycling New Orleans Style

When you’re visiting New Orleans, there are two things that should be on your must-do list – taking a New Orleans cooking class and taking a bicycle tour to leisurely explore the amazing French Quarter and other nearby neighborhoods.

Located in a former molasses warehouse dating back to the 1800’s, the New Orleans School of Cooking offers a variety of half-day classes taught by local chefs.  Visitors will learn the basics of Creole cuisine and taste dishes like Gumbo, Jambalaya, and those scrumptious Pralines.

One of the most popular classes at the New Orleans School of Cooking are their Open Demonstration Lunch Classes; offered daily, this 10:00 to 12:30 p.m. class includes ‘generous samplings’ of the foods created in the demonstration plus beverages and copies of the recipes.

The Hands-On Classes include a 3-hour interactive cooking experience where you’ll prepare 4 menu items and then have the pleasure of enjoying the meal you’ve created.  Plus, with the Hands-On Class, you get to keep the New Orleans School of Cooking apron.  Open 7 days a week, you’ll be sure to find a class that suits your taste (no pun intended) and just like the slogan says, “it’s a ga-ron-teed good time for all.”

New Orleans Bike Tours offers the perfect way to explore the historical French Quarter by enjoying the sights and sounds close up.  With a maximum of five guests and narrated by a local knowledgeable guide, New Orleans Bike Tours will deliver the bicycles to your hotel.  They’ll come equipped with a bottle of water and a basket to hold your goodies like a snack or your camera for all those photos you’ll, no doubt, be taking.

The New Orleans Bike Tour of the French Quarter tour includes visiting Jackson Square, the French Market, and Cafe du Monde.  At the end of the French Quarter tour, you’ll have the option to continue on with your choice of three additional tours: the beautiful homes and Neighborhoods in the Lower 9th Ward, St. Louis Cemetery #3 and the Esplanade Avenue of the Creoles, or the stunning architecture of the American Sector and the Garden District.

Locally owned and operated by former local bus tour guide Bob Rodrigue, New Orleans Bike Tours was established “for the people that want to get off the bus, the ones that want more discussion and a tour more catered to their needs and desires.”  Taking a New Orleans Bike Tour is the way to Les Bon Temps Roule or Let the good times roll!

Flickr.com Photo Credit: Biking Down Esplanade by Christian Paul

Jazzing it up in New Orleans

Entertainment in New Orleans is only limited by your imagination. In the lively French Quarter, you’ll find everything from jazz and blues music to peep and strip shows to gambling.

But if you’d like to experience jazz and blues without all the hype and activity found along Bourbon Street, you should consider venturing off to the Faubourg Marigny area located just down river from the French Quarter.  Here, along Frenchman Street you’ll find a four-block stretch of bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and live music venues; a few are located around the corner on Esplanade Avenue.

Faubourg Marigny is a hip, up-and-coming neighborhood where the jazz is as varied as the locals you’ll see tucked into the clubs.  The area has been a well-kept secret of New Orleans for years.

The most happening time to visit Faubourg Marigny is during the weekend, when you might be lucky enough to see the Ellis Marsalis Trio (the father of Wynton Marsalis) play at Snug Harbor on Friday nights or Charmaine Neville and Friends (of the Neville Brothers family) who usually play there on Monday nights.

The Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro has been jazzing it up for the past 30 years, offering great live music and local down home cookin’.  Their dining room is open for dinner seating only starting at 5:00 p.m.; try the shrimp remoulade, followed by the Southern fried chicken, with the bread pudding or traditional pecan pie for dessert.  Then head on over to their bar, with exposed beams and a rustic atmosphere, for a glass of wine.

The Music Room at the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro is where the magic happens. Seating only 90 guests, the Music Room offers cabaret-style seating on the main floor plus a small mezzanine that makes for an intimate evening. Offering two shows every night of the week, general admission tickets are available by telephone and seating is first-come, first serve, so be sure to go early for those front row middle seats. When you’re in the bar, there are monitors set up to give you a sneak preview of the Music Room.

The Spotted Cat Music Club is another cool club in Faubourg Marigny where you’ll find two different bands performing seven nights a week. Ranging from jazz and blues to Latin and Rockabilly, the dimly lit bar looks a little bit on the Bourbon Street side of things but it’s definitely worth checking out for the variety of music alone.

Flickr.com Photo Credit: Snug Harbor (Charmaine Neville) by Gnalnad

W Hotel New Orleans

Located at 316 Chartres Street in the heart of the French Quarter is the funky W New Orleans French Quarter Hotel (not to be confused with the W New Orleans Hotel at 333 Poydras Street).  With only 98 rooms, the W New Orleans French Quarter will provide you the best in comfort, location, and style.

Located in an historic building within the French Quarter, the W Hotel lobby and living room offers elegant tall windows, drawn back velvet curtains, hip leather benches, all accented by candle groupings and funky mirrors.  As with many traditional buildings within the French Quarter, the W Hotel offers a beautiful and private inner courtyard where you can relax on the lounge chairs or enjoy the pool.  It’s a great place to gather in the evening or to gaze at the Louisiana stars.

No matter what type of room you choose, you’ll have access to all the standard amenities of the W New Orleans French Quarter which includes the W Signature bed, luxury bedding, Bliss toiletries, W Signature Waffle Robes, plus entertainment including a television, CD player, a DVD player; plus complimentary WI-FI is available in the courtyard and the living room.

All decorated to be modern and stylish, there are four different rooms types to choose from at the W New Orleans French Quarter.  The Wonderful Rooms are 350 square feet in size and offer either a European Courtyard View or a French Quarter View; the Spectacular Rooms offer much the same with the addition of a Patio/Sundeck view.  The Mega Room (450 square feet) opens up onto the Patio/Sundeck and offers its own private patio area.  Located in one of four Carriage Houses and decorated with images of New Orleans, the two Wow Suites offer 700 square feet of space including a living room with a pull-out sofa bed plus a living area and private balcony.

The W New Orleans French Quarter offers a number of unique experiences like their Whatever/Whenever Service where the concierge will cater to your every whim; the Acura Experience where you can rent a Acura MDX and have the concierge take you on a complimentary ride; plus their Pets Are Welcome (PAW) policy that can include services like dog walking, a pet treat, plus a custom W Hotel pet bed.

Bacco is the W New Orleans French Quarter restaurant that offers up Italian cuisine and overlooks the courtyard and pool area.  And for those traveling on business, they offer a fully-equipped WIRED Business Center plus on-site meeting space.

The W New Orleans French Quarter is located in a quiet area close to Jackson Square, and is minutes away from Bourbon Street, shopping, galleries, restaurants, Riverwalk and Harrah’s Casino.  It’s a perfect way to enjoy the city of New Orleans from your own little sanctuary offering unbeatable service, comfort, and style.

Flickr.com Photo Credit: W Hotel New Orleans by Thms.nl

Originally born a catering kitchen in 1996 by Heidi Elizabeth Troll, her knack for delivering cheap breakfasts and truck driver size lunch portions put Elizabeth’s on the map.  Two years later, her signature praline bacon is featured and Saturday brunches rock the scene despite major construction transformation on Chartres Street.  In 2004, Heidi is ready to sell the restaurant and hires Chef Bryon Peck to help transition the sale to new owners, Floyd Mclamb and Stewart Anthony.  Renovations take place until Hurricane Katrina bares her ugly head.  Chef Peck is displaced for almost one year and the restaurant reveals a shanty demeanor.  Elizabeth’s is sold again to Jim Harp and Holy Lafevers and they commission Chef Peck to orchestrate the menu and staff.  Sunday brunch and dinner come alive and Elizabeth’s receives local and national reviews.  These accolades are a testament to why Chef Peck is made managing partner of Elizabeth’s in 2008; to continue delivering bang-up comfort food to native folk and wayfarers seeking culinary goodness.

Praline Bacon(photo by San Fran Annie)

Elizabeth’s is the off-beat, far-out, bohemian place food foragers seek to find.  Tattoo laden servers spill the beans about daily specials such as golden yolk eggs with fried catfish and huge caramelized hash browns.  The backdrop displays a shamble of countless signs with quotes such as, “Shut up and eat!” and oversized chalkboards with other menu offerings.  It’s 50′s retro and a “too cool for school” vibe that demands a spicy house made Bloody Mary in the morning.  Some of Elizabeth’s staples include; ridiculously good blue cheese oysters, the sweet and savory marriage of praline bacon, fried boudin balls with creole mustard sauce, a head-spinning duck waffle with sweet potato and duck hash on top of a corn bread waffle with pepper jelly, gorgeous grillades and grits and traditional smothered steak with creole gravy.

Duck Waffle (photo by rutt)

Don’t expect conventional dining with superior service at Elizabeth’s.  The deal is, your server and meal arrive when they’re ready.  You’ve gotta have a “go with the flow” mentality to enjoy the experience.  It’s worth embarking upon the journey not only for good sustenance but an encounter that will have the right patrons hooked for sure.

Start your day off right with some powdered sugar and caffeine in the form of beignets and café au lait. Beignets are triangular-shaped, deep-fried dough pastries sprinkled with powdered sugar; very popular among locals and tourists alike. The famous Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter has been serving them for almost 150 years, 24 days a year, 7 days a week, with the exception of Christmas. Beignets are usually served in portions of three and are eaten with café au lait, which in New Orleans is coffee with milk and chicory flavoring giving the drink a slightly more bitter taste, but offsetting the sweetness of the beignets.

Arguably the most popular local sandwich and a staple of New Orleans culture is the po’ boy, available at almost every deli with some shops selling them exclusively. Po’ boys are made using Louisiana-style French bread (a lighter version of the traditional American baguette) with fried oysters or shrimp, although variations may use crawfish, soft-shelled crab, or catfish, and served with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Johnny’s Po-Boy in the French Quarter serves up almost 50 different kinds, some of them being of the non-seafood variety, such as BBQ beef or sausage, and some being of the reptilian variety, such as alligator.

The invention of the muffuletta sandwich is usually credited to Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant who founded the Central Grocery in 1906 in the French Quarter. The sandwich is made using muffuletta bread, which is a large 10” roundel of bread similar to focaccia, and then layered with marinated olive salad, capicola, salami, mortadella, followed by emmentaler and provolone cheeses. The sandwiches are massive, so unless you’re famished, buy one and share it with a friend.

Freshly steamed and spiced crawfish

It isn’t a trip to Louisiana without eating crawfish (avoid saying “cray” fish.) Although crawfish boils are the most traditional way to cook them, local shops around New Orleans – such as Big Fisherman Seafood in the Garden District – will spice crawfish and sell them by the pound in paper bags, serving corn-on-the-cob and potatoes as a side. Most people eat the meat from the tail, but the real flavor can be found in sucking the juices from the head where the spices tend to collect, resulting in the tongue-in-cheek phrase “suck the head, pinch the tail.”

[photos courtesy faungg and adie reed]

Start off your day with lunch at Squeal Bar-B-Q, a relatively new restaurant on Oak Street, operated by three New Orleans brothers with years of cooking experience. Their meats are all smoked in-house and prepare fresh batches of their special “Squeal Sauce” every day. Start off with the crab and andouille stuffed fried mushrooms or their homemade onion rings while you wait on either their rack of St. Louis ribs or hickory smoked pulled pork or brisket.

Head back to Oak Street in the evening for a religious experience in Cajun/Creole fusion dining at Jacques-Imo’s. This restaurant has become popular with locals and visitors alike over the past few years, with the owner and head chef Jacques “Jack” Leonardi holding court in the kitchen, on the sidewalk, and across the street his art studio, usually dressed in a chef’s jacket, shorts, and Birkenstocks. The fried oysters and blackened redfish are must-try items, but don’t shy away from some of Jack’s unique creations which may not be on your typical Cajun or Creole menu. Jacques-Imo’s is very popular, so put your name on the list and then head over to the Maple Leaf Bar (see below) for drinks while you wait. Don’t worry, it’s worth it (especially if you can grab seating in the back of the Jacques-Imo pick-up truck parked outside the restaurant.)

Two doors down from Jacques-Imo’s is Maple Leaf Bar, a lively music venue and bar featuring live acts every night, as well as occasional fashion shows and a Sunday poetry reading. The Maple Leaf has been around since 1974 and has often been written about by local authors who look to capture the flavor of New Orleans.  A local Mardi Gras krewe, the Krewe of OAK, starts and ends its parade at the doors of the Maple Leaf, after which it holds the famous Krewe Ball. Whether you’re sipping on an Abita Strawberry Harvest lager before dinner, or dancing the night away to the famous local band Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, The Maple Leaf is the place to start and end the night in Carrollton.

Serving up Southern comfort at the Camellia Grill

What’s one cure for a night of drinking and revelry in New Orleans? Comfort food, plain and simple. The Camellia Grill is a New Orleans institution and has been serving up some of the best breakfast and lunch in the city since 1946. The charming and super-efficient staff engage their customers with a friendly attitude that represents the best of hospitality in the city, and will occasionally perform a staff sing-a-long. If you’re wondering why the eggs in your Chef Special omelet seem to float on air, it’s because the cooks use a blender to whip them up. Camellia’s is popular with locals and visitors alike and is often a dining choice for a few New Orleans celebrities, such as the political pundit James Carville.

[photos courtesy of a natural sound and the Camellia Grill]

For over 3o years the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro has offered an intimate, cabaret-style setting for well-known jazz musicians like Ellis Marsalis and the Astral Project, with two shows nightly, seven days a week. Snug Harbor also has a restaurant serving local Creole dishes and a full bar. The building also houses an art gallery featuring works from local artists.

Dancing away at the Blue Nile

Across Frenchman Street from Snug Harbor is the lively Spotted Cat Music Club, a popular local music venue and bar with more informal setting for jazz and local musicians. It’s small and cozy, but well worth the visit if you want to mingle and drink with true New Orleans locals and listen to some up and coming musicians.

If you’re looking for a lively venue than Snug Harbor, with a larger stage than the Spotted Cat, look no further than the Blue Nile. It’s the Marigny’s biggest venue featuring local, national, and international acts. The bar in the main room overlooks the stage and dance floor, while the upstairs balcony – the only public one on Frenchman Street -  offers excellent views of the crowds inside and out.

[photos courtesy of Ray Devlin and the Blue Nile]