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For JuliD--NO Recommendations**Super Long!**
I hope you find these useful and fall in love with the city as much as I have. Ooo, I also have a shelf on my Goodreads tagged New Orleans if you like to read books about/set in the city you are going to visit.
Caf? du Monde?a must for caf? au lait and beignets. They are open 24 hours, so if they are packed, come back at an off time. And even if you think you are a dedicated black coffee drinker, at least try the caf? au lait. I typically prefer my coffee black, but there is something really magical about their caf? au lait.
If you like breakfast and drinking at breakfast:
Commander?s Palace in the Garden District?their Sunday Jazz Brunch is really fun. The day we went was during the weekend the Saints were playing at home for the NFC title, so we heard a lot of ?When the Saints.? I also loved their Bloody Marys. We took the street car from the French Quarter for $1.25. It is a neat and fun way to see a bit of the city for cheap.
Brennan?s in the French Quarter?most of their breakfast menu is sort of fancy variations on Eggs Benedict. Very yummy. They are also the place that invented Bananas Foster, so that is a must-get dessert here.
Both of these options are on the fancier/pricier side, but totally worth it. I preferred Commander?s, my husband preferred Brennan?s.
Napoleon House on Chartres?Really good for lunch or a relatively casual dinner. Their signature drink is the Pimm?s Cup and it is really refreshing. The prices are reasonable, the food is tasty, and the atmosphere is fun. This is in a really old building that was rumored to shelter Napoleon when he was in exile.
Mena?s Palace on Chartres?Great casual breakfast. This is sort of your typical diner type of place, but the food is great and the service is so classically New Orleans. When we went here, it started pouring rain outside as we paid our bill. Despite the line of people waiting in the rain to be seated, our waitress told us to just stay put and have another refill of coffee until the rain let up.
Vieux Carre Wine & Spirits on Chartres?This is a nice little wine shop in the French Quarter. The reason we love it is they always these boxes of $3 clearance wines. The wine is decent and $3 per bottle for French wine cannot be beat! We usually pick up a few bottles to enjoy in our room or on our terrace over the weekend. They also have a great selection in all price points and various quality levels.
Restaurant August on Tchoupitoulas?This is one of John Besh?s restaurants. It is a bit fancier, but the small tasting menu with wine pairings is reasonably priced for the amount of food and drink that you get. This is definitely a fine dining experience.
Haunted History Tours?We did their after dark ghost tour of the French Quarter. It was a fun way to learn some history about the city and it included a stop for beer at Lafitte?s, the oldest bar in the city (or maybe the US, I can?t remember).
Acme Oyster House?The best place for oysters on the half shell and hush puppies that are to die for! Lines can get long, so going at off-peak times like 2 in the afternoon is a good idea, but definitely worth a stop.
Re: For JuliD--NO Recommendations**Super Long!**
Holy cow, thank you. I'm pretty much going to print that and take it down with me for all of the restaurant recs. I can't wait to try a beignet!!
We were considering a ghost tour for fun but saw that a blues guitarist Andy really likes (Jonny Lang) is going to be at the House of Blues when we are there so I think we might make that our "activity" (besides standard eating, drinking and sight seeing and running a 10K race). Did you have any other recs for where to hear some good blues or jazz?
We are also renting a car for one day, because parking is so expensive we didn't want to have to worry about it. But we want to drive to Abita Brewing which is a 30 min drive. Any other suggestions for what we should do when we have the car?
You rock. Seriously, thank you for all the recs. And if you would like to recommend your favorite book set in New Orleans I'm all ears.
Beignets are so fantastic. L and I always joke that we would each weigh 300 lbs if we lived in the city. We seriously go to Cafe du Monde about twice per day whenever we go to the city, sometimes three times. If you look at my photos on FB, there might be one of me with a beignet in my mouth!
I would suggest reservations at Commander's, Brennan's, and August if you are interested in any of those three.
Abita is also great. Usually a few brews from there are on tap most places in NO. I know Acme has it, as does Lafitte's (which is worth a stop even if you skip the ghost tour). I don't have any other car suggestions--we have never rented a car there because not only is parking expensive, it's kind of impossible to drive in the French Quarter. You could visit the Garden District with your car or the outlying areas like Marigny.
Frenchmen Street is supposed to be a great place to hear music. Sadly (and weirdly) we have never really hit up a jazz club. There are so many street musicians, though, that you're always hearing something no matter where you go in the Quarter. Ask restaurant servers for suggestions, too. Everyone in NO has a story and they are usally more than happy to share. It's one of the things I like best about the city.
My favorite book is Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans. It is a nonfiction book about nine different people with very different experiences and it covers the time from Hurricane Betsy in the '60s through one year post Katrina.
If you prefer fiction, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is pretty hilarious and is a classic "New Orleans" book. Of course almost anything by Anne Rice will talk about the city and Interview with a Vampire is a favorite as well.
Sorry this got so long again! If I can help in any other way, please let me know. As you can see, we have some great experience in the Big Easy.
First, I'm cracking up at "if you like breakfast and drinking at breakfast..."
Second, Juli, the best way to find jazz music is to walk the streets, prepared to duck in wherever you hear it. But Preservation Hall is kind of the be all and end all: http://www.preservationhall.com/
Third: do not go to the wax museum. If you guys had a week, and were looking for something kind of... cheesy, this would do it. Otherwise, avoid it.
Ha, no way! We'll be there Easter weekend, when are you going?
And thanks GRSP! A wax museum isn't my cup of tea anyways. :-) We will most definitely check out the hall you suggested.