Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in New Orleans: From epic po’ boys to modern Senegalese, this ever-evolving city offers up incredible eats. - Gastro Obscura

From epic po’ boys to modern Senegalese, this ever-evolving city offers up incredible eats.
Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in New Orleans

It’s not hard to find a great meal in New Orleans. Every neighborhood—from Carrollton to the Bywater and across the river into the Westbank—is teeming with restaurants, bakeries, and bars, all serving up something they call their own, all contributing to this great symbiosis of flavors and cultures we call Southern cuisine. So the trick isn’t in finding places to visit, eat, and drink while here, it’s in deciding which places out of an overabundance of options. Do you trace the roots of Creole and Cajun cooking, or seek out the flavors of global diasporas spread across the city? Do you sit for a multi-course tasting, or do you dig into neighborhood dives, cultish in their fandom, where everything is handed over in to-go containers? The spectrum of dining in New Orleans is as diverse and exciting as the city itself.

Here is but a small offering of all there is to explore—consider it more of a culinary snapshot of a city in constant flux than a best-of list. You’ll find James Beard nominees and previous winners to neighborhood diners, soul food favorites, and punk rock outposts in Algiers Point, plus some of the best Thai food this side of the Mekong. If there’s a prevailing sentiment here, it’s that of community, of meals shared and cultures crossed, of service in all its manifest forms, and of how food can be a catalyst for all these things. In New Orleans, love and togetherness are woven into the city, shared over and over again, one great meal at a time.

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Locals will argue over who makes the best po’ boy, but Parkway’s rendition is always at the top of the list. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Sandwich Shop

1. Parkway Bakery and Tavern

With a history that dates back to the early 20th century, the po’ boy as a symbol of New Orleans has gained traction across generations, and its limitations are bound only by the imaginations of the shops making them. As the story goes, brothers Bennie and Clovis Martin first gave away the rib-sticking sandwiches to striking streetcar drivers in 1929.

The Parkway Bakery and Tavern, which was originally opened by a German baker in 1911, started selling po’ boys the same year—in addition to offering French fry po’ boys to union members for free. Today, few places in town are as synonymous with the sandwich. Chalk it up to fate, or the fact that everything is made in-house and with an attention to detail that belies its casual atmosphere. The roast beef with debris may be their most famous sandwich, but the golden fried shrimp and smoked alligator sausage po’ boys are close seconds. Regardless of what you choose, you can taste the Parkway’s attention to detail in every bite.

Parkway Bakery and Tavern, 538 Hagan Ave, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70119

Kaitlin Guerin left a career as a dancer to open one of the most celebrated bakeries in New Orleans. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Bakery

2. Lagniappe Bakehouse & Coffee

On most Tuesday mornings, you can find Kaitlin Guerin browsing the uptown farmer’s market, chatting with vendors while grabbing bundles of the seasonal fruits and greens that make their way into her pastries and quiches at Lagniappe Bakehouse, which opened in late 2024. A former dancer turned pastry chef, Guerin left the performing arts to attend culinary school, after which she worked stints at Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen and the Bay Area, eventually returning home to New Orleans.

Lagniappe began as a pop-up during the pandemic. Now, the bakery sits set back in a small tall townhouse in Central City, a sprawling old oak casting shade on its courtyard tables. On any given day, quiches may be filled with collard greens, yams, or cauliflower, and laden with biquinho and Jimmy Nardello peppers. Danishes might have seasonal fruits or savory spring mixes. Other customer favorites include the latticed Vaucroissant, featuring sausage from a family run, seventh-ward provider, toffee cookies with benne seeds, and a Grain of Paradise bun spiked with citrus and West African spices.

Lagniappe Bakehouse, 1825 Euterpe St, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70113

Peter Vazquez ditches all the fine dining conventions and makes some of the best food in the city. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

3. The Appetite Repair Shop

Peter Vazquez might be the best chef in New Orleans you’ve never heard of. And he probably likes it that way. Once upon a time, he ran Marisol, a restaurant much loved and much ahead of its time. After Hurricane Katrina forced its closure, he served Sunday meals outside Bacchanal Wine Shop to those desperate for comfort and community in a newly unknown landscape—a stint that eventually inspired a character arc on the New Orleans-based TV show, Treme.

There were other pop-ups as well, other restaurant stints. For a while, he made terrines for other chefs and became known, in some circles, as Paté Pete. A kind of manic creativity was at the core of all these ventures—an anarchic approach to world cuisine, a loser-take-all attitude to fine dining stuffiness. All of which, eventually, led Vazquez to a small residential corner across the river in Algiers Point, to The Appetite Repair Shop.

Here, Chef Vazquez stands as the sole provider, a Sisyphean perfectionist destined to pace between gas ranges and hot plates. His menu changes every day and he only serves food in take-away containers for a few hours in the evening. But it’s some of the best food in the city.

The Appetite Repair Shop, 400 Vallette St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70114

High Hat Cafe is the kind of well-loved local spot that feels like it’s been there forever. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

4. High Hat Cafe

Despite only being around since 2009, High Hat Cafe exudes a timeless charm and feels wiser than its years. The trick may be in its honest approach to food and hospitality—the meals here are Southern comfort food at its finest, and you’re likely to be greeted as an old friend when you walk through the door. Blame this on Ryan Iriarte, who has been working here since the beginning, and recently purchased the restaurant with another business partner when, a few years back, the previous owners considered shutting the High Hat’s doors for good.

The menu isn’t afraid to play to local tastes, with enough invention to keep things interesting—the BBQ shrimp braised in local beer, smoked chicken, grilled catfish, and pimento mac and cheese are perennial favorites, with sautéed collards, cornbread, and black-eyed peas rounding meals out. The cafe’s rotation of daily specials throughout the week also keeps neighborhood regulars, students, and lunch-hour workers coming back.

High Hat Cafe, 4500 Freret St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70115

Chef Charly Pierre, a two-time James Beard nominee, champions Haitian cuisine. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

5. Fritai

For chef and owner Charly Pierre, food and community go hand in hand, and at Fritai, that food sings. With a father who was a skilled chef working in the hospitality industry and a mother who cooked Haitian dishes at home, it’s no surprise that Pierre ended up running his own restaurant.

Menu standouts include the kabrit, twice-cooked goat served with rice and beans and fried plantains, as well as the Creole chicken, blue crab mac and cheese, and the Fritai sandwich, pork or chicken with avocado and spicy mango sauce between two fried green plantains—a dish that first created buzz for Fritai when it was but a humble food stall at the St. Roch Market.

Fritai, 1535 Basin St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70116

Café Reconcile is so much more than a restaurant. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

6. Café Reconcile

Since opening on the corner of Oretha Castle Haley Blvd and Euterpe, Café Reconcile has served as a cornerstone for the broader rehabilitation of the Central City neighborhood. Rev. Harry Tompson, S.J., a local pastor, raised the money to purchase and restore the space in the ’90s. Ever since then, this non-profit has been helping at-risk youths with job readiness and essential life skills through employment and training, so eating here nourishes not just the body, but an entire community.

The menu reads like a greatest hits collection of New Orleans comfort cooking, with gumbos, crab cakes, fried chicken, and red beans all on offer. The fried green tomato sandwich is perfectly balanced, crunchy and juicy on jalapeño cornbread toast, and the crispy turkey necks—tangy, spicy, and sweet from their chile glaze—are a customer favorite that can’t be missed.

Café Reconcile, 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70113

Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe is a Treme institution. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

7. Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe

The Baquet family, who have been in the restaurant business since the 1940s and whose roots in New Orleans Creole cuisine go deep, have presided over this Treme-based institution for generations. And while Li’l Dizzy’s has always been a local favorite, the pandemic nearly shut its doors forever.

Luckily, after an outpouring of community support, Wayne Baquet Jr. and his wife Arkesha stepped in and purchased the restaurant from his father, Wayne Baquet Sr., ensuring the legacy of this Black family run restaurant would continue on, and this Treme mainstay would continue serving neighborhood locals, weekly regulars, and in-the-know tourists.

Lunches here are a joyful affair, despite lines often reaching out the door and around the block. The menu is classic soul food, with some of the city’s best fried chicken; perfectly seasoned gumbo; and sides like candied yams, Southern greens, and classic dirty rice. Daily specials also include stuffed peppers, creamy white beans over rice, smothered okra, and fried catfish topped with buttery shrimp and crab meat.

Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe, 1500 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70116

Chef Serigne Mbaye weaves a transatlantic tale through his menus. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

8. Dakar NOLA

At Dakar, every meal is a conversation, with chef Serigne Mbaye presiding, enchanting guests with inventive tales, told through degustation, of his journey from West Africa to southern Louisiana, and New Orleans. A meal here is one of the more compelling dining experiences in the city. After just a few bites, it’s easy to see why chef Mbaye’s exacting, measured approach garnered Dakar a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2024.

Born in Harlem and raised partly in Senegal, chef Mbaye draws deeply from the culinary traditions of his homeland, rooting Dakar’s menu in Senegalese cuisine. The seafood-based tasting menu always begins with ataya, green tea with mint and sugar. Bread is served with palm butter. Fonio, a West African millet, nutty and aromatic, is paired with seasonal citrus. Other courses will often feature jollof rice—the iconic West African staple thought to be an ancestor of jambalaya—local seafood, in-season greens, black-eyed peas, and shellfish broths so deeply spiced they become elemental in flavor.

Dakar NOLA, 3814 Magazine St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70115

Dining at Budsi’s is very much a communal affair. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Restaurant

9. Budsi’s Authentic Thai

Budsi’s began as a side hustle run out of a local bar’s kitchen and quickly grew into one of the city’s best Thai restaurants. When the husband and wife team opened their brick-and-mortar locale in the Bywater in 2021, it was greeted with much fanfare. All well-deserved.

Whereas most Thai restaurants in the area are all too willing to customize to local tastes, invariably toning down the spice and leaning on cloyingly sweet sauces, Budsi’s brings to New Orleans the tangible, earthy flavors of Isan, known for its pungent, fermented sauces, balanced with spicy chiles and fresh herbs.

Budsaba, or Budsi, hails from this northeastern heartland of Thai cuisine, and thanks to her no-compromise approach to the cuisine of her home, the food here bridges a perfect gap between familiarity and inventiveness. Menu standouts include the moo nam tok, or “waterfall pork,” which is grilled and served with lime, mint, and toasted rice powder. There’s also an herbaceous mushroom laarb and a puckery, spicy papaya salad made with fermented fish sauce and pickled crabs.

Budsi’s Authentic Thai, 1760 N Rampart St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70116

Welcome to your new local. Aaron Joel Santos for Gastro Obscura
Bar

10. Twelve Mile Limit

Twelve Mile Limit, tucked away in an unassuming residential area off Tulane Ave. in Mid City, might be the best neighborhood bar in New Orleans. It’s got all the makings of a great dive—the room is dim and bedecked with old show posters and Christmas lights, the ceilings are low, the jukebox is good, and the pool table is often covered up for nightly events. There’s a friendly, communal vibe, with mostly locals and regulars holding up the bar. It doesn’t hurt that the drinks are world-class, thanks to owner T. Cole Newton’s pedigree in the New Orleans cocktail scene.

Styled as a cocktail dive bar, Twelve Mile undersells and over-delivers. Over the years, it has invested back into its neighborhood, installing solar panels and a battery storage system that decreases its carbon footprint and allows it to serve as a local charging station during power outages. It also partners with local non-profits and holds events for like-minded organizations and campaigns, and a percentage of its monthly sales supports affordable housing in the community.

Twelve Mile Limit, 500 S Telemachus St., New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70119