elizrg

After some research on this board and others, my mind is spinning with all the fabulous-sounding places to eat and things to do in NOLA! Our family of five (kids in their 20’s) will be staying at the Royal Sonesta for 5 nights. Two of us don’t eat meat, but will eat fish. We all love great food and music (two musicians in our group). Please help us make some choices for the following…

1. The best place for Sunday brunch in the French quarter … and are jackets really necessary for some of these places?
2. We plan to splurge on one really nice dinner – looking for great food, atmosphere, service. Any recommendations?
3. Great places for music, especially jazz.
4. Some recommendations for good budget or medium- priced places to eat. It seems like some of the pricier restaurants may be a better value for lunch – any recos? Also, do most restaurants offer brunch on weekdays, or just Sunday?
5. We generally like to tour on our own, unless there are any can’t-miss tours – any recos?
6. We’d like to see some plantations – for 5 people, does it make more sense to rent a car for a day or go on a tour?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

bachslunch

For plantations -- definitely rent a car. Only consider a tour if you plan to just limit yourself to Laura and Oak Alley. Tours to other plantations almost never get the sufficient minimum to go.

The only tours that are really musts in my experience are the cemetery tours, particularly ones that take in St. Louis #1 and Lafayette #1. It's actually unsafe to visit these two without a tour.

If you looked at my food-concentrated trip report, you'll find many inexpensive options there as well as reports on some high-end spots and mid-range spots:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...experience.cfm

Dress at the fancier places varies. Most say "business casual" but will let you in as long as you're dressed neatly (that includes jeans) and aren't wearing shorts or cut-offs or ragged jeans or baseball caps or some such. That being said, people often do dress pretty nicely at these spots. My nice jeans and sweater worked fine for the most part. Jackets are requested for men at several of these places but don't ban men without them. The only restaurant in NOLA in my experience that requires jackets for men anymore these days is Galatoire's, and then only after 5 pm and all day Sunday -- plus they will loan you a jacket to wear if you don't have one. They always require that men wear a shirt with a collar. Broussard's (I didn't go here) does not allow shorts or jeans to be worn by either men or women. Commander's Palace does not allow shorts to be worn by either men or women. Otherwise, pretty much anything goes.

Littleman

Go to Commander's for Sunday Jazz Brunch. Ask for a table in the Garden Room overlooking the patio. That's not in the FQ. Go to Antoine's or Brennan's in the FQ. I prefer Brennan's. Splurge at Galatoire's or Emeril's which is in the CBD. You can walk there but it's also a short cab ride. Go early and have a drink down the street at Lucy's Bar.

Frenchman Street just E of the FQ has a lot of joints with music. Go to Davenport Lounge in the Ritz Carlton to hear Jeremy Davenport's outstanding jazz.

Go to Johnny's Po Boy's or Mena's Palace for cheap reasonable comfort food. Get a po boy and eat on a bench in Jackson Square. Clover Grill and Central Grocery will sell you reasonable comfort food. Buffa's and Port O Call will too.

I don't do tours but Evergreen and Laura are the closest homes to visit. Rent a car. Don't visit Oak Alley. Take pictures from the road.

bachslunch

Central Grocery is (I think) justly famous for its muffulettas. Half of one is plenty enough for one person. Like Littleman suggests, take it with you to eat on a bench in good weather.

However, I don't agree with the advice not to visit Oak Alley. Agreed that the outside vault of trees is indeed impressive, but I liked the house and its tour as well.

SAnParis2

There are a myriad of posts on here that will help you w/an itin. as well as plan your stay. You will get a myriad of answers to all the questions you pose. I prefer Mr. B's for Sunday brunch & Frenchmen St. for Jazz. I don't do tours so I can't help w/that. Where are you staying ? Like I said, many trip reports that will run the gamut of things to do, as well as dining options.

november_moon

Houma House and Laura plantations are my favortites.

Laura because it is a classic creole plantation, so different from the ones you generally think of, plus a lot is known about the family, so the tour is quite informative. The history of the family is an interesting one.

Houma House because the tour is top notch and the house was built in 3 stages, during 3 different eras, which makes it quite an interesting building. Also, a lot of the original furnishings are still in the house, so it has the feeling that the family has just stepped out. Plus the gardens are great.

elizrg

Thank you all for your great suggestions! bachslunch, your reviews are wonderful and so helpful... after much deliberation and perusing of menus, it looks like we decided on Commander's Palace for Sunday brunch, even though it will involve a short pre-breakfast commute from the FQ.

Looks like we'll also be renting a car to see the plantations (Houma and Laura do look most interesting) and maybe some of the rebuilding areas like Musician's Village as well.

Can't wait... I'll be sure to report when we return!

qwovadis

http://www.neworleansrestaurants.com.../overview.html

Jazz Brunch at 2 sisters also great historic

Commanders better for lunch dinner for me

Camelia Grill at the foot of St Charles historic also

for more pedestrian but delicious food with a great vibe

Happy Journey,

BigRuss

Houmas House and San Francisco are on our next list. We visited Laura Plantation, which was very interesting and is near New Orleans. We spent about 10 minutes at Oak Alley and didn't go in -- place is overrun with tourists.

If you go back from Plantation-ville to New Orleans by the road that runs to the airport (appropriately called Airline Highway), consider stopping at Jacob's Andouille in LaPlace, LA -- great andouille sausage that you can take home with you and the prices aren't bad at all.

bachslunch

BigRuss, your description of Oak Alley reminds me of the Yogi Berra quip "it's so crowded nobody goes there anymore."

I guess since I did do a tour of Oak Alley and am recommending it, I should at least mention that my experience was very positive. In fact, it was for all three plantations I visited.

In the case of Oak Alley, I found the interior quite ornate (if not quite as much so as Nottaway) with plenty of period furnishings. The tour guides are in costume and "in character," but were both very professionally given and informative.

The tour of Laura was also excellent, while the one at Nottaway was the least polished and informative of the three (though still not bad). Laura's interior was the plainest of the three, Nottaway's was the most ornate, and Oak Alley's was in between though leaning towards more rather than less intricate. Laura also has many of its outbuildings intact, which is not a strength of the other two.

I also found all three houses to be quite different from each other, so it's not like one is a "poor cousin" of another in terms of style or experience. Personally, I liked all three very much, and would recommend all of them enthusiastically.

november_moon

We enjoyed our tour of Oak Alley as well. We did a half day tour from New Orleans - Oak Alley and Laura - with Spinato tours. Our group had 10-12 people in it. Oak Alley was very busy, to be sure, but we enjoyed it quite a bit. If you are an Anne Rice fan, this is where the scenes for Louis' house were filmed in Interview. I think I remember reading that there was another connection - maybe it was the inspiration for the Talamasca motherhouse in Merrick and subsequent books.

mscmkr

I hope I haven't missed your trip yet but if I did I hope you had a great time and take my advice for future trips. I went on the Oak Ally tour and really enjoyed it. The French Quarter ghost tour is very fun, I think you should look into that one.
Go to Frenchmans street for all kinds of great jazz. The street is alive with music all the time and is great fun. Also, the Quarter has music all over the place. During the day there is live music set up on streets everywhere. In front of cafe Dumonde there is usually a band playing right on the sidewalk.
As far as food, Mothers is fantastic. I had there gumbo and it was incredible. Central Grocery does have very good muffs but try Quatermaster deli, they deliver in the quarter. We had them deliver 5 times while we were there and it was fantastic every time.
Hope you have (had) a great time, Eric

bachslunch

My experience at Mother's was not a good one -- got their signature po-boy, the "Famous Ferdi" dressed, and found it dry, dull, and lacking flavor. Some folks have reported good experiences here, but several others have not and sorry to report that I'm with the naysayers.

Littleman

Camelia Grill has opened a restaurant in the FQ on Chartres Street. Don't miss a good time there.

SOCALOC

***As far as food, Mothers is fantastic. ***
***My experience at Mother's was not a good one***

I can only speak for breakfast.
We stayed at the W across the street from Mother's. Our first morning there we gave it a shot. We had their breakfast special. It was OK. And for $5.00? I won't complain.

On the morning of the Saints game we had a plumbing problem in our room. By default, we ate at Mother's instead of wasting time. THAT breakfast tasted like an entirely different restaurant. It was pretty darn good. My guess is it must have been another chef.

Was it one of our favorite breakfast meals? no.
Will we seek it out when we return to NOLA? no.

BUT I can see how others might have a positive experience.