So far have Shaya booked for NOLA dinner. Peche, Kentons and Herbsaint are three that sound intriguing..out of so very many!

Of course do the French Quarter just for walking about sake. The highlights for us when we went to New Orleans were beignets at the Beignet Cafe (doesn't matter which one) and a couple of restaurants in the Gentilly part of town, which is a 15 min drive from the French Quarter. The restaurants were The Juju Bag Cafe and Fiorelli's Cafe which is less than a block from Juju's. These are family owned and hands down the best food we had in New Orleans. If you can muster the ride you won't be disappointed. Also, you can check out our video of things you can do while there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N4W_vcgZzg&t=914s

Let me know if there is anything else.

I had beignets at both Cafe du Monde and Cafe Beignet and thought those at the former were decidedly better.

Cafe du Monde is one of the few tourist destinations that lives up to its reputation. It is also much better than Morning Call

Thanks, I will certainly stop by Cafe du Monde.

Anyone care to comment about the other restaurants I mentioned; I've got Shaya booked already and am having terrible difficulty narrowing down the list..

Kenton's
Herbsaint
Peche

Clancy's



Casement's for lunch (??)

sorry, Casamento's (Magazine St) for lunch (??) (NOT casements!)

Reading with interest. My kids just asked to go to New Orleans for a last minute trip. I have three foodies with grown up pallets who travel the world with me for food, so this is an easy one to give them. I've been many times but it's been years. Always stayed in the quarter though. Loving the info people are giving on this thread!

grown up pallets
__________________
Please note:

Palate-relates to taste
Palette-is a range of colors
Pallet-is what they use in Home Depot

Thank you so very much for the correction. Most appreciative of the time you took out of your morning to post. Whatever the word (and I think folks knew what I meant as did you) my girls have enjoyed eating their way through Europe, Asia, Africa and a bit of South America. But only about 15 states or so in the U.S., so delighted to take them to New Orleans where they can sample a variety of foods. Thanks for posting your TR. It is informative and helpful.

Insert thumbs up thing they all use.

Booked Windsor Court with a "good deal." (Also booked IMD's place in Eunice)

Booked restaurants for every night save the night of arrival....where can we go for casual place the first night? Not so much for sandwich but for plain seafood, walking distance would be great but not essential....just looking forward to wandering around in a city new to me....do I really need to worry about wandering around, IMD??

Here is where I booked in Eunice for the weekend; looks convenient to the music venues and not too far from Hawk's...Felicia, the owner, was lovely on the phone.

http://levillagehouse.com/

It is a pretty rural location. It is a car drive from food. There were places for dinner named Frog City and we got them confused and ate the place that was more like a truck stop. It was fine.

WE really like the Drago's Seafood in the Hilton Riverside. Easy walking distance for you. Try the charbroiled oysters--every time we're in NOLA we get them!

You don't need to worry about walking around--but at night I would stay off of Decatur Street north of Jackson Square and off of Bourbon Street altogether.

And while the beignets at Café du Monde are super--either be prepared to wait for a LONG time for a table, or go very early in the morning.

The only reason to stay off Bourbon Street (the few blocks near Canal) is if you don't want to see people partying in the street. It isn't dangerous or anything, its just kind of tacky and loud. The rest of Bourbon Street is pretty much residential.

For Cafe du Monde - I've seen long lines, but never waited in one - and I have never gone anywhere in New Orleans early in the morning I usually go after dinner, or later

Reading this with interest as I am also thinking of visiting New Orleans.
Have taken notes and will do more research to plan my trip.
I need to do some shopping there too for some gifts for special occasions that will be coming up.
Would like to find out if there are any special items available in the area that I should consider purchasing.
Any special shops, markets I should look into.
Thanks for your help.
Have a Happy New Year.

Small glitch:

The flight we need leaves in the morning from MSY. It means we would have to wake up very early and hightail it to the airport from our B&B in Rayne, on a Sunday.

SO: Option #1 is spending one night near the airport and eating in a local seafood spot in Metarie (Bevi Seafood?) then heading to the airport on Monday morning for the flight out.

Option #2 is driving back to NOLA on Sunday, returning the car either in city or at airport, having dinner and spending one more night in New Orleans, then taking taxi to make flight on Monday morning.

Any comments?

That was a schlep from NOLA to Rayne. I would stay in Metarie.

Thanks, IMD, and thank you for the tip on Hawks. Looking forward, even if partner will not eat "things with shells!"

I am sure you will have fun.