Help! My husband and I are flying to New Orleans tomorrow just for the day. We are renting a car only because I have a voucher that needs to be used and the cab fare to and from the Quarter is around $50 roundtrip. We plan to eat our way through the French Quarter, perhaps check out the casino, the D-Day Museum and the fleamarket. I would appreciate any suggestions on where we can park for a reasonable rate near the French Market. Any lunch and dinner suggestions would be great too! Can we find crawfish (peel and eat) this early?

Theresa, the French Market parking lot operated by Park One at Elysian Fields and Decatur is only $5 per day. It's the cheapest in the neighborhood, I think!

Take I-610 to Elysian Fields, turn left, and follow it all the way to the river. One block before the river, you'll see the lot on the right.

Enjoy your day!

Thanks so much, John.

That's I-610 from the airport, right? What direction on I-610. Forgive me, I'm the navigator and my husband is directionally challenged. Ha!

Food suggestions? I know, everything is awesome. Do you know anything about the Acme Oyster House or Royal Cafe?

The airport road is under some serious construction now so you have to exit onto Airline Highway. From there, you can turn left onto Airline and then left again on Williams OR turn right onto Airline and right again onto Interstate 310. Either option will take you to Interstate 10.

At the Jefferson/Orleans parish (county) line, I-10 and I-610 split off from one another. Stay on I-610 if you want to use the Elysian Fields exit to access the parking lot.

Acme is good. I'm not a fan of Royal Cafe (balcony's great, food isn't!). Also, for great fried seafood you may want to try Deanie's at Dauphine and Iberville in the Quarter. It's brand new and is the same Deanie's that's been popular near the lake for many years.

Thanks again. Have a super weekend!

Go to the Napolean House for lunch...you'll get a good meal for cheap!

We were just in NO in November and ate at both Acme and Royal Cafe.

Acme was certainly cheap but we didn't care for the food at all. Having said that, they are known for their oysters which we didn't order. I know we are certainly in the minority with this opinion so I have to believe ordering oysters is the only way to go.

Royal Cafe was extremely overpriced and the food was terrible! We did sit on the balcony, which was nice, but I would not recommend it.

We did like Michael David's (or it could be David Michael's) and we would recommend that restaurant.

Since you are on a tight schedule I would suggest only going up and down one or two inside aisles at the flea market because everything is pretty much the same after that. The outside vendors have different items but there aren't many of them.

I would also try to spend some time on Royal St. The stores are amazing! We spent most of our time here.

As for the casino, since it's Saturday they will raise some of the minimums on the tables as it gets closer to evening.

Have a good time.

I went to NO this summer for my birthday and had a great time. Acme is really fun and casual, I sat at the bar and watched all the "shuckers." Oysters were great, but one piece of advice: Beware of the Oyster Shooter. I thought it would be a single oyster, but it's a shot of vodka and hot sauce with an oyster. Odd sensation going down your throat. Some people love them. Have a great time.