30 Best Restaurants in USA

You're probably not going to go to Billy's for your fanciest occasions (or if you're trying to eat healthy), but if you're looking for some amazing Cajun snacks with no frills, then this is the place for you. Go inside and order at the counter to see what they've serving that day or swing through the drive-thru if you're in a rush.

With its exposed brick interior and exterior, this Breaux Bridge eatery puts a spicy, Cajun twist on rich Italian classics. It's their world-famous Saturday morning zydeco brunch ($10 cover), however, that really brings in the visitors: locals and tourists swing by as early as 8 am to fill up on breakfast favorites and $15 bottomless cocktails, and to dance to live local bands before making the rounds to other Cajun Country parties.

Chef-owned restaurants are common in New Orleans, but this one builds on owner Donald Link's family heritage as he, working with co-owner Stephen Stryjewski (who received a James Beard Award for his work here), prepares Cajun dishes he learned to cook at his grandfather's knee. The fried boudin with pickled peppers is a must—trust us on this one—as well as the wood-fired oysters with chili garlic butter. Then move on to the rabbit and dumplings, and a hearty Louisiana cochon (pork) with turnips, cracklings, and cabbage. Despite the pork-centric reputation, all the vegetable sides, especially the braised collard greens, are excellent.

Overlooking Bayou Amy, Pat's is the real deal, with heaping platters of seafood. On a cool night, get a table on the porch overlooking the bayou and go for the shrimp dinner, which presents the local favorite no fewer than eight different ways. Pat's Atchafalaya Club, which is the area hot spot for Cajun dancing on weekend nights, is next door. Accommodations are also available at Pat's Edgewater Inn, located on the same stretch.

Midway between Laura and Oak Alley plantations, downtown Vacherie is short on sights but long on flavor, thanks in no small part to this down-home lunchroom. Photos and murals on the walls tell tales of local history, while po'boys, jambalaya, and fried catfish fill the tables. You can also pick up some homemade sausages as an edible souvenir. Owner Spuddy is a wealth of knowledge; call up and ask about his "Cajun Cooking Experience." He also does a version of his Experience as a free show on the restaurant's Facebook page.

As the restaurant's name might hint, on the menu here you'll find meat, meat, and more meat, from chicken liver mousse and charcuterie to a lamb neck with black-eyed-pea salad and a double-cut pork chop with a local cane syrup gastrique. Chef Isaac Toups, a Top Chef contestant and crowd favorite, is hardly the only young American chef obsessed with animal flesh, but at this intimate spot with DIY elegance, he adds a Louisiana edge with items like boudin, cracklings, and sides of dirty rice. But don't worry, not everything coming out of the kitchen is meat: they make their own pickles, too.

Named for I–55, which cuts through the Mississippi Delta toward New Orleans, this Gulf-inspired restaurant pulls out all the stops: gumbo, po’boys, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, oysters (char-grilled, fried, or in the shell), and even fried green tomato and shrimp rémoulade. Tables are first come, first served, but it’s worth the wait—especially for weekend brunch: their build-your-own-Bloody-Mary bar has all the fixings for the hair of just about any dog. And their daily cocktail menu drips with Southern twang and flavor.

This small shop and restaurant serves some of the tastiest seafood gumbo around River Road (and there's plenty of competition). Try a dash of hot sauce and a sprinkle of filé, or sample the alligator burgers; finish with a scoop of rich, dense bread pudding. The shop carries fresh and frozen catfish, crawfish, alligator, and turtle meat harvested from the nearby swamps. You can buy seafood packed to travel.

You'll find more than 200 microbrews, both bottled and on tap, at this lively, often crowded Louisiana-inflected bar and restaurant on the south side of downtown. The menu offers plenty of Cajun specialties, such as crawfish étouffée and blackened catfish sandwiches, along with more regionally American grub like fried chicken and pizza. Live music, pool tables, and a casual, high-energy buzz make this a fun place to hang out for a while. You must be over 21 to enter.

Crawfish and shrimp pasta with stuffed crab, a fried frog leg basket, or sausage Creole are some of what you can expect to find at this casual breakfast and lunch spot tucked inside the owner's catering company building. Cakes and pies are their specialty; call ahead to see what might be available while you're in town. A huge Lenten buffet is available for dinner on Friday between Mardi Gras and Easter.

Located riverside at Disney's Port Orleans Resort, this very impressive, handcrafted dining hall looks like the interior of a wooden sailing ship, complete with an inverted hull on the ceiling and weathered shipbuilding tools. True to the N'awlins theme is a menu of tasty bayou dishes ranging from Louisiana étouffée to crawfish bisque to andouille-stuffed catfish. Decadent desserts include the likes of gooey St. Louis butter cake and Bourbon Street pecan tarts. The River Roost Lounge, a full bar with entertainment, is a great stop before or after dinner.

Legendary farm-to-table fine dining chef David Kinch co-owns this casual restaurant. It’s a loving ode to the good times and great cuisine of New Orleans. With Mardi Gras beads and French Quarter–inspired wrought iron throughout the space and jazz on the soundtrack, it’s hard not to feel transported to the bayou. The renditions of NOLA standards here like oyster po'boys and hurricane cocktails are superb—sometimes even superior to their peers close to Bourbon Street.

A little off the beaten path, but very much worth looking for, Chanticleer has colorful decor featuring giant rooster paintings, but it's the food that will have you crowing. Most of the items are are homemade—including the bread, soups, and to-die-for cookies—and many of the entrées have a Cajun twist (Creole crab claws, shrimp and grits, jambalaya). The menu also features salads, burgers, steak, and pork chops. Whether you eat inside or outdoors, it's first-come-first-served seating.

On the town square, you can step back in time at this old-style diner. Breakfast is full of hearty Cajun and southern fares such as the pain perdu (old-fashioned local version of French toast), beignets, and praline chicken biscuits; the lunch menu has sandwiches like a brisket po'boy, as well as a different plate lunch special each day. Crawfish étouffée, fried catfish, and barbecue chicken are just a few recent options.

This small eatery is in the tiny town of Sunset, Louisiana, just a few minutes outside of Grand Coteau. Only open three hours each day, DDee's serves up a new lineup of only-in-Louisiana lunch plates each day: Catfish courtbouillon, Cajun roast beef, and stuffed crawfish bread are just a few of the items that have graced the chalkboard menu recently.

With its bright, airy atmosphere and seafood-heavy menu, Felix's brings New Orleans directly to Pensacola Beach. A large covered patio overlooks the Santa Rosa Sound. 

Tucked in next to the Opera House, the French Quarter's marquee signage fits right in. This ode to Louisiana features a menu of popcorn shrimp, fried okra, sticky chicken, and crab-crusted catfish, and toasts the Southern experience with a Vieux Carré and much more. On a nice evening, sit by the front windows—they open.

Despite its white tablecloths and refined menu, this small, family-run bistro in its cornflower-blue cottage setting has a wonderful neighborhood feel to it. The Cajun-Creole kitchen originally opened in 1992 and after a brief closing due to Hurricane Katrina, its elevated Cajun fare and friendly service has quickly made its way back into the heart of local diners.

True Cajun favorites are notoriously hard to find outside of Louisiana, but two Louisiana State University alums have brought an authentic slice of New Orleans to The Gulch. Four different variations of gumbo are the main draw here, but alligator, catfish, and high-piled po'boys made with bread shipped in directly from the Big Easy all deserve nods as well. The decor has the casual feel of a neighborhood haunt with cozy booths, a long wooden bar, and a slightly more upscale back room for larger parties. Come hungry and ready to indulge in some fried delights.

A visit to Cajun country is not complete without a stop at Hebert's. This butcher shop is one of several contenders claiming credit for inventing turducken—a turkey stuffed with a duck that's stuffed with a chicken. You can grab a link of hot boudin to eat on the spot, or fill a cooler with andouille, deboned stuffed chicken, and other regional delicacies for later.

From roughly December through June, when Louisiana crawfish are in season, local families pack in to partake in the outrageous abundance. Order from the menu—including crawfish, oysters, and a few sides like sausage links and boiled potatoes, plus cold beer—in the simple, stripped-down dining room filled with big tables. Or roll up to the drive-through window and pick up supplies for your own crawfish picnic.

Order your authentic Cajun cooking at the counter of this butcher shop and lunchroom, then eat in or take away. The daily specials will always stick to your ribs. Boudin, sausage, cracklins, and stuffed chicken or rabbit are just a few of the items available for takeout. Poche's opens very early in the morning and stays open through dinner.

In this cypress house decorated with swamp trees and a large stuffed alligator at the entrance, people gather over red-and-white-check tablecloths to chow down on local classics: alligator bites, boudin flatbread, or any of the kitchen's four distinctive gumbos. Grilled seafood provides some lighter options, while decadent stuffed catfish dominates the heartier end. There's live Cajun music (and usually dancing) every Tuesday at 6 pm and Sunday at 11 am.

The majority of the menu items at Tabasco's restaurant features the iconic sauce, like boudin eggrolls accompanied by a spicy Tabasco pepper jelly and red beans and rice prepared with the Roasted Garlic Tabasco sauce. (There are 12 different Tabasco sauces in all, and you can taste each of them in the visitor's center.) Still, there's something on the menu for everyone: Louisiana staples like po'boys, gumbo, and crawfish étouffée for the adventurous eaters; and more standard fare like nachos and chicken tenders for those who want to play it safe.

Cross the Vermilion River on a vintage drawbridge and continue down a winding country road to find this classic Cajun "seafood patio," a no-frills dining room serving immense quantities of boiled crawfish, shrimp, and crabs. There's a full menu of fried, grilled, and smothered items, plus a buffet in case you're having a hard time choosing. And, of course, there's plenty of cold beer to wash the seafood down. Richard's opens at 5 pm and fills up almost immediately, so expect a wait.

This Cajun diner attracted attention for its stylish, retro interior, complete with vintage booths and an Astroturf rear patio, before Austinites even had the chance to sample its New Orleans–style comfort food. But the mid-century motif has only bolstered the growing reputation of its all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. Brunch crowds flock here for the NOLA-style French toast, omelet specials, and Bloody Marys, while lunch and dinner menus feature staples like shrimp-and-grits, crawfish étouffée, and Creole shrimp po’boys.

This often-busy diner serves a hearty Cajun breakfast and lunch, which feature daily specials such as smothered rabbit, catfish courtbouillon, or crawfish omelets. The southern fare also includes fried chicken and seafood dishes.

LaPlace is known as the andouille capital of the world, and the spicy, smoky, Cajun-style sausage is deservedly popular here. In this butcher shop that doubles as a functional, straightforward restaurant for weekday lunches, you can get andouille in burgers, in gumbo, made into chips for dipping, or worked into white beans and rice.

California meets New Orleans with farm-to-fork ingredients and Cajun-Creole flavors at French 25, an upscale restaurant near downtown Stockton's waterfront. Opened by the owners of Le Bistro, a local favorite for two decades, the restaurant evokes the character of New Orleans' French Quarter. Fried foods being a Crescent City staple, it should come as no surprise that menu favorites include the fried creole calamari and the fried-chicken entrée with malted waffles. Pan-Southern influences crop up everywhere, most notably in dishes such as barbecue shrimp and cheesy grits, jambalaya, and the zesty Cajun-chicken tortellini. F25's oyster bar, Bourbon Street–inspired cocktails, and desserts—among them sugar-dusted beignets and bread pudding—complete the Big Easy theme.