New Orleans might the best food city in America. It’s an opinion I’ve held since 2017 after spending nearly two weeks there shooting Spring Baking Championship for Food Network. I’ve been back in 2023 and most recently 2024 where I spent five glorious days eating as much as I could.
Here is my New Orleans Restaurant Round Up for 2024.
The Vitals:
the spot: Alma Cafe 800 Louisa St, New Orleans, LA 70117
the eats: Pollo en Crema, Asado, Seared Duck
the bucks: $$$
the full nelson: Honduran fine dining food in a cafe setting
Alma Cafe was my first experience eating Honduran food. While I can’t say definitively if what I ate would resemble a trip to Honduras, my meal at Alma cafe was the best dinner of my New Orleans restaurant round up in 2024.
I loved the mixed grill platter at Alma Cafe but it was a small fortune for essentially what I cook at home often. The Duck was excellent but man this Pollo en crema was just so comforting. It might seem pedestrian but chicken in cream sauce is good. You will have zero regrets ordering this dish.
The Vitals:
the spot: Central Grocery 923 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116
the eats: Muffuletta
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: An Iconic New Orleans sandwich from an Iconic New Orleans Deli
On my way home I stopped off at Central Grocery to bring a couple Muffulettas home. The iconic sandwich composed of a large round roll, assorted cured meats, cheese and a signature olive spread isn’t just as delicious as it sounds but it travels well. After a three year hiatus, Central Grocery reopened just in time for me to bring a few sandwiches home.
Here’s the thing though: I think it is overpriced. Yes, the large sandwich for $30 feeds four but the sandwich is so good, I could easily eat half. My kid nearly did.
Something about the place feels like they took a look at what people pay on Goldbelly and adjusted accordingly. It’s good but I think there are better bang for you buck sandwiches out there for your New Orleans Restaurant round up.
The Vitals:
the spot:Peche 800 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130
the eats: Steak Tartare, Seafood Gumbo, Shrimp Toast, Baked Drum, a few specials
the bucks: $$$
the full nelson: A New Orleans restaurant whose appeal alludes me
I went to Peche back in 2017 and found myself back there seven years later in 2024. In both instances I left kind of shrugging my shoulders at the overall experience. It’s a popping restaurant which means they must be doing something right. I just don’t find a stride in the menu. It feels all over the place and nothing strike me as memorable with one exception.
The Steak Tartare. Grab a Sazerac and the steak tartare and that just might be the best way to enjoy Peche.
The Vitals:
the spot:The Yakamein Lady pop up only
the eats: Yakamein
the bucks: $
the full nelson: One of the best bites of 2024
Chef Linda Green makes Yakamein which is one of the most unique dishes I have ever had. NOLA locals know but if you are like me, you are not. Picture an Asian Noodle soup with just enough soul food to be placed in it’s own category.
In this bowl you will find spaghetti noodles, tender braised beef, green onions, boiled egg, soy sauce and hot sauce. It is called “Old Sober” as it is billed as a hangover remedy. I wasn’t hungover, just hungry and it slapped, as the kids say. Reminded me of Saimin in Hawaii.
Available only at popups, if you can find the Yakamein lady, try it. Trust me.
The Vitals:
the spot:Hermes Bar 725 St Louis St, New Orleans, LA 70130
the eats: Oysters Rockefeller, Sazerac
the bucks: $$-$$$
the full nelson: Legendary New Orleans restaurant coasting on reputation
It is not often that I write a negative review but in the case of Hermes Bar, I make an exception. And I do so out of respect for the rest of the establishments in this New Orleans Restaurant Round Up. Located at Antoine’s one of the oldest restaurant in America, Hermes Bar is just that: a bar at Antoine’s. If you can’t snag a table in the elegant dining room, you can snag a stool here.
The sazerac was good enough. As were the Oysters Rockeller but at $18, it should be. The shrimp remoulade was abysmal, mostly because of the shrimp. I’ve been told by a well informed local that many a restaurant are using cheap imported shrimp and passing them off as from the gulf.
This seems to explain what happened here. Come for a drink and maybe the oysters rockefeller and then get out of dodge.
The Vitals:
the spot:Jewel of the South 1026 St Louis St, New Orleans, LA 70112
the eats: Anchovies on toast, Potatoes and Pimento Cheese, Foie Gras Parfait
the bucks: $$-$$$
the full nelson: my favorite restaurant of the New Orleans Restaurant round up
Alma may have been my favorite dinner but Jewel of the South was my fav restaurant of this New Orleans Restaurant Round up. Though I only went from drinks and a few bites, it was here that I had the perfect Sazerac, and one of the best bites of 2024: the Anchovy toasts.
They tasted like brioche but they might have been corn flour. Either way I was blown away by what was the best carb I ate this year. The potatoes with pimento cheese might not seem too sophisticated(it’s not) but it was one thousand percent irresistible. The foie gras parfait sound more exciting that it was. I’ll take seared over mousse anyday.
The Vitals:
the spot:Turkey and The Wolf 739 Jackson Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
the eats: Collard Greens Melt, Wedge Salad
the bucks: $$
the full nelson: the most dinner worthy sandwiches ever
As much as I think of Philadelphia as a sandwich town, they don’t have a sandwich spot that is so worthy of dinner like Turkey and the Wolf. It’s a magical combination of imagination and decadence that makes a Collard Greens Melt into a sandwich as decadent as a Pastrami Reuben or a Patty Melt.
Then there is the Wedge salad which was the best I’ve ever had and it was delivered to my hotel. I didn’t try the double cheeseburger pictured but I did have the fried chicken. Yes, that was good too.
Had I dined at Turkey and The Wolf, I might say that was the best of this New Orleans restaurant round up. But I also didn’t have dinner Jewel of the South either. Alma was a great dinner but Jewel of the South is topping my list of places to go back to along with Turkey and The Wolf.
As I look back at it all, it’s easy to stay on track with my initial thought: New Orleans is the best food city in America.
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