Destinations

New Orleans Cajun Restaurants: 10Best Restaurant Evaluations

New Orleans is not a hotbed of Cajun delicacies – it’s worthwhile to head out of the town into the cities of Southwestern Louisiana for that, locations like Bayou Lafourche, Lafayette, New Iberia, Lake Charles and Thibodeaux. But there are some actually good cooks with Cajun roots right here on the town, in addition to fried meals emporiums the place yow will discover boudin balls and alligator sausage.  

If you are confused in regards to the distinction between Cajun and Creole delicacies, for which New Orleans is world well-known, assume nation, rustic fare vs. citified French-inspired gastronomy. “Cajun cuisine is rustic French country cooking, while Creole food boasts an air of sophistication, ever-evolving and heavily influenced by European cultures,” explained Tommy DiGiovanni, executive chef at Arnaud’s Restaurant, a bastion of Creole tradition. Chef Emeril Lagasse put it this way, “Cajuns use substances from the land, together with fish, shellfish, geese, frogs and nutria. But in fact, there’s crossover, principally seen in dishes with rice comparable to gumbo and jambalaya.”

At the eating places on this listing, you possibly can savor fashionable Cajun fare in addition to housemade sausages and pickles, fried rabbit and rooster and dishes like rooster and andouille gumbo, Cajun jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, blackened Louisiana drum and frogs legs handled to Buffalo-style basting.



If you want your Cajun eats with drinks and partying on the facet, Mambo’s is your spot. With the one rooftop bar on Bourbon Street, this 10,000 sq. ft., three-story bar and eating places attracts crowds for good eats, huge drinks and loads of elbow room for watching the sport and chilling. Besides the kitchen staff’s signature crab cake topped with a spicy crawfish and mushroom cream sauce, the menu presents the likes of blackened gator bites, crawfish poutine, recent and char grilled oysters, bbq shrimp and grits and a spread of po-boys and salads. For a considerable choice, attempt the blackened redfish Lafourche, named for a Cajun bayou parish about two hours down the bayou. Local redfish is seared and served on a mattress of mashed potatoes,topped with crawfish and mushroom cream sauce and fried crawfish tails mustard greens on the facet. Get the bread pudding for dessert.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Mambo’s serves massive parts of Cajun and native specialties proper on Bourbon Street.

Beth’s skilled tip: Try the style of New Orleans for a sampling of favorites includinggumbo, crawfish etouffee and purple beans and rice with smoked sausage.

Read more about Mambo’s →


The Gumbo Shop is the right place for a enjoyable, informal lunch served in a small, cozy, characteristically New Orleans setting. Visit this native favourite usually and pattern a wide range of savory gumbos, together with rooster andouille gumbo, seafood okra gumbo and the meatless gumbo z’herbes. Other widespread dishes embody favorites like crawfish etouffee, blackened fish specialties and alligator sauce piquante. The location is good, proper subsequent to the St. Louis Cathedral within the coronary heart of the French Quarter. The venue persistently tops the native weekly Gambit’s greatest gumbo lists, which is saying lots in a metropolis with hoards of gumbo aficionados.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Although recognized for his or her gumbo, the Gumbo Shop dishes loads of Cajun specialties.

Beth’s skilled tip: The gumbo right here is persistently ranked among the many greatest on the town by native foodies.

Read more about Gumbo Shop →


Cochon

Photo courtesy of Cochon Restaurant

Nestled within the Warehouse District, chef/homeowners Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski pay homage to all issues swine at this impressed and genuine Cajun restaurant. Link mines his German-Acadian roots with dishes comparable to fried boudin with pickled peppers, pork-and-black-eyed-pea gumbo and delectable fried rooster livers with pepper-jelly toast. Reservations are really useful as this place will get packed. Or select to dine on the identical location on the extra informal and newly expanded Cochon Butcher, identical nice charcuterie dished out of a sandwich counter and wine bar that can remind you of an previous world meat market. Here’s a tip: get the muffuletta, actually probably the greatest on the town.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Some of the very best pork in New Orleans occurs on the plate at Cochon.

Beth’s skilled tip: Don’t miss the char grilled oysters – they’re made with a compound chili butter and are among the greatest on the town.

Read more about Cochon →


Chef Jeff Heard mines his New Orleans and luxury meals roots at this glorious Central City eatery, with its catering division named for his mama Audrey Mae. With a background that features greater than 25 years in lodge service and a decade as banquet supervisor at Restaurant August, this chef is steeped in Southern hospitality and the visitor expertise. His menu, whereas not strictly Cajun, makes use of Gulf substances like crawfish to create widespread dishes like crawdat fries, topped with a creamy cheese sauce studded with crawfish and
a hearty file gumbo, served Cajun type with potato salad.
There’s at all times purple beans and rice on the menu – not simply on Mondays, with fried rooster or fish on the facet. Shrimp and grits and stuffed bell peppers are good choices, identical for the Superdome, a signature dish that pairs blackened fish with a lobster cream sauce, potatoes, candy corn and onion rings. If you go hungry right here it is your individual darn fault.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: This chef brings a advantageous eating background to a stable menu of Southern consolation and Cajun-inspired delicacies.

Beth’s skilled tip: Get the crawdat sauce on one thing – blackened steak or fish as an example – as a result of it is the chef’s signature.

Read more about Heard Dat Kitchen →


Compact and crowded, Coop’s in all probability is not on most vacationers’ agendas which is a crying disgrace. Located proper on Decatur not removed from the French Market, Coop’s stays a locals’ hang-out, with its well-worn surfaces and gritty elan. Unpolished, seductive, and even a contact dingy, Coop’s is the true deal. Staples like shrimp Creole, Cajun-fried rooster, fried oysters and rabbit and sausage jambalaya are at all times good bets for lunch or order the tasting plate, which options the objects above together with delicious parts of seafood gumbo and purple beans and rice with sausage. This place serves meals late if it’s worthwhile to circle again on the finish of an evening on Frenchmen Street.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: There’s at all times a line out the door at Coop’s – and there is a purpose for that: the place is just good.

Beth’s skilled tip: If loud bothers you, transfer alongside. But this full of life French Quarter spot is the true deal so long as you possibly can leap into the fray.

Read more about Coop’s Place →


Restaurant R’evolution, located within the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street, channels the inventive powers of two cooks, James Beard-winner Rick Tramonto from Chicago, and John Folse, an area chef-personality from Donaldsonville. With competent chef de delicacies Samuel Peery chargeable for fomenting this twin imaginative and prescient, the menu right here is imaginative and showy, with a price ticket to match. Modern takes on Cajun/Creole dishes embody dry aged steak tartare, wild boar Bolegnese, and plate of fire-roasted brief ribs and lobster. There’s additionally a swanky array of caviars with fixin’s and naturally dry aged steaks. The bar is understood for handcrafting an incredible Sazerac.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Restaurant R’evolution presents an extremely up to date tackle conventional Cajun cooking.

Beth’s skilled tip: Try the “Death by Gumbo” which features a entire quail full of oysters.

Read more about Restaurant R’evolution →


Brigtsen's

This is Cajun meets Creole cooking at its greatest. Brigtsen’s chef/proprietor Frank Brigtsen is famous within the area and his culinary prowess excellent. Trained with chef Paul Prudhomme. for seven years, chef Brigtsen sources a lot of his substances regionally, with day by day menu specials which can be at all times a good suggestion. You will not be upset by the roast duck or blackened tuna, however do not miss the rabbit and Andouille gumbo, shrimp and grits and pulled pork with pepper jelly glaze. Brigtsen’s is a fast streetcar journey uptown from the French Quarter. Chef Brigtsen has garnered many awards together with Best Chef Southeast from the James Beard Foundation.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Chef Frank Brigtsen is a Cajun/Creole famous person chef. His flagship restaurant is properly value a cab journey uptown.

Beth’s skilled tip: If you streetcar/journey share to Brigtsen’s, plan to spend the night within the Riverbend/Carrollton space, a charmingly genuine neighborhood.

Read more about Brigtsen’s →


Jacques-Imo’s is a Cajun/Creole mecca notable for its truck-turned desk for 2 beckoning the Oak Street pedestrian crowd. The shrimp etouffee and smothered rooster spotlight a menu of favorites that ship enormous parts at cheap costs – all entrees embody salad and two sides. Locals love the fried rooster – though that argument won’t ever be settled in New Orleans, this model is correct up there. The paneed rabbit with tasso pasta is one other winner, and for dessert, what else however the alligator cheesecake? Jacques Leonardi, the chef and mastermind of this venue, is commonly readily available to talk up visitors and discuss meals.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Jacques-Imo’s is a full of life, regionally cherished neighborhood joint tucked right into a two-story shotgun on historic Oak Street.

Beth’s skilled tip: Don’t go away till you attempt the alligator cheesecake, a hefty slab of savory cheesecake chock filled with shrimp and alligator nuggets.

Read more about Jacques-Imo’s Cafe →


Galliano

Photo courtesy of Beth D’Addono

Chef Ricky Cheramie brings his twist on conventional homestyle Cajun dishes to the desk at this breezy, newish spot steps from the Convention Center. His menu options swamp favorites comparable to alligator, crawfish, and uncooked oysters; from the flatlands, there are tastes of untamed boar sausage, duck, Cajun marinated prime rib and boudin-stuffed free-range Statler rooster breast with a facet of discipline pea fricassee. IF you feel a salad, compromise and get your Caesar with fried oysters on prime. Beers are all native and are served in bottles and on faucet. The wine listing is a daring array of latest and previous world choices.

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Galliano delivers genuine Cajun flavors within the coronary heart of the town, simply steps from the Convention Center.

Beth’s skilled tip: This is among the few spots within the Warehouse district that serves each uncooked and char-grilled oysters.

Read more about Galliano →


Toups' Meatery

Photo courtesy of Toups’ Meatery

Toups’s is not geared to vegetarians – though there’s a day by day veg plate and a salad choice. But if housemade charcuterie and Cajun dishes like will get your pulse racing, then run do not stroll to this Mid-City eatery, the place reservations are strongly instructed. Owned by chef Isaac Toups and his spouse Amanda, Toups’ serves up to date Cajun delicacies, dishes like Gulf shrimp stew, double lower pork chops with soiled rice, boudin balls and cracklins.The chef, who labored for Emeril for a decade earlier than opening Toups’ in 2012, describes his menu as what occurs when a Cajun boy spends 10 years in advantageous eating. Toups comes by his Cajun flare truthfully – he hails from Rayne, Louisiana, “the frog capital of the world.”

Recommended for Cajun as a result of: Toups’ Meatery is a chef-owned meat palace in Mid-City, a pure add on should you’re heading to Rock’N’Bowl for music.

Beth’s skilled tip: If you like Toups’ Cajun flavors decide up a duplicate of his e book, Chasing the Gator, on sale on the restaurant.

Read more about Toups’ Meatery →


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