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Home • 2013 ESSENCE Music Festival

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants

While you're enjoying the concerts and seminars at the ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans July 4th weekend, take time to indulge in the delicious food the city has to offer. Here, we've rounded up some of our favorite New Orleans restaurants.
By Essence · Updated October 28, 2020
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01
Atchafalaya

Atchafalaya restaurant is the perfect choice for those wanting a memorable meal in a historic and enchanting setting. Locals and tourists alike return often for our contemporary Creole cuisine, attentive service, warm hospitality, and expertly crafted cocktails. It features live music and a Bloody Mary bar during weekend brunches. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday and dinner is available seven days a week.

Visit: 901 Louisiana Avenue; 504-891-9626
atchafalayarestaurant.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
02
Betsy’s Pancake House

The breakfast special features two eggs, bacon, grits and pancakes. The lunch specials include soup or salad, dessert and iced tea or coffee with an entree. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch, Sunday – Friday. Credit cards.

Visit: 2542 Canal Street; 504-822-0214

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
03
Booty’s

Booty’s carries street food from around the world, globally-inspired cocktails, Stumptown coffee and WiFi. Oh, and a hidden art gallery.

Visit: 800 Louisa Street; 504-266-2887
bootysnola.com                                           

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
04
Cochon

At Cochon, Chef Link has reconnected with his culinary roots, serving the traditional Cajun Southern dishes he grew up with. Chef Link and Chef/Co-owner Stephen Stryjewski are working with locally sourced pork, fresh produce and seafood, focusing on traditional methods, creating authentic flavors of Cajun country. The restaurant is set in a rustic, yet contemporary interior of a renovated New Orleans warehouse.                                                                                                                                     

Visit: 930 Tchoupitoulas Street; 504-588-5123                                                                      
cochonrestaurant.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
05
Cowbell

In the olden times, ranchers adorned their cows with custom bells to identify them as they ate their way through the open range. The mellifluous ring of the cowbell reminds the rancher to bring those delicious meats to consumers. Cowbell in New Orleans is where you can find food that’s simply delicious.

Visit: 8801 Oak Street; 504-298-8689
cowbell-nola.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
06
Dooky Chase

Dooky Chase is an authentic Creole family restaurant led by Leah Chase, the “Queen of Creole Cuisine.” Guests enjoy an incredible array of Creole and soul food in a comfortable atmosphere.

Visit: 2301 Orleans Avenue; 504-821-0600                        
dookychaserestaurant.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
norinnola.com
07
Jacques-Imo’s Cafe

In a town that celebrates almost anything, no greater celebration is held than the tribute to Creole/Soul food and warm Southern Hospitality that Jacques Leonardi and the staff at Jacques-Imo’s Cafe provides on a daily basis.

Visit: 8324 Oak Street; 504-861-0886                                                                                                                                                                   jacques-imos.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
08
Irene’s Cuisine

The walls here are festooned with enough snapshots and crockery for at least two more restaurants, but it all just adds to the charm of this cozy Italian-Creole eatery. From Irene DiPietro’s kitchen come succulent roasted chicken brushed with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic; delicious, velvety soups; and fresh shrimp, aggressively seasoned and grilled before they join linguine glistening with herbed olive oil. Waits here can stretch to the 60-minute mark during peak dinner hours, which is just enough time for a bottle of wine in the convivial little piano bar. The service is easily the friendliest in the French Quarter.                                        

Visit: 539 St. Phillip Street; 504-529-8811                                                                      

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
09
Mimi’s in the Marigny

The vibe at Mimi’s in the Marigny is more house party than hotspot and the reasons the bar rates No. 1 in the city are as diverse as the regulars who make it so. Our kitchen is open seven days week serving the best Tapas around, and we have live music and DJs every night.

Visit: 2601 Royal Street; 504- 872- 9868
mimisinthemarigny.net

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
10
Sassafras

Enjoy authentic Creole cuisine, seafood platters and daily specials in an elegant dining room.

Visit: 2501 Leon C. Simon Boulevard; 504-288-3939
sassafrasnola.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
11
The Praline Connection

The Praline Connection serves “down-home” Cajun-Creole-style soul food at affordable prices and features three generations of “Pure-D-Goodness.” Its New Orleans pralines are handmade daily in the old fashioned, spoon-dripped method, using only the finest ingredients.

Visit: 542 Frenchman Street, 504-943-7903

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants
12
Domenica

The name Domenica means “Sunday” in Italian, and partners John Besh and Alon Shaya have created a restaurant in the renovated historic Roosevelt Hotel that is as warm and inviting as a traditional Sunday supper in a rural Italian village, where each bountiful dish is lovingly prepared with the purest ingredients according to ages-old technique. Domenica’s warm and welcoming dining room is anchored by a number of refectory tables for just such lively meals, and none of the restaurant’s handsome wooden tables is covered with a formal cloth: instead, in keeping with the homey tone, each place is marked with a paper placemat printed with the menu. Custom-brewed beers and an Italian-focused wine list perfectly complement the rustic country fare.

Visit: 123 Baronne Street; 504-648- 6020
domenicarestaurant.com

Our Favorite New Orleans Restaurants