NOLA Favorites

CHEF STAZ’S FAVORITES

• Frenchmen’s street – best at night for live music.
• Napoleon house (½ muff and a pimms cup at the bar),
• Impastastos (Metairie-best Italian in the city),
• Mr. B’s (BBQ shrimp & $1.50 martini’s at lunch)
• Parkway Bakery and tavern (great po-boys if there isn’t a long line)
• Central grocery (muffuletta, barqs and sit by the river)
• Port o call (burger & rum punch, best hang over cure ever)
• Hotel montelelone- carousel bar.
• August (lil upscale, and overpriced but very good)
• Restaurant revolution (cool new spot if you’re stuck on bourbon)
• Cochon. (new, happening and awesome)
• Chart room!! (10oz ice cold cans for cheap.Locals, jukebox.My favorite spot!!)
• Old abstinte – (a good spot on bourbon have a pimms cup)
• Pavilion hotel- (pimms cup on the way to the dome)
• Tujagues – (have a drink at the standing bar)
• Katie’s ( cool neighborhood spot with funky menu)
• Deanies (the one in bucktown ,fried seafood is the real deal!)
• Bozos (oysters, great menu one of my old spots)
• Bon ton café ( one of my go to’s)
• Stanley (screws or bloody with Boudin eggs benedict)
• Elizabeth’s( super cool southern breakfast spot short cab ride)
• Clancy’s (uptown for a smoked soft shell crab and lemon box pie)
• Lucy’s (if u need a cheap taco and a marg)
• Liuzza’s (Mid City , Po boy and the COLDEST BEER EVER)
• Mid city bowl (check music line up!)
• Mandina’s (local spot on canal true New Orleans dining)
• Lafitte’s blacksmith shop (drink drank drunk)
• Ye olde original Dungeon (opens at mid night, nuff said)

• Catfish and Roast Beef Po-Boy at Crabby Jacks on Jefferson Highway *****
• Frosty Abita Mug and a cup of Gumbo at Liuzza’s on the Track ****
• Grits and Grillades at Elizabeths in the By Water ***
• Stewed Rabbit with Onion Rings at new orleans Food and Spirits ****
• Boudin and Eggs at Cake Cafe in the Marigny *****
• Bruschetta and Porcini & Truffle Ravioli at the Italian Barrel in the Quarter *****
• Fried Food Feast at Jack Dempsey in the By Water (go hungry) ***
• Any Burger and a Cocktail at Yo-Mamas in the Quarter ****
• BLT at Jims in the By Water ***
• Southern Hot Wings and Pimento Cheese and Pickles at Borracho in the Marigny….they even make their own Catsup *****
• Goat Tacos and Mint Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches at Maurepas Foods in the By Water *****
• Pulled Pork Sandwich with Mac-Cheese at the Joint in the By Water *****
• Jambalaya and Drinks at Coops in the Quarter (tell Ms Fay the Bartender Hi) ****
• Turtle Soup at Madina’s on Canal ****
• Crab Meat Imperial or Au Gratin at the Bon Ton Cafe in the CBD *****
• Capdeville Burger with truffle Parmesan Fries at Capdeville in the CBD ****
• Crab Three Way at La Thai Up-Town on Prytania *****
• Any Po-Boy with Macaroni and Cheese with Gravy (I prefer Brown over Red) at Rocky and Carlos in Da Parish (Chalmette) *****
• Crawfish Mac and Cheese at Shuck n Dive Fort Lauderdale Florida *****
• Finally to many excellent items to list from these five star (My Opinion) Restaurants. Domenica in the Roosevelt Hotel and Stella in the Quarter (Anniversary Coat and Tie) *****

• Bloody Mary at Touché Bar on Royal Street. Bartender Donna Seyer is a gem.
• Liuzza’s MidCity – order a Frenchuletta and ice cold beer in huge frosty mug.
• The 4D movie “Beyond all Boundaries” at the WWII Museum in the warehouse district.
• Banana cream pie for dessert at Emerils Restaurant in the warehouse district.
• Cab uptown to corner of Napoleon & Tchoupitoulas to Tipitinas . Immerse yourself in the local music scene.

• Parkway Bakery (what do you want to drink with the city’s best po-boys, Barq’s or Diet Barq’s (in a glass bottle, of course)?)
• Camellia Grill (crowded for weekend breakfast/lunch, but that’s when the guys behind the counter put on the show that makes it special)
• Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop (oldest continuously operating bar in the U.S.; some of the customers might have been in the same seats since back then, haha)
• Mother’s (simple New Orleans comfort food; still knows what debris means)
• Mimi’s (Marigny bar with great eclectic music upstairs, hard drinking downstairs. When the light peering in from outside seems strange, that means the sun is rising.)
• R Bar (half boarding house, half bar, filled with street characters. One night found myself in an intense discussion with two Mexican construction workers, a Lithuanian basketball team, a mime, and several ladies of the night, all while European vampire soft porn played on the TVs)
• Rock N Bowl (amazingly high level music presented night after night in a bowling alley. Only New Orleans would have one of the country’s best music venues in such a setting
• Ye Olde College Inn (next door to Rock N Bowl, fine Southern food done the same way since the Sixties)
• Tipitina’s (the center of the music universe)
• The Maple Leaf Bar (be prepared to sweat in this no-frills, unair-conditioned music showpiece whose bar feels like home)
• Jacques-Imo’s (next door to Maple Leaf, this eccentric restaurant has its kitchen and bar in one house, tables in the next house as well as both sides of Oak Street and even in the bed of a pickup. The owner gets wheeled around on a dolly as he pours free tequila into the mouths of willing patrons, while his chefs fix rabbit, venison, and other game Cajun style.)
• Frenchman Street (wander along until you hear the sound that draws you; bar after bar with great music; Blue Nile, Snug Harbor, plenty to choose from)
• Audubon Zoo (if you need to walk off some meals and drinks, this zoo is a beautifully designed site that features exotic animals in great viewing environment; besides, then you can sing “We went down to the Audubon Zoo, and they all asked for you…”)
• The Joint (great Bywater BBQ)
• Mariza (creative Italian cuisine in a refurbished rice mill; the braised lamb belly is special)
• Cooter Brown’s (great party atmosphere, where to go if you’re in a beer drinking mood)
• Fat Harry’s (the ultimate college hangout, kamikaze shots are a must)
• Galatoire’s (if you’re ok with wearing a suit and standing in line to get in, can’t be beat)
• Central Grocery (weird operating hours/days, rude and gruff service, but the home of the muffelata is a shrine for a reason. Walk to the river and eat your sandwich while viewing the mighty Mississippi)
• K-Paul’s (where blackening began)
• The Polo Club Lounge (located in the Windsor Court Hotel, if you want to feel like royalty as you receive exquisite service, this is the place
• The Chop House (part of the Warehouse District gentrification, this steak house on Magazine has a fried lobster tail that is not to be missed)
• Juan’s Flying Burrito (casual Mexican on Magazine)
• Hansen’s Snowballs (River Road biz opened by the guy who invented the ice shaving machine; expect a long line, there’s a reason)
• St. Charles Streetcar Ride (goes from the French Quarter past Tulane, Audubon Park, and the best architecture you’ll see in the US, all the way to Riverbend and beyond. A must do for New Orleans newbies)
• The Dungeon (opens at midnight; enjoy, but not the place to cause trouble, the characters are real, not fake)
• The Columns Hotel (the library bar lets you feel elegant while getting sloshed)
• The Royal Orleans Omni Hotel (Omni has wisely retained the famous European feel and elegant service of the Quarter’s most refined hotel; big balconies available, and the rooftop bar and pool is one of the city’s great drinking spots, with views of the entire quarter and the River. Reserve early, this hotel books up fast for all events!)
• Bud’s Broiler (on City Park Ave, kills McDonalds the way Popeyes kills KFC
• Commander’s Palace (part of the Brennan family trio of famed restaurants with Brennan’s and Antoine’s, this is where virtually every famous New Orleans chef cut his bones. When you’re feeling dressy)
• NOLA Snoballs (when Lakeview was a ghost town after Katrina, before people went back to their houses, before any other biz reopened, there was NOLA, on Harrison Street. Over 120 flavors.)
• Morton’s (on the North Shore in Madisonville, great view of the Tchefuncte River, steamed seafood and crawfish, homemade strawberry shortcake)
• Mande’s (north shore, just at the northern end of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, breakfast/lunch at this hideaway owned and operated by Radiators drummer Frank Bua, Jr.; try the Crawfish Benedict with his homemade crawfish sausage)