Crawfish.. Shrimp po’boy.. Beignets... King Cake

You have guessed it, I went around New Orleans trying to find the best local places to dine. While planning this trip, I knew I wanted to go off the beaten path a little so I gathered a list of names from articles and social media and narrowed it down to at least one local spot a day.

I love to start my day with breakfast. Every morning growing up, I had breakfast. I mean..toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, juice…breakfast. We had cereal in the house but never for the morning meal. It wasn’t until I started staying the night at friends’ houses that I found out that everyone doesn’t eat breakfast or have breakfast prepared for them in the morning. This devastated me. I enjoyed playing with friends and staying at their houses but in the morning I dreaded it because there was sometimes cereal or nothing.

Now NOLA is a party city so you can find a bar to walk into at 2 AM, but finding breakfast was a little bit more tricky, especially one that had a menu item I would like. But I found Monty’s (On The Square) right on the corner of Decatur Street and St. Ann Street, next to Jackson Square and across from the infamous Cafe Du Monde. It’s a quaint location with tasty pancakes. Since it is located in a central tourist spot, I (we) was serenaded by the street entertainers during my whole breakfast. Can’t beat free entertainment while you eat.

For lunch, I went to the historical Li’l Dizzy’s in the Treme neighborhood. Main dishes are made to order while you pick your sides. The owners/servers were friendly and knew a lot of the repeat customers. I had the fried shrimp with green beans and mac & cheese as my sides. Another quaint space with outside seating as well. Walls are filled with memorabilia of the famous customers that have dined at the establishment and awards/ recognitions.

Thursday was planned to be my day in Treme but the rain squashed that so I had breakfast at a cafe on the side of the hotel called Two Chicks Cafe. I had an omelet with toast. Tasty food but still nothing is comparing to the omelet I had in Las Vegas and Savannah. For dinner, I wanted to try out a place I saw on Instagram, Nice Guys. Now the place is a VIBE if that is what you are looking for during your brunch experience….DJ, dancing, bottle girls, singing…all the things. But I wasn’t going for that…I just wanted good food. So I opted to go during the week and for dinner when I figured most people wouldn’t be there…and I was right. I ordered this loaded potato with fried shrimp and catfish with a cream sause. My goodness. I would go back for that meal.

Do you see that yummy food?!?!

After another long day of walking around the city, I said I wasn’t going to go here but who can resist Cafe Du Monde when they are in New Orleans?!? I will say that I came across a glazed beignet cafe on social media months ago but I couldn’t find the name to be certain so I stuck with the tried and true beignet. Cash only, tight quarters, powder sugar everywhere…locals and tourists alike flock to this place to experience the fried dough sensation.

I finished the night off with a shrimp po’boy from Morrows, another local restaurant in Treme. Morrows can also be known as a VIBE for dinner and brunch. It’s a quaint restaurant so if you don’t want to sit at the bar, make sure you get there before the rush.

I would saw I ate well on this vacation. Not sure if it’s COVID effects, but some restaurants only operate for lunch during the week and lunch/dinner on the weekend. So if you had your mouth set for Dooky Chase, either go for lunch or wait until the weekend for dinner. That is one historic restaurant I have yet to experience…I guess that means it’ll be on my list for my next trip to NOLA…my favorite city.