New Orleans cooks in two distinct traditions: Creole (city, French-Spanish-African, tomatoes and butter) and Cajun (prairie, pork and cayenne). Three days of oyster bars, corner po-boy shops, Uptown Creole dining rooms and the world's oldest cocktail circuit.
Saturday market at 200 Broadway since 1995, 8am–12pm. Gulf shrimp off the boat, Creole tomatoes in summer, satsumas in winter, Bellegarde Bakery bread and Louisiana strawberries. Vendors take cash and cards; market tokens sold at the info tent.
Family-run since 1918 at 5240 Annunciation St, a wooden house with no sign worth mentioning. Fried shrimp po-boy dressed on Leidenheimer bread, roughly $16-18. Cash only, Barq's root beer from the cooler, closed Sundays and Wednesdays.
Open since 1919 at 4330 Magazine, tiled floor to ceiling like a butcher's shop. Oysters shucked to order at the marble bar, plus the oyster loaf on pan bread. Famously closed in summer months when Gulf oysters are out of season.
Mid-City corner joint at 1518 N Lopez, a block from the Fair Grounds. The BBQ shrimp po-boy arrives swimming in garlic-butter-Worcestershire sauce; gumbo and garlic oyster soup on rotation. Frozen schooner-glass beer.
The pink building at 417 Royal has served breakfast since 1946 and invented Bananas Foster in 1951, flamed tableside in rum and banana liqueur. Eggs Sardou and Hussarde plus a courtyard turtle soup finished with sherry.
Sicilian import grocery from 1906 that created the muffuletta: sesame loaf layered with mortadella, salami, provolone and marinated olive salad. Half sandwich feeds one; jars of the olive salad travel home well.
Founded 1905 at 209 Bourbon, mirrored downstairs room with tuxedoed waiters who remember regulars' orders. Trout Meunière Amandine, Shrimp Rémoulade and Soufflé Potatoes. Jackets required for men after 17:00 and all day Sunday.
Uptown at 1838 Napoleon Ave, where barbecue shrimp was invented in 1954 — head-on shrimp in peppery butter, served with bread for sopping. The front oyster bar shucks while you wait, one of the last hand-shucking counters in the city.
Vietnamese-Creole bakery at 14207 Chef Menteur Hwy, James Beard America's Classics winner. Its baguettes supply half the city's banh mi and po-boy shops; the king cake sells out statewide in Carnival season. Coffee and pandan buns to go.
Ernest Hansen built the ice-shaving machine in 1939; his granddaughter still runs 4801 Tchoupitoulas. The ice comes out powder-fine under house syrups — satsuma, cream of nectar, ginger-cayenne. Open March through October only.
Donald Link's whole-hog butcher shop and sandwich counter at 930 Tchoupitoulas. Cured Louisiana pork: boudin, pancetta muffuletta, cochon de lait sliders, house pickles. Standing tables, a serious wine-by-the-glass list and cocktails.
Start at the Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel, 130 Roosevelt Way, with rye, Peychaud's bitters and absinthe rinse. Walk to the Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Bar at 214 Royal, a 25-seat merry-go-round that rotates once every 15 minutes.