The Best Restaurants New Orleans Has to Offer

After falling in love with New Orleans while filming Top Chef, Saint Lucian chef Nina Compton chose the city for her first solo restaurant. At Compère Lapin, her Caribbean heritage meets New Orleans flavors in signature dishes such as curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi and fried chicken with coconut grits.

Chef Isaac Toups’ cooking is unabashedly Cajun, drawing on his family’s more than 300-year history in South Louisiana while incorporating influences gathered throughout his career. Meat takes center stage, from cracklins and house-made charcuterie to lamb neck lasagna and wild boar ribs.

A display of wild-caught oysters greets diners as they enter this restored 19th-century Creole townhome on Carondelet Street. Slide onto a stool at the marble bar or get comfortable in the tufted leather banquettes. Beyond oysters, the menu ranges from halibut with fregola, butternut squash, Swiss chard, and radish to Gulf shrimp and grits.

It’s sacrilege to imagine a trip to New Orleans without a visit to one of the restaurants that helped set the bar for the city’s contemporary culinary scene when it opened in 1990. Chef Emeril Lagasse needs no introduction (Bam!), but today his son, E.J. Lagasse, leads the flagship as chef patron. The two-Michelin-starred restaurant serves an ever-evolving tasting menu rooted in the elder Lagasse’s “New New Orleans” style, with an emphasis on hyperlocal ingredients sourced from a network of regional purveyors including Little Moon Oyster Ranch and Borges Seafood.

Another New Orleans stalwart, Commander’s Palace has been serving generations of diners in the heart of the Garden District since 1893. Stop by for a taste of haute Creole cuisine, including turtle soup finished tableside with aged sherry and Creole bread pudding soufflé, or plan a reservation around one of its iconic experiences, like weekend jazz brunch or the 25-cent Martini Lunch.

There’s a distinct Parisian charm to this French Quarter brasserie helmed by executive chef and co-owner Tom Branighan. Drawing on his Southern Louisiana upbringing and French technique, Branighan brings local influences to dishes ranging from tuna crudo with blue crab, yuzu kosho, and cracklin’ to braised celery hearts with smoked beef tongue and tomato.

It’s all about spice at this tropical roadhouse, from flavorful layers to “hellfire heartburn” (don’t worry, those dishes are labeled as such). Chef Sophina Uong updates the menu regularly, drawing inspiration from Southeast Asia, Mexico, and India in dishes that might include Kashmiri chile fried chicken, Cambodian prahok ktiss, and pork chile verde.

Opened in 2025, chef Wiley Lewis’ interpretation of a modern fish camp and bar brings the flavors and traditions of South Louisiana to the Mississippi Riverfront. The restaurant draws on Lewis’ childhood around Caddo Lake and weekends spent at fishing camps, with a seafood-heavy menu that ranges from Gulf oysters and shrimp to grilled redfish and wild catfish.

A New Orleans transplant by way of Pennsylvania, chef Sue Zemanick has made her mark on the city’s dining scene with this intimate Mid-City restaurant. The concise menu balances seafood and meat, with dishes such as grilled baby octopus, marinated crab claws with citrus and yuzu, crispy veal sweetbreads, and braised beef short rib.

Housed in a historic Magazine Street building that once served as a neighborhood grocery and butcher shop, La Petite Grocery retains a sense of old New Orleans. Chef and co-owner Justin Devillier puts a contemporary spin on the city’s culinary traditions with signatures like turtle Bolognese with tagliatelle, sherry, and a fried soft-boiled egg, and blue crab beignets with remoulade.

Branded as a wine bar and bistro, this Michelin-starred Bywater restaurant pairs an intimate, relaxed setting with an ever-evolving 10-course tasting menu. Chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith keep the meal a surprise, making daily tweaks to contemporary dishes that might include anything from griddled cornbread with house-cultured butter to Carolina Gold rice with crab and ginger.

Sometimes all you want to do is graze for dinner, and in those instances, all roads point to Bacchanal. Browse hundreds of bottles in the wine shop, assemble a pick-your-own fixins charcuterie board, then settle into the courtyard for live music. The frequently changing menu may also feature warm tapas like bacon-wrapped dates and Spanish-style Gulf shrimp with garlic and sherry, along with more substantial dishes such as grilled pork chops and confit chicken.

There was a time across America when Friday lunch was the social event of the week, and Galatoire’s keeps the tradition alive with one of the hottest midday tables in town. The restaurant even jokes that there’s no need to pretend you’re going back to the office afterward. It’s all about generations of French Creole recipes here, and it has been since Jean Galatoire opened the Bourbon Street restaurant in 1905.

Fried chicken may have spread far beyond the South to grace even the finest dining menus, but for a taste of the real deal, head to Willie Mae’s. Willie Mae Seaton established the original Scotch House in 1957, and today her great-granddaughter Kerry Seaton Stewart carries on the family legacy at Willie Mae’s NOLA in the Central Business District. Fried chicken is still the main attraction, whether ordered by the piece or in sandwiches, wings, and tacos, but don’t miss the house gumbo to start.

Sharing a building with its deli-style sibling, Cochon Butcher, Cochon is Donald Link and chef and co-owner Stephen Stryjewski’s full-service ode to Cajun cooking. The meat-heavy menu ranges from house-cured charcuterie and small plates like fried chicken livers and meat pie to smoked and braised brisket and large-format braised pork neck, with unfussy sides including creamy grits and bacon-braised collard greens.

At this elevated Garden District restaurant, chef Ashwin Vilkhu draws on the parallels between New Orleans and Singapore, two cities shaped by the intersection of cultures and cuisines. The dinner-only, build-your-own-adventure prix fixe highlights Asian flavors alongside local ingredients, with a frequently changing selection that might include dishes like scallion lamb, izakaya steak, and herbed snapper.

Chef Mason Hereford made a name for himself in New Orleans with his cult-favorite sandwich shop, Turkey and the Wolf, but head about a mile west along Magazine Street for the ’80s-inspired, bar-meets-time-machine vibe at Hungry Eyes. The menu changes regularly, but since opening in 2023, one favorite has emerged: Parmesan-sprinkled artichokes on the half shell, a playful riff on oysters Rockefeller.

Savory profiteroles stuffed with smoked and braised duck ragout, crispy smoked quail salad with spiced pecans, and fennel-pepper-crusted lamb chops are among the dishes you might encounter at this more than three-decade-old French Quarter institution, where the menu changes daily. Executive chef Christy Engeran, a member of Bayona’s original 1990 opening team, returned to the restaurant in 2022 and now leads the kitchen following the retirement of her longtime mentor, Susan Spicer.

French-Southern cuisine is at the heart of Donald Link’s flagship restaurant, now led by executive chef and partner Tyler Spreen. The seasonal menu draws on longstanding relationships with regional farmers and fishermen, with dishes ranging from kanpachi crudo with fennel and orange to rabbit leg schnitzel with crawfish Américaine and wagyu bavette with chimichurri and fries.

Chef Alon Shaya built Saba, meaning “grandfather” in Hebrew, around the idea that generations have stories to share, and the menu tells them through influences from the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. At this Uptown restaurant, wood-fired pita and shareable dishes set the tone. Order a few dips to start, then add harissa roasted chicken, bright green falafel, and a side of Israeli couscous for a meal that captures the restaurant’s wide-ranging influences.