An engaging discussion of the experience of eating and drinking in New Orleans could be confined to examples from a several-street radius around a certain corner or two in the city's French Quarter, but in truth, this area is but a microcosm of the city - an especially accessible one. The further one gets from the intersection of Conti and Royal, a set of corners where music, shopping, and eating all seem to run together, the thinner the bars and restaurants seem to become, though some of the most noteworthy are a taxi or mule-drawn carriage ride away. Others are only steps from the touristy and debaucherous Bourbon Street, offering seafood, drinks, sandwiches, and sweets that were invented in the city decades ago, spreading out - sometimes without attribution - all across the United States.
We've visited a nice cross-section of these places and sampled their famous fare over the course of several days in New Orleans. There was a dinner at the city's most admired restaurant, Commander's Palace, four miles away in the largely residential Garden District; Eli Manning was said to be in attendance during our visit. And then there was a tiny converted house called Willie Mae's Scotch House, recognized by the James Beard Foundation for its fried chicken is in Orleans Parish, two miles away from the French Quarter in Treme, a neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It's fair to say that any person with a good set of legs could start at Canal Street and walk to enough memorable places to fill three meals a day for a week or more, but a taxi is more than occasionally helpful, particularly for the boozy nights that follow.
Our full article on drinking and dining in New Orleans - by comparison with a couple of top WNY establishments serving similar food - is coming soon. For now, we'd like to point you to our massive photo gallery from New Orleans, available to our Facebook followers, with captions showing off many of the city's famous dishes and drinks. We'll have much more to say soon.
