New Orleans Food Guide: Po' Boys, Gumbo, Beignets & More

New Orleans is arguably the only city in the United States that has a fully developed, entirely native cuisine, formed as a unique synthesis of West African, French, Spanish, and Native American culinary traditions adapted to the geography and resources of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. This guide will help you find the best places to try some of the most iconic dishes of New Orleans cooking.

Parkway Bakery & Tavern

Open since 1911, Parkway is a local favorite for the most well-known Louisiana sandwich: the po’ boy. At its most basic, the po’ boy is simply a sandwich served on French bread piled high with roast beef or, more typically around these parts, fried shrimp or oysters. Though in modern times it might be strange to think of seafood as a food for the poor, this was a reality of the city’s location near the plentiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

For the classic experience, I recommend ordering a shrimp po’ boy “dressed,” which means with the typical toppings of lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise.

Central Grocery

The city’s other most famous sandwich is the muffuletta, which came about as a result of large-scale Sicilian immigration to New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. Legend has it that the sandwich was invented right here at Central Grocery, a French Quarter institution since 1906.

The muffuletta is served on a round loaf of Sicilian sesame bread with layers of Italian cold cuts and cheese, but what makes the sandwich unique is the signature olive salad, a relish of chopped olives, sweet and hot peppers, capers, and a variety of herbs and spices that is spread generously on both sides of the bread, lending the sandwich its unique flavor.

There are many places around the city that serve muffulettas, but it’s tough to beat the original.

Café du Monde

Café du Monde is a New Orleans landmark that is well known to tourists but is completely worth the hype. Since 1862, this open-air coffee stand at the western edge of the French Market has been beloved for their classic combination of beignets and café au lait.

Originally from France, beignets are heavenly pieces of deep-fried, delightfully fluffy dough covered with powdered sugar; the New Orleans-style café au lait takes the typical coffee-with-milk and adds chicory, an herb with a nutty flavor. This tradition developed out of necessity during the Civil War when coffee was scarce, but the combination proved so popular that it stuck and has since become an icon of the city.

The cash-only cafe is open 24 hours a day and nearly always has a line—rather than waiting for a table, I recommend getting your coffee and beignets to go and enjoying them in lovely Jackson Square across the street. They make for the perfect breakfast or afternoon snack.

Loretta’s Authentic Pralines

Another iconic New Orleans sweet is the praline, a cookie-shaped candy made of sugar, butter, cream, and pecans that are cooked together until they develop a creamy, fudgy texture. Pralines also originated in France as almonds coated in sugar, but they were adapted to their new environs by swapping the almonds for the abundant local pecan as well as adding butter and cream.

You’ll see plenty of pre-packaged pralines in tourist shops all over the city, but the best place to try them fresh is at Loretta’s in the colorful Marigny. They also serve up both sweet and savory beignets, as well as delectable praline-cookies, a perfect crossover between the two.

Gumbo Shop

This French Quarter spot has been open since 1948 and is a perfect place to try some of the savory dishes that form the core of Creole cuisine. Three dishes stand out here, each with their own story: gumbo, étouffée, and red beans and rice. Gumbo is certainly the most well-known Louisiana dish; the rich, flavorful slow-cooked stew has its origins in the French dish bouillabaisse, West African okra stew, and the stews prepared by the indigenous Choctaw people. If you are visiting in the fall or winter, go for the chicken andouille (Cajun sausage) gumbo, which is the house specialty; if you’re there in the spring or summer, try the seafood okra gumbo, with fresh shrimp and crab.

Another classic dish is the crawfish étouffée, consisting of peeled crawfish tails simmered in a slightly spicy sauce of onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, and cayenne pepper, served over rice. And if you’re there on a Monday, the local custom is to order red beans and rice. Traditionally prepared by slow-cooking the red beans with vegetables, spices, and pork bones left over from Sunday dinner, the dish is commonly eaten at home and at restaurants—here, they add andouille sausage for an extra treat. Red beans and rice was famously the favorite dish of the jazz legend Louis Armstrong, and it’s a true local experience to enjoy it on a Monday.

Coop’s Place

This is another decades-old French Quarter spot with classic Creole fare. Here, I recommend going for the jambalaya, yet another iconic Louisiana dish.

Inspired by West African jollof rice and Spanish paella, jambalaya is a one-pot rice dish of tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and spices with rabbit, chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp, crawfish, and tasso (local smoked ham). In this sense, jambalaya can be viewed as something like the sum total of Creole cooking, with nearly all of the typical ingredients of the cuisine combined together into one incredibly delicious dish.

Ruby Slipper

New Orleans has plenty of its own unique Creole dishes, but it also has all the great comfort food of the American South. One of the best ways to start your day in the South is with a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy—buttermilk biscuits smothered in sausage gravy. Add a couple of eggs and some bacon and fried chicken on the side and you’ll be all set.

With several locations around the city, Ruby Slipper is one of the best places to indulge in this amazing dish.

Key’s Fuel Mart

Another staple of Southern cooking is fried chicken, served everywhere from hole-in-the-wall takeout joints to high-end restaurants.

One hidden gem for fried chicken is inside this gas station on Rampart Street. Cheap and delicious—enough said.

Cochon Butcher

This is a very high quality butcher and sandwich shop with great variety, from the classic muffaletta to regional specialities from other parts, too, like Italian porchetta, Carolina-style barbecued pork, and the South Florida cubano.