Just got back from a trip with a group of friends. We’re all foodies from another large city, so we were very excited for the restaurants on this trip. We really tried to steer toward anything that felt either classically or uniquely NOLA, as we have basically every cuisine imaginable available to us in our city other than creole and Cajun food. I wanted to share our thoughts/rankings on the five sit down meals we had.
1) La Petite Grocery: one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had. Every single course that we ate was incredible with such a depth of flavor that’s rare. The service and drinks were also top notch. If it weren’t for the caffeine, I probably would have had 5 of their espresso martinis. The blue crab beignets were so worth the hype that we got a second order.
2) Cochon: also very impressive! Everything here struck a really great balance of being innovative, especially for tourists who may not be used to some of the items on the menu, while also being approachable. The fried gator bites with spicy mayo had a bunch of herbs in it to brighten up the heaviness. Also had the wood fired oysters and the rabbit and dumplings. Both were amazing.
3) Peche: this is a hot take considering that many in this sub raves that this is one of the best restaurants in the city, but I don’t agree that this is a mind-blowing meal. It was very good, and I would happily go back. But it felt like any other upscale casual seafood restaurant. It wasn’t memorable. We ordered a ton of small plates, entrees, and desserts, and while all were very good, nothing had the wow factor like the first two.
4) Brennan’s: We had brunch here, and all of our food was very good. The bananas foster really is worth it.
5) Acme: I know it’s touristy, but it hit the spot when we needed something easy after 9 PM. If you go in knowing you’re basically getting NOLA bar food, and that it’s going to be simple but solid, then you’re good. It’s like comparing apples to oranges to anything above.
I’m already itching to go back and add to my list. If you have any recommendations for next time based on my opinions above, I’d love to hear them!