New Orleans Food Guide: What to Eat and How to Order

New Orleans may be the best food city in the United States, and it's certainly the most distinctive. Its cooking grew out of French technique, Spanish and Caribbean spice, West African ingredients and the seafood of the Gulf. Two words come up constantly: Creole, the city's own cooking, often with tomatoes and butter and a touch of refinement, and Cajun, the rustic, spicier food of the French-speaking countryside to the west. You'll find both.

The essentials

• Gumbo. A thick stew built on a dark roux, with seafood or chicken and andouille sausage, served over rice. Every cook's version is different.
• Jambalaya. Rice cooked with meat, seafood and spices, like a Louisiana paella.
• Po'boy. A sandwich on light, crackly French bread, filled with fried shrimp, oysters or roast beef in gravy. Order it "dressed" for lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise.
• Muffuletta. A huge round Sicilian sandwich of cured meats, cheese and chopped olive salad, invented at Central Grocery in the French Quarter. One is enough for two.
• Red beans and rice. Traditionally eaten on Mondays, once laundry day, when a pot could simmer all day.
• Beignets. Fried squares of dough under a pile of powdered sugar, with chicory coffee. Café du Monde is the classic, and Café Beignet is a quieter alternative.
• Crawfish. In spring, boiled with spice, corn and potatoes and eaten with your hands. Pinch the tail, suck the head.
• Oysters. Raw, char-grilled with butter and cheese, or fried in a po'boy.

Where to eat

The grand old Creole restaurants of the French Quarter, such as Antoine's, Arnaud's and Galatoire's, are as much theatre as food, with waiters in tuxedos and dishes like shrimp remoulade and bananas Foster. Commander's Palace in the Garden District is the classic for jazz brunch. For po'boys and plate lunches, find a neighbourhood joint away from the Quarter. Our things to do list points you to the areas.

Drinks

The Sazerac, made with rye whiskey, bitters and a rinse of absinthe, is the city's official cocktail. The Hurricane, rum and passion fruit in a curvy glass, is the tourist one, and the Ramos Gin Fizz is the one to try at brunch. In summer, locals cool down with a sno-ball, finely shaved ice with syrup.

Book the famous restaurants ahead, especially during festivals. For fitting meals into your days, see our 3-day itinerary.