<p>@saintfan Have you seen this? <a href=“Bywater & Marigny Neighborhoods | New Orleans”>http://www.gonola.com/2014/07/10/gonola-neighborhood-guide-top-things-to-do-in-the-marigny.html</a></p>
<p>Ha! I have now :P</p>
<p>Cake Cafe AND Three Muses . . . I must have the touch!</p>
<p>KPaul’s and Palace Cafe for downtown/Quarter. Mid City, great places to eat, Katie’s, Mandina’s, Parkway Bakery, closer to City Park, best poboys. Metairie: Restaurant Cypress, Vincent’s, also a location on St. Charles, Drago’s, also a location in Hilton Riverside. Drive away from New Orleans, Middendorf’s, best thin sliced catfish. Port of Call, best burgers and in neat NOLA neighborhood. Ye Olde College Inn, in same strip mall as Rock N Bowl, great music, and Ye Olde Bakery, new, OMG! Eclair of the Day! And yes, Gambino’s is still there, and they still have doberge! Get a half lemon/half chocolate! </p>
<p>Good to hear about Port of Call. We are staying just around the corner across Esplanade on Burgundy and I had thought to walk over for supper after we arrive and before we head anywhere for music.</p>
<p>Have you had the oyster artichoke soup at Mandina’s? That looks intriguing. </p>
<p>Port of Call is a great place. Be warned, in 20 years I have never been there where there isn’t a line. If there is, go in get on the wait list, get a drink and make some friends with the others waiting. :)</p>
<p>I can’t wait to hear back from you after you go on your trip. We always have such grand plans but it never works out. NOLA is the kind of city where you get lost in time and need to go with the flow. Be flexible and go with the flow. Have a list of options and see where each day takes you. </p>
<p>Oyster artichoke soup is a favorite in NOLA. If that’s on the menu, definitely get it. At Restaurant Cypress, which is in Metairie, but has NOLA favorite food, there is mirliton artichoke or mirliton oyster soup. OMG! My sister and her husband go to a place called Feelings Cafe for their anniversary every year, and it may be in the area where you’re staying. If wherever you go has soft shelled crabs, make sure to get them, because they are a treat and not always available! Be warned, most seafood is fried, but we have gotten healthier down here and do have broiled options on most menus, but I find many Yankees put off by this. A half shrimp half oyster poboy is your best bet at any poboy place, to sample the best that NOLA has to offer. Enjoy!</p>
<p>I am all over the idea of oyster artichoke soup - a mashup of two things that I love! I grew up eating lots of artichokes but nobody in my family now likes them 
I guess when DS moves out it will be down to a 50/50 vote so I might get them more often.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the entire thread so sorry if this is a repeat. The best po-boy every is at Crabby Jack’s! No trip to New Orleans is complete without at least one visit there. CJ is not open for dinner and is in a small space, but you will love it. My kids love the duck, but I am a fried shrimp all the way.</p>
<p>Oh, and it is owned by Jacques of Jacques_Imo’s!</p>
<p><a href=“http://crabbyjacksnola.com/”>http://crabbyjacksnola.com/</a></p>
<p>That has not been mentioned yet. I’m afraid I will be like a hobbit having lunch and second lunch.</p>
<p>
No it’s not. Best po-boy is at P&G, in the CBD :-bd </p>
<p>My other favorites<a href=“all%20are%20casual”>/u</a>:
Taqueria Corona for mexican, Uptown
La Crêpe Nanou for escargot & mussels, Uptown
Lebanon’s Cafe for middle eastern (owner is a devout Muslim & won’t get a liquor license, but you are welcome to BYOB), Carrolton
Camillia Grill diner for breakfast, Carrolton
Vietnamese restaurants galore on the West Bank
Harbor Seafood in Kenner, near MSY
Acme Oyster House for oysters, in the Quarter</p>
<p>Can’t decide if my favorite soup is oyster artichoke or turtle (w a dash of sherry, of course!)</p>
<p>I’m not a daiquiri person, but while you’re in NOLA, you might as well experience the insane decadence of a drive-thru daiquiri. In your car, it’s not an “open container” until you push the straw thru the lid.</p>
<p>Once you’ve lived in NOLA, anywhere else in the world is a real downer for food. Sadly, the only NOLA fix I get nowadays is Popeyes when I’m traveling thru HKG Airport ~:> </p>
<p><a href=“I’m%20secretly%20rooting%20for%20S1%20to%20go%20to%20Tulane,%20so%20I%20can%20go%20back%20to%20EAT”>i</a>*</p>
<p>@saintfan as you can see, you basically can’t go wrong no matter where you eat! Everyone has their favorite. You’ll have fun exploring and finding your own favorites I’m sure. Be sure to bring elastic waist pants for the return trip! </p>
<p>LOL on straw through lid as the measure of an open container! DH is jealous and wants me to check a bag on the way home to bring him a softshell crab po-boy. I may be traveling with some gladware :P</p>
<p>While I’m thinking about it . . . there have been several very hot topic threads on CC about colleges banning bottled water sales. Living in a place where people just indiscriminately drink water RIGHT OUT OF THE TAP all the time and it tastes good, I never thought about it as an issue or hardship. So what is the water quality thing . . . drink at will and like it, drink at will and you won’t get sick but it won’t taste great either, or avoid? </p>
<p>Interesting Question. I have never thought about it. I don’t intentionally drink the tap water in NOLA. I’m sure I have in restaurants when I order water. I usually have bottled water in my hotel rooms. I never notice any funky taste. We didn’t drink it for a year or so after Katrina. They have been adding higher levels of disinfectant after the brain eating amoeba scare last year. It might taste a bit more chemical than you are used to I suppose. I know the water makes my hair very soft. :)</p>
<p>The water tasted normal to me when we were there in June.</p>
<p>Get an OYSTER po-boy. </p>
<p>Summer is crawfish season. Make sure to try that too. You can even get boiled crawfish packed to-go in a leak-proof container w a coldpack, especially for air travel. Have them throw some boiled corn & garlic in there, too. I used to Fedex a crate of boiled crawfish every summer to my deprived relatives who weren’t blessed to live in NOLA. If you have a car, you can conveniently pick up the crawfish at Harbor Seafood (in Kenner) on your way to the airport. Harbor has great oysters on the half shell, but New Orleanians know that’s a delicacy you don’t partake in in a non-“R” month (summer months don’t have an “R” in the name-- high bacteria count in warm waters). Their fried oysters are awesome, too!</p>
<p>Drinking the tap water is safe. It’s not a 3rd World country like those nasty Texans will taunt about NOLA. </p>
<p>Crawfish season actually ends in June. Spring is Crawfish Season. </p>