13 Best Restaurants in New Orleans, Louisiana

In the main dining room of this grande dame of classic Creole restaurants, ornate etched glass reflects light from charming old chandeliers while the late founder, Arnaud Cazenave, gazes from an oil portrait. The ambitious menu includes classic dishes as well as more contemporary ones, including vegetarian options. The adjoining jazz bistro offers the same food in a more casual and live music–filled dining experience. Always reliable options are shrimp Arnaud (cold shrimp in a superb rémoulade), oysters Bienville, petit filet Lafitte, and praline crêpes. Jackets are requested in the main dining room. There's also a fun Mardi Gras museum upstairs.

If the Gilded Age is long past, someone forgot to tell the folks at August, where the main dining room shimmers with masses of chandelier prisms, thick brocade fabrics, and glossy woods. Service is anything but stuffy, however, and the food showcases the chefs' modern techniques. Nothing is mundane on the seasonally changing menu, which might include handmade gnocchi with blue crab and winter truffle or rabbit cassoulet with andouille sausage. Expect the unexpected—like pecan-smoked Two Run Farm's beef—and a truly remarkable vegetarian menu can be prepared upon request. The sommelier is happy to counsel you on the surprisingly affordable wine list.

No restaurant captures New Orleans's gastronomic heritage and celebratory spirit as well as this grande dame of New Orleans fine dining. The menu's classics include a spicy and meaty turtle soup; shrimp and tasso Henican (shrimp stuffed with ham, with pickled okra); and a wonderful pecan-crusted Gulf fish. The bread-pudding soufflé might ruin you for other bread puddings. Upstairs, the Garden Room's glass walls have marvelous views of the giant oak trees on the patio below. The weekend brunch is a not-to-be-missed New Orleans tradition, complete with live jazz—the band takes requests, so come armed with tip money. Jackets are preferred at dinner; shorts and T-shirts are forbidden, ripped jeans are not allowed, and men must wear closed-toe shoes.

Chef Emeril Lagasse bought the century-old Delmonico restaurant in 1998 and converted it into a large, extravagant restaurant serving some of the most ambitious reinterpretations of classic Creole dishes in town. Prime dry-aged steaks with traditional sauces have emerged as a specialty in recent years, but the menu gets more ambitious by the month. The atmosphere is lush, with high-ceiling dining spaces swathed in upholstered walls and super-thick window fabrics, and the food is decadent. House-cured charcuterie is a reliable option, as is the crisp duck leg confit, smothered pork chop, and stuffed boudin balls. "Plush" and "polish" are the bywords here, and the service is exemplary.

With many of its recipes dating to 1905, Galatoire's epitomizes the old-style French Creole bistro. Fried oysters and bacon en brochette are worth every calorie, and the brick-red rémoulade sauce sets a high standard. Other winners include veal chops with optional béarnaise sauce, and seafood-stuffed eggplant. Downstairs in the narrow white-tablecloth dining room, lighted with gleaming brass chandeliers, is where boisterous regulars congregate, making for a lively and entertaining scene; you can only reserve a table in the renovated upstairs rooms. Friday lunch starts early and continues well into the evening. Shorts and T-shirts are never allowed; a jacket is required for dinner and all day Sunday. If the lines get too long, head to Galatoire's 33 Bar & Steak next door; it offers classic cuts and cocktails in a similarly adorned space.

With its elegant table settings and canvases depicting the lives of British nobility, the Grill Room on the second floor of the Windsor Court has always been a beacon of class and an elegant setting for special occasions (keep your eyes peeled: celebrities in town for local film shoots often snag tables here). The creative Cajun- and Creole-influenced dinner menu allows guests to customize a three- or five-course tasting dinner, with insightful and unusual wine selections by sommelier John Mitchell, who draws from a deep cellar with an extensive Bordeaux collection. There's also a $23 plate special offered at lunchtime weekdays, and jazz brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. If you're looking for a splurge meal in town, this is it.

Though some people believe Antoine's heyday passed before the turn of the 20th century, others wouldn't leave New Orleans without at least one order of the original oysters Rockefeller—baked oysters topped with a parsley-based sauce and bread crumbs. Other notables on the bilingual menu include pommes de terre soufflées (fried potato puffs), poissonamadine or meuniere (fish prepared in toasted almond or brown butter-and-lemon sauce), and baked Alaska. Tourists are generally shown to the front room, but walking through the grand labyrinth is a must. Be prepared for lackluster service. A jacket is preferred, but casually dressed diners can order most of the classic menu at the adjoining Hermes Bar.

This luxuriously appointed restaurant, located in a gorgeous, salmon-pink, circa-1795 building, serves lavish breakfasts, served by pink-bow-tied waiters, that include "eye openers" like Caribbean milk punch to start the day, alongside hearty but elegantly prepared dishes such as eggs sardou with crispy artichokes and accoutrements such as coffee-cured bacon and house-made English muffins. Don't miss sumptuous desserts, like the flaming bananas Foster, which was reportedly created here.

"Straightforward steaks with a New Orleans touch" are the words to live by at this clubby shrine to red meat, the creation of a younger member of the Brennan family of restaurateurs, who also runs Palace Café and the Bourbon House. Start with stellar martinis in the dark cherrywood-paneled lounge, then head back to the cavernous dining room to dig into classic cuts of top-quality beef and seafood. The standard beefsteak treatment is light seasoning and a brush of Creole-seasoned butter, but other options include béarnaise, made-from-scratch Worcestershire sauce, and pepper-cream whiskey sauce.

Sassy New York flourishes permeate the menu of chef Richard Hughes's smartly decorated, eminently comfortable restaurant in the heart of the French Quarter, but there's still evidence of Hughes's Louisiana origins. The Maine lobster with shrimp and diver scallops is decadent, while the rack of lamb with rosemary-pesto crust is almost a spiritual experience. There is even a children's menu for budding gourmets.

Superstars rarely start over when they're on top—but celebrity chef Rick Tramonto, best known for his avant-garde creations at Chicago's Tru, headed south when he needed a new challenge. Tramonto hooked up with Louisiana culinary renaissance man John Folse and the two set about remaking the state's creations, combining Folse's deep knowledge of Cajun and Creole food with Tramonto's modern techniques and impeccably high standards. The result is a lavish, multimillion-dollar venue where the encyclopedic menu ranges from oven-roasted bone marrow and hog's head cheese to crawfish-stuffed flounder and a "triptych" of quail. Diners can explore the restaurant's deep wine cellar via iPad.