A “destination store” is one that inspires shoppers to make a special trip there, either because of specialized merchandise or deep discounts, but also arising in the city right now are destination bars – though they get the term for a different reason. If your summer vacation plans don’t include a trip to Polynesia, you [...]

Certain hometown restaurants inspire a kind of mania among their fans. In New Orleans, that restaurant would be Mother’s, whose po’ boy gets raves from longtime patrons of the creole lunch counter. Go here and locals will give you one important instruction about that sandwich: “Make sure you get the debris.”

As with many recent additions [...]

To answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind: yes, there is still excellent seafood to be had in New Orleans. Much of it is top quality shrimp, crawfish, blue crab, and much of it is local. Though National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has closed 60,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico to commercial fishing [...]

Life is grand at Galatoire’s, the century-old restaurant in the French Quarter, where ladies in hats and men in white linen jackets gather under the ceiling fans in the sunny, tile-floored interior for a lunch that stretches into the afternoon. An oasis of air-conditioned civility on rowdy Bourbon Street, Galatoire’s still requires men to wear [...]

At this location on Royal Street in the French Quarter, prime tourist territory, Cafe Beignet could be serving stale doughnuts and watered-down coffee and still they’d make a profit. Fortunately, New Orleans’ pride in good food is evident even in this little cafe, which specializes in these addictive breakfast pastries.

Each beignet is about the size [...]