In the Garden District across from the Lafayette No. 1 cemetery, you''ll find
Commanders Palace. This is a fine dining experience worth seeking out.
After going on a self directed walking tour of the neighborhood (the restaurant will provide you with a map of homes that gives details about the architecture), we entered the main dining room with its butter yellow walls and pressed tin ceiling. Since we dined during a jazz brunch, colorful balloons were tied in bunches to the tiny lamps in the center of the tables. Therefore, while this is a fine dining restaurant---shorts are not allowed---the Sunday atmosphere here felt more festive than stuffy to me. We loved the jazz musicians: the trumpet player, the banjo strummer, and the round man with a Louis Armstrong voice and a cello who let out playful growls as he sang, "Oh, that tiger! Oh, oh that tiger!"
I ordered a Bloody Mary, leaned back, and soaked it all up. A series of nature paintings adorn the walls, and a manager pointed out that each of these original by Marilyn Carter Rougelot has a white heart hidden discreetly somewhere within the picture. We amused ourselves looking for these until our waitress returned with our drinks.
Note: Each dining area in Commander''s Palace has unique and different decor. While booked literally months in advance, patrons can actually have a table in the kitchen where they can watch the gourmet chef at work.
Of course, the menu here is the main attraction. Widely acclaimed as one of the best restaurants New Orleans has to offer (and this is high praise indeed!), Commander''s Palace is sure to live up to its reputation at any meal. It was extremely difficult for me to settle on any one thing with the likes of shrimp cognac and andouille grits, muscadine and chicory coffee lacquered quail, and pecan-crusted gulf fish as choices. I settled on a Creole spiced filet mignon that seemed to melt in my mouth. After a spinach salad dotted with candied pecans AND a generous praline parfait for dessert, my appetite was satisfied on every level.
Perfect!