Spent a week in New Orleans and ate at several Restaurants. NOLA was our least favorite. We easily got in without reservations. The service was outstanding, and the entree was good, but the appetizer and the dessert were only mediocre. It was somewhat pricey compared to other places that were recommended by the locals. The locals usually know where the best places are, and I can say they were right!!

Emeril rules! I really enjoyed my dining experience at Nola's. The waitstaff was excellent, and the food was every bit as heavenly as I imagined it would be. I had the buttermilk fried chicken breast with bourbon mashed sweet potatoes, Smithfield ham cream gravy and sauteed sugar snap peas. The waiter convinced me to have dessert, and I am glad he did. It was the white-chocolate bananas foster bread pudding with foster sauce and fudge drizzle. Thank goodness I walked around the rest of the day.

We were seated at our table; the waitress places your napkin on your lap and hands you the menu. Another waitperson then comes over and fills your glasses with water. Your waiter comes back for your order and asks if you have any questions about the menu. We started with the shrimp and corn bisque, followed by a green salad with house dressing; for my entree, I had the fried chicken breast with bourbon-mashed potatoes and green beans; my husband had the grilled cedar plank stuffed drum fish with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. We finished our meal by sharing the banana pudding layer cake. It was loaded with bananas, pudding topped with whipped cream, and two cookies as the edge of the cake. The meals were excellent, very tasty, and the servers spoil you. It was an enjoyable lunch experience.

Emeril Lagasse has three restaurants in New Orleans, but I would have to say that the most talked-about establishment is NOLA (which stands for New Orleans, Louisiana). Everyone told me before I went to New Orleans that I had to eat at NOLA. What they didn’t tell me is that reservations for this place were taken months in advance. My first attempt to get a table on a Sunday night scored a big zero – booked solid. However, on Monday night, the concierge at my hotel managed to snag a reservation for two at 8pm, and I was willing to wait.

Upon arrival at NOLA, my date and I headed directly for the bar for a pre-dinner drink. I ordered a cosmopolitan, and it was the best one I think I’ve ever had. We barely had time to pay the bartender before our table was ready, and the hostess led us to the glass elevator to take us to the second floor. Everyone around us seemed to be really enjoying themselves, the food, and just the fact that they were eating at NOLA. As soon as we were seated, our waitress introduced herself, put our napkins on our laps, and handed us our menus.

It seemed like most people chose their menu items by looking around to see what everyone else was having – we even struck up a conversation with the couple at the table next to us about what we wanted to order and got tips from them (they were on their way out.) To start, we went with a double-portioned appetizer of stuffed chicken wings – boneless chicken stuffed with what reminded me of an eggroll center, with some dipping sauce. If the appetizer was this good, I was looking forward to the main course. That main course for me was an order of Southern-fried chicken breasts, with a substitution of goat-cheese mashed potatoes and sweet peas in the shell. It was one of those meals where everything was so good, you wanted to eat until you popped. However, I maintained a bit of room for the dessert – we split a fried apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. How we did it, I’ll never know.

We also never wanted for a waiter/waitress. Water glasses were always full, everything was delivered promptly, etc. We must have had four different people waiting on us, even taking our photo!

When we got the bill, I was expecting some obscene amount. I was pleasantly surprised that the total came to about $80 – that was for two drink refills and three courses. It was worth every penny – it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten.

You absolutely MUST eat here when visiting New Orleans. However, plan it out a little better than me and make a reservation in advance. You will NOT be disappointed.

Yes, I am an Emeril's restaurant fan. Yes, I wish he'd open one in Chicago. In the meantime, I have to settle for visiting his restaurants when I visit other parts of the country!

One of my favorite Emeril's locations is his NOLA Restaurant (NOLA stands for New Orleans, LA) in the heart of the French Quarter. This unassuming restaurant is located across the street from the Omni Royal Orleans, with lunch hours 11:30am-2pm Mon-Sat, dinner hours after 6pm the rest of the week. It is also more casual than his signature restaurant in town, Delmonico's, but the food is just as great.

I went in for lunch on a sultry Saturday (reservations highly recommended, any day!) - the cool, dark interior was a blissful relief from the sweltering heat outside. Seeing that I was by myself, the hostess asked me if I would care to have a "kitchen seat" - which gave me one of a half-dozen seats at a bar-style counter by the brick oven. (No, the seats were not all that warm! quite comfortable actually.)

Usually if I'm dining alone, I bury my nose in a book, but the chef working the area at the oven was wonderful. Having spent a number of years in the restaurant industry, I loved watching him go about his work: fast, clean, precise, yet with flair. We talked as he worked - had he met Emeril? Yes, once or twice, "just a super guy." Occassionally he would offer up a sliver of something he was making, explaining what it was. It was definitely one of my more fun dining experiences.

I started my own meal with a bowl of their sublime French onion soup. This rich, beefy soup is an excellent choice at any Emeril's - and, French onion soup fan that I am, I can tell you it's one of my favorite bowls of this soup to be had anywhere. From there, I wanted to go on to foods that highlighted local specialties, so next was the cornmeal-crusted oysters with bourbon-mashed sweet potatoes. While I passed on the gravy for the potatoes, I thought this was a wonderful appetizer, and, after having watched the cook make several of these already, went with the cedar-planked Gulf fish with horseradish crust, which was baked in the stone oven and served piping hot before I knew it.

Desserts at Emeril's are always sinful, so there was no way I could pass one up. After a bit of breathing room, their white chocolate Bananas Foster bread pudding was a heavenly ending to the meal (who cared if I felt stuffed afterwards!). If the bananas Foster isn't indulgent enough for you, you can get it topped with what they call "Drunken Monkey" ice cream.

NOLA is usually downplayed on the New Orleans dining scene due to the popularity of Emeril's Delmonico. But if you are looking for a more budget-friendly and palate-luxurious dining experience, NOLA is a great choice.