While most of our time in New Orleans was spent outside of the French Quarter, we did venture across Canal Street into The Quarter for some meals. There are a lot of very famous places to eat in New Orleans, many of them in the French Quarter. Perhaps most notably are Pat O'Brien’s . . . known for their hurricanes . . . and Brennan’s . . . the originator of bananas foster. While we did walk by both of these establishments, we wanted to experience something a little less commercial and who participated in the Restaurant.com marketing program.
The restaurants that we enjoyed included Oceana Grill and The Alpine, which are owned by the same company and feature almost the identical menus. Seafood and traditional cajun and creole dishes are featured and very good. They also have their own version of the hurricane which seemed to be very popular to guests seated in the bar area. Someone had suggested to me to try the crab cakes and they did not disappoint! Served with a crawfish sauce (that would be a sauce with crawfish in it), they were outstanding.
Star Steak & Lobster was a cozy little place that really felt like New Orleans "in her day" complete with a one-man jazz band; a musician who played an electric percussion keyboard, saxophone and flute while singing from time to time. His bluesy version of House of the Rising Sun was very good, with a better than karaoke Satchmo vocal. Our meals (steaks for both of us) were good and enjoyable.
One special find thanks to Restaurant.com was Daisy Dukes located just off of Canal Street less than a block into the French Quarter. We had breakfast on two of our mornings in New Orleans and thoroughly enjoyed them. Outstanding value without the gift certificates from Restaurant.com, we would have dined there again at full price. One of the mornings we walked over to the restaurant, while the second time we had the rental car and was able to park right in front of the restaurant (two hour meter parking available). The same man waited on us both times, a pleasant dude from Georgia who has come to New Orleans a few years back. Not a big grits eater myself, theirs were some of the best I had during our time in New Orleans.
While not a Restaurant.com participant, a trip to New Orleans and the French Quarter might not be complete without a dining experience at Deanies. They feature mostly seafood, which can be prepared either fried of broiled. Their fried fish and shrimp are cooked without leaving an overbearing greasy taste. They have other items for those who may not want seafood.
Detailed dining reviews on the above restaurants are featured in my IgoUgo trip journal "Dining in New Orleans" http://www.igougo.com/journal-j72736-New_Orleans-Dining_in_New_Orleans.html so check out more thorough reviews (and photos) there.
There are also several grill type establishments in the French Quarter and while they don't look like much from the outside, they dis have decent food. On Friday night, we walked from our hotel to the Clover Grill who advertises "the world's best hamburgers." While I don't know that I would go that far, and I didn't try any others around New Orleans, their burgers were good but hard to believe they might be the best. What was good were their thin cut shoestring french fries . . . outstanding!! David also enjoyed his chocolate milk shake although I thought it was a bit on the thin, milky side. The Clover Grill is at 900 Bourbon Street and out of the heavy touristy area.
Another nice find was Johnny's Po-Boys located in the 500 block of St. Louis. We stopped here for a light breakfast before our cooking school experience on Saturday morning. I had an egg biscuit while David noshed on an english muffin. For me, having a good fountain diet coke was an especially pleasant surprise as most fountain beverages during this trip were rather poor (low/no carbonation and watery). David also said that his coffee was some of the best he had had during our time in the city.
The front deli style case is full of meats, cheese and other provisions necessary for authentic po-boys (the New Orleans version of a sub sandwich). We would recommend a stop here regardless of the time of day for a good meal at a good price.
All in all, the French Quarter has a little of everything to offer locals and visitors alike. Creole style Italian food was something that caught our eye, although we never made it to one of those restaurants. There were also some places that were throwbacks to the French Quarters' Spanish influence (the late 1700's until 1803) . . . as barbeque places that smelled more like downtown Memphis that what you might expect in Louisiana.
Whatever your preferences, I'm pretty confident you'll find something to your liking.