Looking for the best restaurants in New Orleans -- not formal -- but not dives either. More on the bistro type.

Thanks!

Veronica,

Much has been written about New Orleans restaurants on FT, most posts offering great advice on must-do's and "stay away from". I would recommend using the search feature for NO restaurants and specifically, looking in the archives for 2001 & 2000. Have fun!

It's not exactly bistro but not that formal either - Emeril's in the Warehouse District is the place this celebrity chef started his rise to fame. I would say it's a place not to miss. You might also try his other restaurant in the French Quarter, but I've not been there. Mr. B's is also quite good and not too elegant.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JerryFF:
It's not exactly bistro but not that formal either - Emeril's in the Warehouse District is the place this celebrity chef started his rise to fame. I would say it's a place not to miss. You might also try his other restaurant in the French Quarter, but I've not been there. Mr. B's is also quite good and not too elegant.</font>

Emerils other restaurant in NO is named "NOLA". I dined at both restaurants last year and enjoyed Emerils much more than I did NOLA. The counter seating is quite nice, as it has a full view of the kitchen, where miracles are performed, though not by Emeril, as he rarely oversees the kitchen now that he is celeb chef.

Think twice about Emeril's -- it's pretty good, but I've been there several times and I think it's somewhat predictable and overly fixated on the whole Emeril/celebrity status. It's hard to enjoy a meal there without having the Emeril souvenir plates, t-shirts and other memorobilia shoved down your throat. NOLA in the French Quarter is a better choice for this style of food, plus it seems to be less fixated with its image and more concerned about eating good food and enjoying good wine.

For Bistro-style dining, check out:
* Peristyle -- one of the best rooms in town. Great Creole/bistro dishes with eclectic southern accents. It's on the edge of the Quarter on Dumaine.
* Brigsten's -- another great N.O. place with wonderful traditional Creole cooking with some updated takes.
* Herbsaint -- eclectic, with some N.O./Creole touches. This is on St. Charles Ave.

Veronica:
I would search on Zagat.

http://www.zagat.com/

And don't miss Cafe du Monde!