We walked back to the Ritz after breakfast at Elizabeth's and walked right by this place. It looked really interesting. I'd love to give it a try.

Johnny's Po-boys also serves breakfast.

Do they still serve their Guinness too cold? Ugh. If so, that's a great reason to forgo the Guinness for an Abita! :)

In NOLA, why would anyone order Guinness over Abita?? ;)

I was there with three girlfriends over Memorial Day weekend. Here are our dining visits (with notes):

* Fleur-de-Lis for breakfast (twice) - across from the W French Quarter, always seems to have a wait for tables (stand in line first, order, then wait for a table) - on our first visit, our food beat our table because greedy people were grabbing tables and then sending someone to stand in line (and staff weren't patrolling this) so we ended up joining a nice stranger dining solo. Takeout the second time took even longer (I think our orders got put behind the dine-in stuff). But the food is good and I go just for the bloody mary to take back to the hotel with me!

* Antoines for a client lunch - they picked, not me, but it was good. We did the $20.10 three-course lunch menu and portions were perfectly sized for a sampling of some of their best items. Afterwards, our client and her friend (both long time old-school krewe members) took us on a narrated tour of all of the upstairs and downstairs dining rooms which was like visiting a Mardi Gras museum. I'd go back just to wander the empty dining rooms (there are like 14 in the building) again.

* Bayonna for dinner - good, but not as good as I'm used to. We took the last seating of the night and they were out of several dishes and service felt very rushed. I still love their garlic cream soup though!

* NOLA for lunch - still one of my favorite spots, I prefer it for lunch over dinner for unrushed dining. The staff is always attentive. My only pet peeve is having to ask about daily specials which aren't always presented by the staff.

* ACME Oyster House for dinner - again, we were the last table seated of the night. Food was excellent and getting in late meant we got fed quickly (as the kitchen was closing) but our waitress was surly despite the large tip we left for being the last ones in there.

* Coops for dinner - people rave about Coops but it's not really my favorite place. Then again, this was the day I stayed in bed and ordered room service brunch after a late late night, so my stomach wasn't going to be thrilled with anything I tried. The gumbo is normally good but seemed watery the night we visited and they were out of crab claws.

* August for lunch - another $20.10 lunch, I would argue that this is the BEST deal in town. I've never had a bad meal at August (although occasionally some of the tasting courses can be too wild even for my adventurous tastes) and the meal we had that was sublime, including a tempura soft shell crab that was possibly the best I'd ever tried.

Definitely second the opinions above on Emeril's for lunch. Do try the banana cream pie!

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Commander's Palace yet. I absolutely enjoyed my dinner there, and the bananas foster souffle will live on in my dreams for many years.

If you've never tried Cafe du Monde, eh.. it's not that great, but worth trying once just for the experience.

Don't be afraid to just walk into places and try them. I was amazed at the quality of food in this great city.

Just as a point of clarification:

Emeril has 3 restaurants in New Orleans - Emeril's, Delmonico, & NOLA. techgirl in the post above yours was referring to NOLA.

Will be in New Orleans next week. So many great suggestions.

An interesting piece of news:

http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf...amonto_is.html

I ate there last month, based on a recommendation from the concierge at the Ritz. Their "Crab Au Gratin" is outstanding. I searched around for the recipe & plan to make it someday soon.

Not sure if its been mentioned, but Galatoire's (www.galatoires.com) has amazing food. And its right on Bourbon St so you get all the local atmosphere too :)

I'm going to go ahead and bump this. My Father and I are taking a train trip from Baltimore to New Orleans in May. We arrive N.O. at 7:30 PM on a Sunday and would like to have a nice (upscale is definitely alright) dinner before heading to our hotel (at MSY) and going home the next morning. Any recent suggestions? We won't have a car and will need to cab it from the Union Passenger Terminal to the restaurant and again to the MSY DT.

My favorite restaurant in all of the USA is Dante's on NOLA.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dantes-kitchen-new-orleans
I highly recommend going there.

I will be in NOLA next week and plan to hit most of the following places:

lunch
McClure's bbq
Butcher
lil Dizzy's (a favorite of mine)
coops place - fried chicken and rabbit jambalaya

Dinner - will have to pick 4
Dante's
irene's
K-Paul's
Red fish
a mano
one of emeril's spots
acme oyster house
Commanders Palace

I will report back. ^

A fair number of New Orleans fine restaurants are closed Sundays. That's actually good for you, it should help narrow the impossible choice of just a single great meal in a city with so many great restaurants.

One thing to consider is that Amtrak arrivals into New Orleans aren't exactly clockwork, and while you may be on time, you may also be an hour or more late. Check the hours of your choice and make sure you have some leeway when choosing a reservation time.

Edit to add: most Sundays in May should be fairly quiet, but Sunday May 6 is the last day of Jazzfest, and the restaurants will be very crowded; if this is your date, book the reservation as soon as you can, probably 30-60 days in advance.

Thanks to both njxbean and swag. We are actually going the weekend of May 20th so that won't be an issue. Dante's looks good too AND open on Sunday so I'm going to have to add that to our list.