The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat in Feb. 2026

This back-room sushi bar combines the chef-curated elegance of Japanese omakase with a joyful, accessible meal that’s worth every penny — and actually leaves you full. Chef Seiji Nakano himself is central to the experience, which can be either four ($85) or seven ($140) courses, typically consisting of an appetizer, soup, dessert, and of course, multiple pieces of sushi and nigiri, perhaps featuring uni, Japanese snapper, fatty tuna, Hokkaido scallop, cod, amberjack, and eel. Nakano lights up the 17-seat space with warmth and finesse, and along with his generous portions, personifies New Orleans dining. It gets our vote for the top omakase in the area.

If the French Quarter is known for courtyard dining, this addition to the neighborhood elevates that reputation. Classically New Orleans but enhanced with lavish greenery and romantic fountains, Patula is the coolest new spot in town to dine and drink alfresco. It’s all thanks to Rob Tabone, a chef whose resume includes the Link Restaurant Group and BRG Hospitality, but who fully came into his own with his pop-up Wood Duck. That food — highly seasonal with flavors from Italy, Spain, and France — has carried over to a succinct menu of dishes like poached shrimp, mushroom toast, Moroccan-spiced meatballs, and a Parisian ham sandwich that you’ll think about for weeks. An impressive menu of naturally-leaning wines, indulgent martinis, and digestif-based spritzes are right on trend.

Still arguably the defining restaurant of New Orleans, in spirit, cuisine, and history. Over seven decades, the late Leah Chase built an iconic gathering place for the city, nourishing with spectacular renditions of Creole classics like shrimp Clemenceau, crawfish etouffee, and gumbo z’herbes. Today, the next generation upholds Chase’s legacy with the same attention to detail and emphasis on warm hospitality, along with a renewed dedication to fine dining and maintaining the iconic restaurant’s relevance.

Melissa Martin has been one of New Orleans’ most highly-lauded chefs for the last 10 years, acclaimed for her Beard Award-nominated restaurant, Mosquito Supper Club, and subsequent cookbooks celebrating Louisiana foodways. Her new restaurant, opened in June 2025 in collaboration with Cassie Dymond, is making similar waves. Through two robust a la carte menus, brunch, and dinner, Martin shines a light down the bayou with fanciful takes on Cajun — not necessarily Creole — and French dishes like tuna paillard, rabbit rillettes, and duck confit. Nestled among oak trees on a sprawling historic West Bank property and outfitted with picturesque antiques, it epitomizes the romantic whimsy Martin is known for.  

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Saint-Germain is the little engine that could — a scrappy enterprise dreamed up by three friends with minimal investment, a small budget, and wildly ambitious goals. It has emerged as one of the very best restaurants in town, recognized nationally for a 10-course tasting menu that physically moves diners throughout its eclectic, romantic Bywater space. Chefs Trey Smith and Blake Aguillard channel modern Parisian bistros while infusing every course with remarkable creativity, using ingredients like white asparagus, guineafowl, lima beans, and geoduck. It is world-class dining in a kitschy, relaxed atmosphere.

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Since its opening in 2015, Paladar has offered something decidedly different: California-style cuisine with an Italian tilt, using Gulf Coast ingredients. Fresh pastas like squid ink spaghetti with shrimp and crab and corn agnolotti are bright and balanced; the pizzas, especially the mushroom, leek, and fontina, and farm egg, bacon, and collard green, pack a flavorful punch; and the desserts are exceptional. Staff navigate the lively, loud warehouse atmosphere with artful grace, framed by the view of a large open kitchen that periodically dances with flames.

Situated right off Jackson Square in the heart of the Quarter, this new-school-meets-old-school cocktail bar is one of the coolest spots to open in New Orleans in recent years. It’s no wonder, really, given that it’s from the same folks behind the LGD’s Hotel Saint Vincent and its various dining and drinking outposts. It specializes in oysters on the half-shell and other fancy drinking food like caviar, beef tartare, shrimp cocktail, and lobster rolls, but cocktails are the focus. A small but mighty bar puts out global classics, New Orleans-born cocktails, and original creations like a bananas Foster coconut milk punch. Oysters (from the Gulf, East Coast, and Canada) are a splurge, but a happy hour Monday through Thursday helps.

Chef Alon Shaya has been celebrated for years for his worldly, wood-fired Mediterranean cuisine. And things are as good as ever on this busy Uptown stretch of Magazine Street, where you can enjoy delicate puffs of blistered pita alongside elegant salatim (the ikra with smoked trout roe is a must), elaborate hummus dishes (like the blue crab and spicy lamb ragu versions), and roasted and grilled produce and meats sourced from small local farms. It’s all served in an airy, light-filled space with clean lines and modern accents or on the lushly landscaped sidewalk patio where people-watching abounds. The cocktails are inspired, fusing textures (like a fluffy sour), fragrant spices (like baharat), and zesty fruit (like caramelized orange). Weekend brunch is bustling, so book early and often.

After 15 years as a mainstay of Donald Link’s restaurant empire, Pêche still radiates warmth and graceful energy from the moment you walk in. The oyster bar off the entrance remains a good sign of what’s to come: fresh Gulf seafood prepared in elegant but approachable ways — the kind of food you could eat weekly and never be disappointed. Current chef Nicole Cabrera Mills infuses ever more global flavors into dishes that still wouldn’t be out of place at a lavish cookout, like catfish with pickled greens in a chile broth; jumbo shrimp with purple rice; and fried oysters with pickled papaya and kimchi. That dynamism keeps us as interested as we ever were. 

Lufu’s trio of talented young chefs thrive at their debut restaurant in the CBD, livening up the downtown neighborhood with bright cuisine and stylish decor. It is one of a small collection of recent restaurants to bring contemporary, regional Indian food to the city in a way that has helped redefine local diners’ view of it — nope, no butter chicken on the menu here. Instead, Sachin Darade, Aman Kota, and Sarthak Samantray have created an exciting menu of naanwiches, chaat, fiery pani puri, dosas, tandoori, and biryani, all elevated in presentation and ingredients. It is simply some of the most compelling Indian food in the city, served alongside colorful and inventive cocktails in a space that reflects its owners youthful, fun personalities. Their recently-opened, second restaurant in the French Quarter is also on Resy.

Lilly’s pho is legendary around these parts, managing to stand out in a city with some of the best Vietnamese cuisine in the country. The family-friendly lunch and early dinner go-to on lower Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District serves specialties bursting with herbs, fresh veggies, and tender, savory meats, particularly the pho, which is a sure-fire hangover cure. Other don’t-miss menu items include the Saigon spicy spring rolls, the roast pork vermicelli, the grilled tofu banh mi, and the Vietnamese coffee. It’s family-run and casual but not lacking in atmosphere, which sets it apart from some of its strip-mall peers, and the location near sweet shops and dive bars make it an extra-special destination.

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This French Quarter icon draws diners in due to its legendary status, but keeps them coming back for the one-of-a-kind experience and satisfying, classic New Orleans food. Sometimes raucous, sometimes classy — and never stiff — the dining room at Galatoire’s is like one big dinner party, with tables often getting to know one another throughout the course of a meal. It’s the city’s celebratory go-to, a classic for birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, graduations, and the like. The food is simple and indulgent, with favorites including the shrimp remoulade appetizer and the fried soft-shell crab entree. It’s best to take your server’s lead for ordering, and let yourself focus on the merriment.  

Tucked behind vintage drapery, arched entryways, and lush plant life sits one of the chicest spots in New Orleans, a designer’s dream. You can’t beat the romantic atmosphere at this hotel bar and restaurant that gets repeatedly named one of the best in the country. The menu is beautiful, too – seasonal, elegant, and fresh, with classics like a nicoise salad and escargots alongside unexpected creations like venison and pumpkin carpaccio and gaujillo cream mussels. The hotel it’s located in, Peter and Paul, is a brilliantly renovated Catholic church, and the wondrous surroundings — a curious mix of dramatic and comforting — make for a truly special dining and drinking experience.

Everyone in New Orleans has their favorite spot for po’ boys, and (almost) everyone would be right in their personal opinion. But there’s something extra special about Domilise’s. Maybe it’s the small, hand-painted sign that barely identifies the shop on its residential corner, or maybe it’s the old-timey wood counter with just a few seats where diners can order a frosty beer to wash down their sandwich. Maybe it’s the staff, most of whom are related to the original owners, and their friendly but no-nonsense way of moving the line along. But it’s probably the po’ boys themselves, generously dressed and heaping with fresh-fried shrimp and oysters or dripping with tender roast beef on crispy Leidenheimer bread. Our suggestion is to get the half and half seafood sandwich — half shrimp and half oyster — dressed but hold the ketchup.

No reservations. Find more info here.

This modern New Orleans classic just celebrated a major milestone: 25 years in its high-ceilinged, light-filled space along the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line downtown. It will always hold a special space in the canon of New Orleans icons, as it introduced the city to Donald Link, who is now one of its most prolific and loved chefs. The menu is a smart mix of predominantly French-Southern cuisine with a light touch of Italian, Spanish, and Mediterranean influences. Favorites include the housemade spaghetti, a carbonara-inspired pasta with guanciale and a fried poached egg that mixes with a cream and herb sauce, and the short rib, where salsa verde melds with the horseradish cream on top of potato rösti. It’s a favorite for upscale business lunches and celebratory dinners.

Jacqueline Blanchard helped introduce New Orleans to the majesty of the traditional Japanese izakaya with her 22-seat sushi tavern, opened in 2022. Carefully modeled after the tiny pubs she’s encountered in her extensive Japan travels, the Oak Street restaurant is a casual, minimalist space that focuses on a small number of high-quality, well-executed staples: temaki (hand rolls), traditional sides like Japanese potato salad and ohitashi (spinach in dashi broth with sesame and bonito), and specials like onigiri and sashimi of rare fish. The menu is accompanied by a curated selection of Japanese whisky, shochu, sake, beer, and natural wine, rounding out an expert offering as sleek as the space.