The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

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.

Joining the ranks of classic New Orleans steakhouses like Charlie’s, La Boca, and Chophouse is this downtown revival, where the golden age of steakhouse dining is alive and well. It’s extravagant in a way that’s not just for show (or social media), but instead feels wholesome and nostalgic. Bow-tied servers deliver classic presentations of wedge salads, shrimp cocktails, and huge, rare cuts of prime rib au jus with contagious enthusiasm in the dimly lit, polished space. Sides are pure comfort food, with top choices including the puffed corn casserole, onion rings, brussels sprouts, and loaded baked potato, and the lemon meringue pie is a vintage beauty. For seafood lovers, the platter is lavish and the colossal crab cakes live up to the name — there’s not a lumpier version in town.

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.

There is much (well-deserved) hype around the fine-dining grand dames of New Orleans — Galatoire’s, Commander’s Palace, and Antoine’s among them. Brennan’s straddles a fine line: maintaining the standards of a local culinary landmark while updating just enough elements to suit the tastes of an evolving clientele. Small details throughout the menu — the smoked oyster dressing on the Caesar salad; the egg yolk bottarga in the steak tartate cannoli; the pickled grapes with the redfish; or the sunflower gremolata with the ricotta gnudi — make the meal surprising, while still remaining rooted in New Orleans culinary traditions. The whimsical pink and green interior make it a particularly festive visit, one only complete when it culminates with the famed bananas Foster.

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Tucked away on the corner of a residential street in Uptown is this beloved fine-dining restaurant with an unbeatable atmosphere, clean and crisp with white linen tablecloths and elegant globe pendant lighting. Tables of four or six almost always consist of some regulars who swear by the refined French-Louisiana menu, knowledgeable bartenders, and longtime staff, and by the end of the meal you’ll want to become a regular, too. Small plates like the gnocchi and duck confit leg are popular, but seafood is the draw: chef and owner Aaron Burgau was named King of Louisiana Seafood years ago. Fried oysters, grilled Gulf shrimp, and pecan-crusted Gulf fish, while citywide staples, are some of the best versions in town.

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. 

This Mexico City-style taco joint is breathing fresh life into a charming corner space in Mid-City, and it’s serving thoughtful mezcal cocktails to boot. The second location of downtown’s Espiritu feels distinct from the original, with a warm, vintage-tinged interior that fits right in with the quaint neighborhood surroundings. Menu items like aguachile verde, huitlacoche quesadillas, lengua tacos, and posole are a nice departure from the typical, but not to worry — Taco Tuesday is still a thing here, and the deals are good. It’s just the right vibe for a weekday meet-up with friends or a casual first date, and on weekends it’s one of few Mexican brunches in town. The tacos are excellent, the lamb mole is layered, and drinks are expertly composed.

If there’s a funkier, wilder, or more creative restaurant in New Orleans, we haven’t come across it yet. This Bywater hole-in-the-wall is a fount of originality, powered in part by its Mississippi farm and food lab, the Tiki Farm. What happens there goes beyond the harvesting of herbs and produce, with fermentation and pickling broadening Suis’ farm-to-table credentials to include homemade shiso, fish sauce, miso, and more. The menu actually changes weekly — drastically — and while the dish descriptions might read like someone’s grocery list in a tropical country, the ingredients always come together to produce something magical. Vegan options abound, like heart of palm and jackfruit cakes with king trumpet mushroom Bolognese, but meat-eaters have plenty to choose from, like a Mongolian stew made with pork and lamb meatballs, pineapple amazake, and Japanese sweet potato.

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Dining at this secluded Uptown restaurant housed in a former pharmacy feels like being let in on a secret, one shared by some of the most well-heeled and well-informed diners of New Orleans. It’s old-school in spirit, with white tablecloths and an effortless sophistication, but contemporary in execution, from the menu details to the lively atmosphere and service. Crawfish bisque is finished with lemon vodka whipped cream; oysters on the half-shell are topped with beef tartare and whipped triple cream cheese; and the Gulf fish en papillote swims in a coconut soubise dotted with ‘nduja. Despite the intimate, cozy vibe here, there’s nothing humble about the food.

It’s lovely to have a modern bistro in the City Park area offering a complement to the nearby classic Ralph’s on the Park. Charmant is the brainchild of two married hospitality professionals who have also married genres at their restaurant: casual brunch and lunch cafe and sophisticated evening brasserie. The wide-ranging menu changes, emphasizing in-season produce and proteins like peas, artichokes, zucchini, crawfish, oysters, and rabbit prepared with bright Mediterranean flavors. Dinner items manage to be refined and elegant while also being wholly satisfying, which makes it great for hard-to-please groups. The wine list is carefully curated and excellent — no filler here.

There’s so much to celebrate about New Orleans’s Vietnamese cuisine scene, from the legendary king cake at Dong Phuong to the healing properties of Lilly’s pho. This one is a return to form of sorts, born from the restless mind of a chef who tried her hand at retirement but was ultimately unsuccessful. Luot Nguyen first opened Magasin nearly 15 years ago, but returned to the kitchen two years ago with the reopening of her original cafe in a new location on Magazine Street. Now she’s back in the kitchen, hand-pulling wide noodles for shrimp and garlic stir fry and spicy beef soup, wrapping squid potstickers and fried tofu spring rolls, and overstuffing banh mi. The bún might just be the best in town.

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Metairie, and Severn Avenue in particular, is stacked with some of the best global cuisine offerings in the New Orleans area. Consider this five-year-old Japanese restaurant that buzzes with excitement nightly. Eager diners fill the 16-seat sushi bar to explore perfectly composed nigiri, like one with seared scallop, foie gras, shiso butter, and fried leeks; sweet shrimp with a quail egg, yuzu tobiko, and sriracha (served with a fully edible fried shrimp head); and fatty tuna with smoked shoyu and truffle pate. The extensive menu encompasses temaki, sashimi, donburi bowls, noodle dishes, and Japanese sandos, and a 12-course omakase menu ranging between $185-225 is available via reservation. The vast and informative sake menu also helps make for a memorable experience.

Enjoy the last gasps of pleasant outdoor weather at this funky backyard bash where the wine flows, the music dazzles, and the cheese selection excites. Little has changed at this Bywater wine shop since its opening in 2002, despite becoming a nationally-renowned destination — no easy feat. Among the many ways to enjoy Bacchanal and its near-daily lineup of live music in the yard: Grab a bottle of wine and choose cheeses, which the restaurant will plate, and head out back; Order small plates from the back window, like bacon-wrapped dates, papas fritas, mussels, and skirt steak with chimichurri; or head upstairs for a more chill, less crowded setting. All of them involve good wine, great food, and prime people-watching.

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