Food & Drink

Where oh where to start? Is there any other American city so revered, so identified with the glory of gluttony and the joy of the juice than New Orleans? Perhaps, but none with a truly indigenous cuisine (or two), none that lay claim (rightly or not) to inventing the cocktail, and surely none that does it with such unbridled gusto. As the oft-repeated homily goes: In most places, people eat to live; in New Orleans, people live to eat. What we say is, you're only visiting, so make the most of it: Convince your tortured psyche that it's okay, you can resume a sensible diet when you get home (and there are plenty of stylish travel garments with elastic waistbands). We've known even the most strident vegan to give it up for a few days while here (yes, really), though most chefs, and certainly those in the better restaurants, are adept at adapting to any specified "isms" or dietary restriction. Of course those who must can seek out the usual, benign ethnic restaurants. The single most important thing to know? Make reservations.

Boy, does this city love to eat. And boy, does it offer visitors a range of choices. Thanks to influences from French, Spanish, Italian, West Indian, African, and Native American cuisines, it covers the whole span from down-home Southern cooking to the most artistic gourmet dishes. New Orleans is one of the few cities in America that can justify a visit solely for cuisine.

Many of the famous dishes here started out as provincial French settlers' recipes. Native Americans introduced the settlers to native herbs and filé (ground sassafras leaves); the Spanish added saffron and peppers to the mix somewhat later. From the West Indies came new vegetables, spices, and sugar cane, and when slave boats arrived, an African influence was added. Out of all this came the distinctive Creole culinary style unique to New Orleans. Later, Italian immigrants added yet another dimension, while many traditional Old South dishes remain on menus. This international mélange has borne a love of exciting culinary combinations, and the city's old-world traditions have instilled an appreciation for fine service in elegant surroundings. Yet ironies abound here; you can get gourmet dishes served in the plainest of settings and simple dishes (such as boiled crawfish or red beans and rice) in the fanciest of eateries. New Orleanians are voracious restaurantgoers and are notoriously strict about quality. If a place is below par, it probably won't last very long. And woe to any classic restaurant that dares to remove a beloved dish!

You Got Your Cajun in My Creole!

Cajun and Creole are the two classic New Orleans cuisines. The difference lies chiefly in distance between city and countryside.

Cajun cooking came from country folk -- the Acadians who left France for Nova Scotia in the 1600s and, after being expelled from Canada by the British in the 1700s, made their way to the swamps and bayous of rural Louisiana. French dishes traveled with them, but along the way recipes were adapted to locally available ingredients. Their cuisine tends to be a lot like their music: spicy and robust. Étouffée, a classic dish, features sausage, duck, poultry, pork, or seafood prepared in a rich roux and served over rice, while jambalaya is rice with many of those same ingredients cooked in it. Both demonstrate how to turn a little into a lot, a necessity for an often-poor people. Creole dishes, on the other hand, were developed by French and Spanish city dwellers and feature fancier sauces and ingredients.

In practice, however, the two cuisines have discovered such a happy marriage in New Orleans that it's often difficult to distinguish between them. Two entirely different restaurants might correctly call themselves Creole. Paul Prudhomme of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen calls the result of Cajun and Creole cross-fertilization "Louisiana food." He goes on to say, "Nowhere else have all the ethnic groups merged to combine all these different tastes, and the only way you'll know the difference, honey, is to live 'em!" Our advice? Disregard the classifications, try it all, and decide what you prefer.

Of Beignets, Boudin & Dirty Rice

Many of the foods in New Orleans are unique to the region and consequently may be unfamiliar to first-time visitors. Here's a list that will help you navigate any New Orleans menu:

andouille (ahn-doo-we) -- A spicy Cajun sausage made with pork.

bananas Foster -- Bananas sautéed in liqueur, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, then drenched in rum, set ablaze, and served over vanilla ice cream.

beignet (bin-yay) -- A big, puffy, deep-fried, hole-free doughnut, liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar -- the more sugar, the better.

boudin (boo-dan) -- Cajun pork and rice sausage of varying spice levels.

café brûlot (cah-fay brew-low) -- Coffee, spices, and liqueurs, served flaming.

crawfish -- A tiny, lobsterlike creature plentiful in the waters around New Orleans and eaten in every conceivable way. To eat whole and boiled, twist the head apart from the tail; remove the first two sections of the tail shell. Squeeze the tail at its base, and tug the meat out -- you'll get the hang of it.

daube -- Beef or sometimes veal.

debris -- Rich, juicy bits of roast beef or pork meat, particularly those shreds that fall off when roasted meat is carved. Whole sandwiches can be made of debris, or it can top other dishes.

dirty rice -- It looks dirty because of the spices and other ingredients in which it's cooked: usually chicken livers and gizzards, onions, chopped celery, green bell pepper, cayenne, black and white peppers, and chicken stock.

dressed -- "The works": a "dressed" po' boy comes with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and sometimes pickles.

eggs Sardou -- Legend has it that Antoine Alciatore created this dish of poached eggs, artichoke bottoms, anchovy filets, hollandaise, and truffles or ham especially for French playwright Victorien Sardou (author of La Tosca).

étouffée (ay-too-fay) -- A Cajun stew (usually containing crawfish) served with rice.

filé (fee-lay) -- A thickener made of ground sassafras leaves. Filé is frequently used to thicken gumbo.

grillades (gree-yads) -- Thin slices of beef or veal smothered in a tomato-and-beef-flavored gravy, often served with grits.

grits -- Grains of dried corn that have been ground and hulled (aka polenta). A staple of the Southern breakfast table, grits are most frequently served with butter and salt (not maple syrup or brown sugar), cheese, or red-eye gravy.

gumbo -- A thick, spicy soup of poultry, seafood, and/or sausage, with okra in a roux base, served with rice.

holy trinity -- Onions, bell peppers, and celery: the base of much Creole and Cajun cooking.

Hurricane -- A local drink of rum and passion-fruit punch.

jambalaya (jum-ba-lie-ya) -- A jumble of yellow rice, sausage, seafood, vegetables, and spices.

lagniappe (lan-yap) -- A little something extra: a bonus freebie like the 13th doughnut when you order a dozen.

muffuletta -- A mountainous sandwich made with Italian deli meats, cheese, and olive salad (pickled olives, celery, carrots, cauliflower, and capers), piled onto a round Italian bread made specially for these incredible sandwiches.

oysters Rockefeller -- Oysters on the half shell in a creamy spinach sauce, so called because Rockefeller was the only name rich enough to match the taste.

pain perdu (pan pair-du) -- Literally "lost bread," this is New Orleans's version of French toast, made with French bread and serviced with a variety of toppings.

po' boy -- A sandwich on French bread, similar to submarine sandwiches and grinders. Most often filled with fried seafood or roast beef, they can include most anything, from simple ham or turkey to fried eggs or french fries. Yes, french fries.

pralines (praw-leens) -- A sweet confection of brown sugar and pecans.

rémoulade -- A spicy sauce, usually over shrimp, concocted of mayonnaise, boiled egg yolks, horseradish, Creole mustard, and lemon juice.

roux -- A mixture of flour and fat that's slowly cooked over low heat, used to thicken stews, soups, and sauces.

Sazerac -- The official state cocktail of Louisiana, consisting of rye whiskey with sugar and bitters.

shrimp Creole -- Shrimp in a tomato sauce seasoned with what's known around town as the "holy trinity": onions, bell peppers, and celery.

tasso -- A local variety of ham. No weak little honey-baked version, this one's smoked and seasoned with red pepper.