Things To Do
Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits
A lovely backyard music venue where you can listen to the best local music on a picnic bench while drinking a bottle of wine. You can purchase cheese at the store upfront, and they will make a cheese plate for you with pickles and all the things, which only further makes you feel like you are on the best picnic of your life. Their food is great, pro tip you can order the full menu at the food stand in the back. You can walk all the way down Royal Street to get there, and it is a magical beautiful walk (very long). One day I'll live on Royal Street.
Coops
Opens at 11 am, and it is worth getting there when it opens because it is so popular a line forms pretty immediately. My favorite thing is the Jambalaya. Fried chicken is also a gem. Great cajun lunch spot.
Vaughan's Lounge
Around the corner from Bacchanal. Make sure to look up their music schedule to see if there is something going on that night. You'll probably end up making 10 friends there.
Brennan's
For a fancy brunch or dinner! Brennan's is an institution in New Orleans.
The Little Gem Saloon (OPEN ON GAME DAYS)
If you can, see Kermit Ruffin's play here one night. It's something I can't leave New Orleans without doing.
Audubon Park
A wonderful place to take a walk or read a book and lie in the grass. You can take the streetcar here down St. Charles Ave. You have to pay for the streetcar in quarters only, it's $1.25 a ride.
St. Roch Market
They have the best food and coffee AND it's so pretty AND there is a great voodoo shop across the street.
Parleaux Beer Lab
An amazing brewery. The brewmaster there is friends with the guys at Others Brewing in Brooklyn. Last time we were there, there was a women's only brewing event but he let us come in the back and gave us beers to go. Honestly, New Orleans is the best city on earth.
Magazine Street
Take the Street Car up St. Charles to Napoleon and walk towards Jefferson Ave (away from the Quarter) this will also lead you up to the Maple Leaf area. There are lots of bars on the way, cute houses, and weird stores.
Ace Hotel New Orleans
It is beautiful in there, and such a good happy hour. Last time I went there were $4 Manhattan's and then took about 100 photo booth photos. There is also a rooftop pool you can go to if you eat lunch at the restaurant on the roof.
The Bombay Club
This is a hidden secret gem. Happy hour is unbelievable. Get the martini and house-made pretzel.
Cafe Amelie
Eat outside in the 150-year-old Princess of Monaco courtyard! It is stunning and makes you really feel like you are in New Orleans. The food is also great, very good for brunch / lunch.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar
Oldest bar in New Orleans. It is a fun dive. Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop -- built between 1722 and 1732 by Nicolas Touze, is reputed to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States. In 1722, further building is recorded by a realty transfer set down by one Don Andres Almonester. The structure and fence are in the old French Provincial Louis XV or Briquette-Entre-Poteauxe style used in French Louisiana. The building escaped two great fires at the turn of the 19th Century, due to slate roofing. Such slates are presently used by artists as canvases. Between 1772 and 1791, the property is believed to have been used by the Lafitte Brothers, Jean and Pierre as a New Orleans base for their Barataria smuggling operation. The legend is based on the fact that the property was owned by the family of Simon Duroche a.k.a. Castillon and the wily privateer Captain Rene Beluche. Castillon was a rather record-shy adventurer and entrepreneur.
Molly's Irish Pub
Stop in here and get a frozen Irish whiskey to go, because it's New Orleans, and you can! It is both delicious and dangerous.
Buffa's
Buffa's a New Orleans institution at this point. This very laid-back, dimly-lit neighborhood bar is the perfect place to get a meal on a weekday, or listen to live music on a Saturday night. The food amazing and affordable (it's for the neighborhood, not the tourists), and in the truest New Orleans sense, they have a reputation as being one of the few places that stubbornly refuse to never close down for anyone or anything. They're known to do dinner/drink specials and play live music even during hurricanes.