French Quarter Atmosphere
Napoleon House (500 Chartres). Napoleon House is a corner cafe with a stereo system that plays only classical music. Housed in a 1797 landmark, it has been owned and operated by the Impastato family since 1914. It's the perfect place to enjoy a New Orleans muffeletta (a ham, salami, pastrami, swiss cheese, provolone cheese, and Italian olive salad sandwich. They're big, so split one with a friend) and a Pimms Cup, a wonderful, light beverage for a hot day.

St. Charles Avenue Streetcar
The streetcar offers an easy and pleasant opportunity to enjoy other parts of the city. From Canal Street, it travels through the Central Business District and along St. Charles Avenue, past the Garden District, Loyola and Tulane Universities, Audubon Park, and the Riverbend shopping and dining area, ending at Palmer Park, where you exit, pay a second $1.25 fare, and reboard to return. You can enjoy the 13-mile, 90-minute roundtrip twenty-four hours a day.

Whenever you exit to sightsee, you'll have to pay another fare to reboard, so consider purchasing an all-day pass from the streetcar driver ($5). It lets you enter and exit all of the streetcars as much as you want, but expires at midnight.

Midnight? Who goes home at midnight in New Orleans? Your hotel concierge can sell you a  one-day VisiTour pass (also $5), which expires twenty-four hours from the hour of your purchase. Be sure to check the VisiTour Guide to New Orleans which is in the  centerfold of WHERE Magazine. It highlights city attractions accessible via VisiTour lines. A free copy of WHERE Magazine should be in your hotel room. If not, you can pick one up at the concierge desk. 

Music
For traditional New Orleans Jazz, the Palm Court Jazz Cafe (1204 Decatur St). Zagat's says the Palm Court offers "absolutely fabulous traditional jazz" and "great ambiance." The food is classic New Orleans Creole with a few eclectic dishes. Compact discs are on sale and may be purchased at the Palm Court. Reservations recommended.

For contemporary and progressive Jazz, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro (626 Frenchmen St). Good food, the ambience is respectful of the music, and Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the Marsalis clan, is a regular. Consider ordering tickets in advance. Shows at 9 and 11 PM; reservations recommended.

For Cajun music, food (especially seafood), and dancing, Mulate's is just one block from the hotel. It features nightly live  Cajun music and dancing along with large quantities of authentic Cajun food.

Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is New Orleans' traditional dessert. For something different, try the incredible white chocolate bread pudding at the Palace Cafe (605 Canal Street). A more famous version, and also amazingly delicious, is the bread pudding soufflé at Commander's Palace in the Garden District (1403 Washington Avenue). The kitchen needs extra time to prepare the soufflé, so remember to order it at the beginning of your meal.

Commander's is a quintessential New Orleans experience. Dinner is expensive but lunch is one of the best bargains in town, with the same legendary Commander's service and quality. Only two blocks down Washington Street from the streetcar, you can combine a streetcar trip, a wonderful lunch, and a walking tour of the Garden District.  Pick up a Commander's walking tour brochure and spend an hour strolling through the historic neighborhood.

Wake up and smell the cafe au lait!
While New Orleans is famous for chicory coffee, many persons do not know that our city is a center of coffee importing and roasting for North America.  Mocha and Java beans were first blended together here.

For traditional chicory cafe au lait, a visit to Cafe du Monde in the French Market is required (there is also a Cafe du Monde in the Riverwalk three blocks from the hotel). Established in 1862, it is open 24/7 and operates in an 1813 French Market building. Be sure to try an order of beignets ("bin-yays"), a sort of New Orleans-style doughnut.

For gourmet roasts, Royal Blend Coffee (621 Royal Street) offers excellent blends in a beautiful and authentic French Quarter courtyard.

There are two CC's Coffee Houses in the French Quarter, one on Jackson Square and another at 528 St. Peter. CC's offers excellent coffee with pastries, quiches, and other light foods by national television chef John Folse. A "Mochasippi" at CC's beats a Frappaccino hands down.

Pizza
For a romantic French Quarter setting, try Mona Lisa (1212 Royal Street). Mona Lisa exudes French Quarter atmosphere, with worn oriental carpets and antique hookahs. Recommended: a half-seafood, half-garden pizza. Visiting Mona Lisa gives you an excuse to walk the length of Royal Street. Lined with art galleries and antique shops, Royal is the French Quarter's most glorious street.

For nouvelle pizza, try the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen at the end of the French Market. As well as great food (they cook their pizzas in a wood-fired oven. Recommended: the Gambretti Pizza, with shrimp, jalapenos, and cilantro), you get a fun view of the bustling French Market and of ships loading at Governor Nicholls Street Wharf.

Local Favorites
Epicurious rates Irene's Cuisine  (corner of Saint Philip and Chartres) as one of its "essential" New Orleans restaurants. Famous for its rosemary chicken, this cozy Italian restaurant features southern Italian food with French Provencal influences. $21--$30, upscale casual, dinner only, no reservations, so come early or be prepared to wait in line. Try ending your meal with an Italian-style baked Alaska, glowing beneath a blue flame of ignited grappa.

Aquarium / Zoo Cruise
The riverboat John James Audubon makes the seven-mile round-trip between the zoo and aquarium four times daily. It’s a wonderful way to combine visits to these acclaimed facilities with a Mississippi cruise. Your best value is a combo boat, aquarium, and zoo pass ($31 adults; $15.50 children). In summer, cruise to the zoo in the morning and take the boat or streetcar back for an air-conditioned afternoon in the aquarium. The zoo features rare animals in natural settings, including albino alligators in an award-winning swamp exhibit. Children love the aquarium's penguin, otter,  and seahorse exhibits. It also has a rainforest frog exhibit and the world’s largest exhibit of living jellyfish. The jellyfish are breathtakingly beautiful, like ghosts in the water.

Hamburgers
A hamburger at the  Port Of Call (838 Esplanade Ave) is a classic New Orleans experience; some experts rate it the best hamburger in the country. In addition to great burgers and pizza, the fifties Tiki lounge decor and Tiki lounge drinks give the restaurant charm and romance.

When you've barhopped Bourbon Street until two in the morning and you're ready to tackle the trek back to the hotel, you'll need to load up on carbs and protein. The Clover Grill (900 Bourbon Street) is the place to do it. Open 24/7, this diner is regularly mentioned in national magazines and is famous for grilling hamburgers under a hubcap. It also has good omelets and great "Geaux Girl" waffles. However, when busy, the cigarette smoke can be oppressive.

View from a Restaurant
Bella Luna, in the French Market, has a wall of large windows with dramatic views of the Mississippi River.  At night, in the moonlight, it is easy to understand why Gourmet Magazine named it one of America's most romantic restaurants (expensive; ties and jackets for men preferred; reservations recommended; map). Why not start with the Bella Luna crab cakes with chipotle remoulade?

A less expensive, less formal, and less haute cuisine alternative is the stunning view of the river from the Riverview restaurant on the Marriott's 41st floor (map). Perhaps it's mostly patronized by tourists, but the floor to ceiling wrap around windows offer amazing views and the Sunday brunch has unlimited champagne and live jazz.

Loretta Shaw Harrison making her famous pralines.

Pralines
Loretta's in the French Market. Loretta's pralines have been made by the same family for four generations. The traditional praline is fantastic, but if you're feeling adventurous, go for the coconut praline. Visiting Loretta's is also a chance to see the bustle of the French Market, a working open air market with fresh fruit and vegetable stands, shops, flea markets, restaurants, and more.

And, of course . . . seafood
In addition to restaurants above, Acme Oyster House (724 Iberville St), is a "must visit" French Quarter tradition (view their "oystercam").  Famous chef Paul Prudhomme's K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen (416 Chartres St) is an expensive but wonderful experience.

For the money, another choice might be the Bon Ton Cafe (401 Magazine St), a slightly upscale and more gently seasoned take on traditional Cajun. Be sure to try the Bon Ton's Rum Ramsey Cocktail. The Bon Ton is largely patronized by locals and is not part of the "tourist scene," and so is not open weekends.

Mike Anderson's (215 Bourbon St) offers the bonus of being located in a two hundred-year old building in the heart of the French Quarter. Despite its location in the middle of "party central," Mike Anderson's maintains a family atmosphere and caters well to children (including a children's menu and high chairs).

For crawfish novices, the "7-Way Crawfish Dinner" (crawfish bisque, crawfish cocktail, crawfish stuffed mushroom, fried crawfish tails, crawfish etoufee, crawfish au gratin, and crawfish scampi) is a good starter set. There is also a mini-Mike Anderson's in the Riverwalk food court, just two blocks from the hotel. It's a wonderful place to get a bowl of gumbo and a bottle of Abita Amber, take a table on the deck, and watch ships from around the globe visit one of the world's busiest ports.

Tips for enjoying
New Orleans

The French Quarter, Arts and Warehouse District, and Convention District are central to the city's tourism economy. Therefore, they are heavily patrolled by police, especially plain clothes police officers. However, you should still be aware of your environment and take the same common sense precautions as in any other major metropolitan area.

The French Quarter police station is at 334 Royal Street. Its phone number is 565-7540.

One of the many advantages of our hotel is that it is only two blocks from the Riverfront Streetcar, which takes you directly to the French Quarter. The one-way fare for the Riverfront Streetcar is $1.50; for the St. Charles streetcar and all buses the fare is $1.25. Exact change is required. You can purchase a 1-day VisiTour pass ($5) from the hotel concierge that lets you board all New Orleans buses and streetcars as much as you like, without having to worry about exact change.

On St. Charles Avenue, you can expect a streetcar about every ten or fifteen minutes between 6:30AM and midnight, about every thirty minutes between midnight and 3:00 AM, about every hour between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM, and about every thirty minutes between 5:00 AM and 6:30 AM.

If you are not comfortable deciphering the transit system, you can get rider assistance by calling RTA's RideLine at 248-3900. The RTA information specialists will need to know where you are (including the address, if possible), where you want to go, and what time you want to leave. The specialist will tell you the location of the nearest stop, the approximate time of the next trip, and any connections necessary to get to your destination.

Don't overdo it. May in New Orleans can be hot, so if you're sightseeing in the heat of the day, remember to drink plenty of water.

Depending on your French Quarter location, you may be as close as six blocks to the hotel or as far away as over a mile. If it's late or you're tired, take a taxi back instead of walking. Taxis are easy to flag down and reasonably priced.

New Orleans' civilized open container laws allow you to enjoy alcoholic drinks while strolling down French Quarter streets. It's a nice way to window shop. If you want to take a drink with you, ask your bartender to pour it into a free plastic "go cup." Cans and glass are not allowed on the street.

The French Quarter is first a neighborhood. Please respect the privacy of the families living there.

Because French Quarter streets are narrow, cars may park on only one side of many streets. Favor walking on the side of the street without cars, because it will give you a clearer view of who's around you.

Especially at night, it's better to walk in groups.

Especially at night, it's best to stay on streets where you can see other groups of visitors.

During peak nighttime hours, most bars and even some restaurants will be heavily smoke filled. Bourbon Street bars and dance clubs like Oz, Cafe Lafitte in Exile, and the Bourbon Pub have second story balconies overlooking the street which are good places to escape for fresh air. The balconies offer a wonderful view of one of America's most famous streets.

Even though Armstrong Park and Rampart Street are well lit and inviting, it's probably better not to wander too far at night beyond the area between the river and Bourbon Street, except for well-lit, heavily trafficked areas.

When you order a sandwich, burger, or po-boy, your waiter will ask if you want it "dressed." That means with lettuce, tomato, and maybe mayonnaise. "Not dressed" (not "undressed") means just meat and a bun.

There is no "r" in "po-boy."

When crossing streets, remember that New Orleans drivers do not believe in turn signals. They also view stop signs and stop lights with great suspicion.

Traditional New Orleans cuisine is "Creole," which means cooking styles descended from 18th and early-19th century French traditions. It is lighter, more refined, and often more expensive. It is typically associated today with the old elite restaurants, such as Antoine's, Arnaud's and Galatoire's.

"Cajun" cooking refers to rural South Louisiana traditions, and it is a recent arrival to New Orleans. It typically involves darker sauces, hotter seasonings, deep frying, and the "Holy Trinity" of bell peppers, onions, and garlic. A huge platter of fried seafood with a side of spicy crawfish etoufee is Cajun. Shrimp Remoulade with Oysters Rockefeller is Creole.

Here is one source for New Orleans discount coupons.

If a stranger walks up to you and says "I bet I can tell you where you got those shoes," the correct response is "I got them on my feet."

New Orleans' NPR station is WWNO (89.9 FM). Morning Edition is from 5-9:00 AM; All Things Considered is from 4-6:00 PM.

For local music, listener supported WWOZ (90.7 FM) is a national treasure.

For persons seeking reassurance that the world as they knew it still exists, there are two Starbucks within walking distance of the hotel. For emergencies, there is a Krispy Kreme off Jackson Square.