In new orleans for a few days. Anyone have any non tourist traps to eat at? Tried Liuzza's by the tracks yesterday, looked like it was going to be good from the outside, waitress looked like she hated life though so had me wondering. It sucked.
Hard for me to say what's a tourist trap and what isn't in some cases.... I'll tell you some places I enjoy though... Spoiler, I really don't eat often at real fancy places... chandeliers, square plates, and cloth napkins type joints. Just not usually my vibe and I have a hard time forking over a lot of money for a plate of food... same reason I won't buy those $3 20. oz drinks in gas stations... just on a bigger scale I guess.
Anyway...
Fiorella's Cafe - Out of the way, so definitely not a tourist trap. Had a good Po-Boy there.
Commander's Palace - Ok, this place actually is fancy and pricy, but if you're into that (or on an expense acct), it's worth it.
Domilise's - A hole in the wall joint, again off the regular path some. Good Po-Boys though (see a theme here with me?)
Willie Mae's Scotch House - Years ago, the fried chicken was dynamite. They've more recently moved to downtown and I've heard it's just different now, still good, but not as good and lost some of it's appeal form the old location.
Port of Call - Some may say it's overrated, but I LOVE this place. Really good burger and baked potato. A little off the path but not far. If you get a loaded potato, the bacon bits are those cheap bright red crunchy kind, which always makes me laugh, but it works.
Coop's Place - Like Port of Call, not too far off the French Quarter path. Just real good cajun food though, they play all the hits from red beans and rice and etouffee to cajun fried chicken and cajun pasta.
Places close to the Quarter, which means more tourists...
Mothers and/or Johnny's- Both have good Po-boys.
Deanie's - Really good soups and gumbos... never had a bad meal there. You can pretty much close your eyes, point to something on the menu and not go wrong in my experience.
My disclaimer here is that it has been a while since I've been, so I'm not sure if any of these places have changed much (other than Willie Mae's). Hopefully not... but those are all places I've enjoyed. Truthfully though, competition is so high there, it's hard to have a bad meal somewhere.
Also, I'd recommended the WWII Museum if you get time. I've embarrassingly never gotten a chance to go as of yet, but I've heard nothing up A+ reviews of it.