New Orleans built its global reputation on three restaurants more than on any hotel, any street, or any festival. These are the Grand Dames, the rooms where the recipes were invented and never changed, where the waiters have been there longer than most customers have been alive, and where showing up correctly dressed still matters. A meal at any of them is less an act of dining than an act of participation in something ongoing.
Antoine’s
Antoine Alciatore arrived in New Orleans in 1840 at 18 years old from France and opened a pension, a boarding house with a restaurant attached, that outgrew its quarters so quickly he had to move it down the block. By 1868, he had settled at 713 St. Louis Street, where Antoine’s has operated without interruption ever since, making it the oldest family-run restaurant in the United States.
Five generations of the Alciatore family and their descendants have held the kitchen. The building now contains 15 dining rooms, a 25,000-bottle wine cellar, and enough Mardi Gras krewe memorabilia to fill a museum, which is roughly what several of the rooms have become.
The food that made Antoine’s famous came from Jules Alciatore, Antoine’s son, who trained in Europe before returning to New Orleans and inventing Oysters Rockefeller in 1889. The sauce recipe has been a closely guarded secret since the day he created it, though the dish has been imitated thousands of times across the country. Each order at Antoine’s comes with a certificate noting which numbered serving you received; the count is now well past four million.
Other signatures include Pompano en Papillote, Eggs Sardou, the Pommes de Terre Soufflés, and the tableside Café Brulot Diabolique, a flaming brandy and spice coffee ritual that the waiters perform with ceremony. The Mystery Room, used as a speakeasy during Prohibition with patrons accessing it through the ladies’ restroom and receiving their alcohol in coffee cups, is still there.
Antoine’s is at 713 St. Louis Street. Dress code is business casual: collared shirts required for men, jackets preferred. Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday for brunch. Reservations strongly recommended at antoines.com.
Arnaud’s
Count Arnaud Cazenave was a French wine salesman who opened his restaurant on Bienville Street in 1918 with a philosophy that the pursuit of the pleasures of the table was as worthy as anything else one could choose to pursue in life. Prohibition arrived almost immediately and tested that philosophy. Cazenave defied the law using every available subterfuge, was eventually imprisoned, persuaded those in charge to release him, and then led the restaurant to its greatest period of success after repeal in 1933.
His daughter Germaine Cazenave Wells ran it for the next 30 years, becoming a legend in her own right as the woman who reigned as queen of more Mardi Gras balls than any other woman in history. The collection of her jeweled gowns is now on display in the Germaine Wells Mardi Gras Museum on the second floor, accessible to any guest who asks to see it.
The restaurant’s 14 named dining rooms are all carpeted and draped in turn-of-the-century style, with crystal chandeliers and the kind of atmosphere that makes a Tuesday feel like an occasion. The signature is Shrimp Arnaud, Gulf shrimp chilled and blanketed in the house’s tangy Creole remoulade sauce, a dish that has been on the menu since 1918 and ordered by every serious visitor since. Smoked pompano, soufflé potatoes, trout meunière, turtle soup, and Strawberries Arnaud, the dessert of marinated strawberries over vanilla ice cream, complete the essential order.
The adjacent French 75 Bar, housed in the former Men’s Grill, won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program and is worth a visit entirely on its own, whether or not you’re staying for dinner.
Arnaud’s is at 813 Bienville Street. Dress code is business casual; jackets are preferred. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m., Friday lunch from 11:30 a.m., Sunday Jazz Brunch from 10 a.m. Call (866) 230-8895.
Galatoire’s
Jean Galatoire came from the village of Pardies in the French Pyrenees, worked his way into the New Orleans restaurant trade, and in 1905 purchased Victor’s Restaurant at 209 Bourbon Street and put his name on it. He brought his family recipes and his ideas about how a meal should unfold, and then set about creating the most ritualized dining culture in a city that takes ritual very seriously. The main dining room, with its mirrored walls, white tablecloths, slow paddle fans, and black-and-white tile floors, has looked essentially the same for over a century. The James Beard Foundation named Galatoire’s the outstanding restaurant in America in 2004. Saveur named the Friday lunch one of its 25 greatest meals ever.
The Friday lunch is the entry point for understanding what Galatoire’s actually is. The main floor does not take reservations, which means the line forms on the sidewalk, and it forms early. Regulars send proxies to hold their spots. Lunches that begin at noon stretch to five in the afternoon without anyone noticing or caring. The waiters, many of whom have worked there for 15 years or more, know the regulars by name and bring their orders without waiting to be asked.
The menu rarely changes: Crab Maison with jumbo lump crabmeat and Creole mustard aioli, oysters en brochette, Trout Marguery, trout amandine, Godchaux Salad, and pompano meunière are the landmarks. The kitchen uses 750 pounds of crabmeat a week, mostly for the Crab Maison alone.
Dress code at Galatoire’s is collared shirts and long pants for men at all times. Jackets are required for men after 5 p.m. and all day Sunday; the restaurant keeps loaner jackets for guests who arrive without one. No flip-flops, shorts, or athletic wear at any time. Open Tuesday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 9 p.m., closed Monday. The main floor can accommodate walk-ins. Call (504) 525-2021 or reserve at galatoires.com.
