22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
We Just Updated Our New Orleans Dining Guide
Not long after moving to New Orleans to become restaurant critic at The Times-Picayune, a prominent local called me at the office — cellphones were still niche in those days — to inform me that he couldn't take my opinions about local dining seriously until I 'put down roots.'
Twenty-five years later — nearly two decades of those spent in the job that brought me here — I feel qualified to make two declarations to anyone who finds themselves in New Orleans this summer: You will be hot, and you will have difficult decisions to make about where to eat.
Our list of the 25 best restaurants in New Orleans, updated this week, can help with the second thing. You'll find classics of various generations, from Commander's Palace, Dooky Chase's and Tan Dinh to Compère Lapin, Dakar Nola and Pêche.
The Kingsway and Saint Claire, which both opened last month, are too new to appear on the list. But they're worth looking out for, as they are offshoots of two of my favorite local restaurants: Saffron Nola, an Indian-New Orleans bistro, and Mosquito Supper Club, a Cajun seafood restaurant that feels like a dinner party.
Here is a quick preview of the two new entries on our list:
Coquette opened in the waning days of the second Bush administration. All these years later, I honestly still think about a dish from an early menu: tempura fried Gulf shrimp smeared with sambal, resting against juicy slices of grapefruit. I don't recall if that dish was served beyond 2008, but having eaten at Coquette for going on 17 years, I do know Michael Stoltzfus, the restaurant's chef and owner, hasn't stopped pushing himself to find harmony in uncommon pairings. Inside the 19th century brick-and-wood dining room, his intelligent, creative food still tastes like something new.
2800 Magazine Street, Garden District
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