So you've recently arrived for a visit to New Orleans , or perhaps you've been there once before. You have walked through the enchanting and decrepit French Quarter, and you have saved your pennies and had a meal at Galatoire's or Antoine's or Brennan's. But the tourist-gulch has gotten a bit old. When you do branch out, you'll discover food that ranges from simple boiled crabs on formica tables to haute Creole bistro cooking impeccably served by black-tied waiters of the old school. For more than reasonable prices, you can get a dozen or more of some of the best oysters on the half shell in the city.
Oysters are as common as french fries here.
You might get a black pearl so chew with care. The shrimp are cooked in a spicy shrimp boil that makes cocktail sauce seem an insult. For those craving fish that doesn't have a shell, Bruning's is justly famous for their flounder, served whole. Wash everything down with the local brew, Abita Amber. After a siesta, you could go to the Commander's Palace and enjoy superb, world-class cuisine of the sort you might find in midtown Manhattan.