Morning – Who Dat Coffee Cafe (Marigny) - A corner spot where locals linger over espresso and breakfast dishes, with raised sidewalk seats that keep you part of the street’s pulse.

Lunch – Acamaya (Bywater) - Coastal Mexico meets Louisiana in a sleek, Arizona-blue dining room—mariscos done with the punch of Cal-Mex flavor and no pretension.

Afternoon – Crescent Park stroll - Skip the crowds. Walk the riverfront iron bridge, inhale the gardens, and feel the artist’s view of this city between the Marigny and Bywater.

Evening – N7 (Bywater) - A hidden-gem French wine bar with vaulted ceilings and candlelit tables—you’ll be here, locals only, chewing over fermented grapes and local gossip.

Morning – Flour Moon Bagels (Tremé) - You’ll find rosemary salt bagels, tartines with heirloom veggies, and folks debating poetry over drip coffee—a quiet church of carbs.

Lunch – Ray’s On The Ave (Mid-City) - Creole comfort food where the neighborhood gathers for gumbo, music, and “how ya been, boss?” camaraderie.

Afternoon – Paddle Bayou St. John - Rent a kayak and glide through quiet waterway green that reminds you—this is New Orleans beyond crumbling balconies and brass bands.

Evening – Snug Harbor Jazz Club (Frenchmen Street) - This isn’t jazz for tourists. It’s Ellis Marsalis and locals who’ve been coming since before Katrina—grit, groove, and unfiltered soul.

Morning – Here Today Rotisserie (Uptown) - Simple, soulful chicken dinners—the kind of place families and students both know—chicken schnitzel or gumbo that quietly slays.

Lunch – Boucherie (Uptown) - Contemporary Southern with hush-bound charm and mind-melting Krispy Kreme bread pudding—your grandma would approve, your heart will beg for more.

Afternoon – Jaque-Imo’s - Find some time because this is a place where you're meant to get your hands dirty. The dishes here are unapologetically bold, a testament to the passionate chefs who craft them. You'll find everything from alligator sausage cheesecake to chicken and fried green tomatoes, each dish bursting with the kind of flavor that only comes from years of tradition and a refusal to compromise. Come with an empty belly and an open mind.

Evening – Saint Claire (Algiers Point) - In a wraparound porch home, Chef Melissa Martin serves deviled elegance—crab gnocchi and smoked beets—with a hush that eats the city’s chaos.

Morning – Cafe Du Monde - Welcome to New Orleans with Caf‌é au Lait, Beignetsn and loud jazz. Touristy and appropriate in every way.

Lunch – Manolito - Cuban sandwiches and daiquiris with enough punch to wake dead hangovers—and locals do it after church like a rite of passage.

Afternoon – Irish Channel roaming & Mag Street bite - Walk Magazine Street’s corner dive bars, breweries, and food shacks—authentic, grungy, and blessedly uncurated. Grab some charbroiled oysters if you can.

Evening – Barrel Proof or Bar Tonique - Choose intimacy: Barrel Proof’s glowing whisky hush or Bar Tonique’s laid-back classic cocktails—both are the city in a glass.

Brennan’s - Brennan’s is old-school New Orleans in a pressed white jacket — pink walls, polished silver, and bananas foster so theatrical you half expect a brass band to come marching in. It’s breakfast for people who take breakfast as seriously as a funeral, and twice as loud. Try the bananas Foster.

Johnny's Po-Boys - Johnny’s is a grease-stained shrine to the po’ boy — shrimp fried so hard it could survive a hurricane, roast beef dripping into your elbows, all wrapped in bread that’s somehow still crisp in this swampy heat. You eat it fast, you eat it messy, and you leave with a smile and a stain.

French Market - Forget your postcard version — the French Market is a living, breathing artery of the city. Farmers with okra still dusty from the field, stalls of spices that smell like the inside of a gumbo pot, and street food that laughs in the face of portion control.

Fritzel’s - The horns wail, the bass thumps low, and you drink something brown and dangerous while remembering this is what New Orleans does better than anywhere — music as lifeblood.