You can also sample Squeal Bar-B-Q during New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.MARGIE GOLDSMITH
Think po'boys, crawfish étouffée, gumbo, jambalaya, muffalettas, red beans and rice – of course I'm talking about New Orleans and its iconic food. Here are some favourite spots to create your own NoLa restaurant crawl.
Bennachin Restaurant
This French Quarter hot spot, in business 23 years, serves up such delights as jama jama (spinach sautéed in vegetable oil, ginger, onion and garlic) and Sisay Singho (chicken leg and thigh cooked in coconut rice and plantains). "We serve the healthiest food in NoLa," says Fanta Tambajang, owner of Bennachin's, a restaurant named after a rice dish from west and central Africa. The eponymous dish is a spicy jambalaya served with their famous sautéed spinach. No alcoholic beverages are served at Bennachin's, though you can bring in your own. (Try their refreshing ginger drink; it's delicious). 1212 Royal St., bennachinrestaurant.com
The Praline Connection
Don't be confused by the name. This restaurant is about much more than the famous NoLa pecans-and-sugar confection. For the past 25 years, it has been a Frenchman Street favourite serving Cajun-Creole soul food. "Let's face it," co-owner Curtis Moore Jr. says, "People come to NoLa for red beans and rice, gumbo and fried chicken; ours is to die for. But if you don't like the food, our candy is the best in the world." Each day, they make pralines by hand in the old-fashioned, spoon-dripped method. 542 Frenchman St., pralineconnection.com
Mona's Café
This Middle Eastern restaurant, in business for 25 years, serves up such specialties as falafel, gyros (lamb and beef) and boneless chicken kebobs. "If you want to know why our food is so good, it's because we did not Americanize it," says Karin Taha, the Palestinian owner of Mona's. There are plenty of meat choices, but also plenty of excellent vegetarian dishes. BYOB. 4126 Magazine St. and 3901 Banks St., monascafeanddeli.com
Prejean's Restaurant
"This is the best single food item ever," says Quint Davis, producer of the NoLa Jazz Fest since 1970. He is referring to 35-year-old Prejean's Restaurant's gumbo, which won the World Gumbo Championship seven years in a row, and whose ingredients include pheasant, quail and andouille sausage. Prejean's is located in Lafayette, La., a couple of hours from NoLa, but the day trip is worth it for Cajun food and music lovers. 3480 N.E. Evangeline Throughway, Lafayette; prejeans.com
Angelo Brocato's Ice Cream and Confectionery
Brocato's family recipes are steeped in the Sicilian traditions of Palermo and have been handed down from generation to generation. Co-owner Arthur Brocato says: "For our family, everything is seasonal. Winters in the Mediterranean have always meant candy making. Angelo, my grandfather, learned to bake biscotti and other sweet confections and we still serve them today." Other Brocato specialties are the famed cannoli Siciliana and the Sicilian Cassata cake and the best spumoni on both sides of the Mississippi. 214 N. Carrollton Ave., angelobrocatoicecream.com
Walker's Southern Style BBQ
They say it's love at first bite when you taste Walker's Cochon de Lait Po'boy (marinated pit-roasted suckling pig). Everything is made from scratch at family-owned Walker's, which also serves ribs, brisket burnt ends and more. "Our meat is dry-rubbed and smoked all night in pecan and hickory wood," owner Wanda Walker says. The "Wertie" sauce is a unique Creole horseradish sauce made from scratch. Their po'boys are made with dong phuong bread from the Vietnamese bakery next door. 10828 Hayne Blvd., cochondelaitpoboys.com
Squeal Bar-B-Q
Squeal is run by NoLa brothers Brendan, Patrick and Eugene who are killing it with Squeal Pie (layers of pulled pork, corn maque choux, andouille mashed potatoes and topped with cheddar cheese). Some people never make it past the appetizers, which include boudin balls served with remoulade, smoked chicken wings tossed in six-pepper honey glaze with ranch dipping sauce and jalapeno-corn hush puppies with honey butter. 8400 Oak St.; squeal-nola.com
The writer was a guest of New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau. It did not review or approve this article.