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[shrek]

I don't get it, or maybe I'm getting to be a curmudgeon in my advancing years, but I don't love love love New Orleans the way people think I should. I have to spend 5 days there and ugghhh. What to do? Where to go? I am a foodie and frankly most places there I have found to be overrated and overpriced. Too many tourists in many of the places. Oh wise forumites please help me change the errors of my ways (or join me in my grumpiness--).

[prof_smartypants]

Well, I'd do a tour of the ninth ward, but that's just me. After that, I'd cheer myself up by spending too much money here:

http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/

This might give me away, but I'm visiting New Orleans pretty soon for a conference and am going to look up some of the stuff that they discuss here:

http://www.urbanconservancy.org/projects/heritage-tourism-in-new-orleans

[ls410]

I'm jealous of you both; with even more limited travel funds this year, I couldn't swing my upcoming conference in NO.  I have never been before and was looking forward to drinking good coffee and playing tourist a bit.  I have friends researching in some of the areas hit by Katrina and had planned to explore some of them

[hipgeek]

I do love love love New Orleans, but I sympathize with you on the tourists.

Do you like music?  If so, check out Frenchmen Street at the end of the Quarter or the Circle Bar (St Charles Ave, Lee Circle, CBD area).

For yummy food free, and hipster-gazing, the Hare Krishna temple on Esplanade is a kick.  (Sunday nights, around 6)

Will you have a car or is it all public transit?

For good music and free BBQ food on Monday nights, check out http://www.donnasbarandgrill.com/.

Thursday nights at Vaughan's in the Bywater area has Kermit Ruffins' band and free food but tourists will likely be there too.  Some tourists are less repellent than other tourists, though. 

Have you ever eaten a muffuletta?  Central Grocery on Decatur is a good place for this giant, tasty sandwich.  In general, Decatur Street is one of the more palatable streets in the Quarter.  On that same street, check out the Louisiana Music Factory for some great, hard-to-find, blues, r & b, and jazz cds and records.

I'm a little jealous, shrek.  Hope you enjoy yourself!  I'm wondering if you've been there before what you didn't like or if you could be more specific on what kind of place you're looking to go. 

[sugaree]

Snob....

Seriously, though, perhaps you should just get into the spirit of things? Recognize the touristy parts, but also appreciate the history that has been commercialized. Lafitte's tavern is the oldest in the States - yes it's on Bourbon Street, but it truly feels like an 18th century meeting spot for rogues (not the Sarah Palin kind, *interthreaduality). Also touristy, the Acme Oyster House - oysters this time of year are divine!

I find that when I get over myself I have a lot more fun anywhere I go. 

[neutralname]

Last time I was due to go there, I was late booking a hotel room, and because it was a big conference and maybe there were other conferences going on at the same time, all hotels were booked up.  I would have had to stay at an airport hotel.  So I cancelled. 

This coming year there's a conference I could go to in NO, but I would probably have to pay travel and hotel.  So I'm not enthusiastic.  I was only in NO once and I liked it, but if I were to just go down I think I would just like to go for a vacation.

[madhatter]

Ohmigod. I wish I was going back to NOLA. My usual plan is to eat myself into a stupor, repeatedly, then go listen to live music when I am able to move.

[inthelab]

Labspouse and I just got back and WE LOVED IT.
PM me and I'll give you details and the links to our photos on Flickr.

Bourbon Street on a Saturday night was AMAZING.  The zydeco at Mulate's was tops.  Cafe du Monde: superbe!

[hipgeek]

Ohmigod. I wish I was going back to NOLA. My usual plan is to eat myself into a stupor, repeatedly, then go listen to live music when I am able to move.

I like the eating and music listening and drinking to all coalesce in one big feast of pleasure, gluttony, and abandon.  That said, I haven't been back there in years and it would be a different place for me if I went back, which I may never.

[tee_bee]

Oh, god, last spring I organized a meeting in NOLA, at the Hotel Provincial, and our group worked hard, and ate, drank, and made seriously merry. Should have avoided Tujagues (tourists), but my wife still says that Napoleon House makes the best muffaletta--although I suspect Central Grocery is good.

Now that the St. Charles streetcar line is running all the way to Carrollton, skip the quarter and head out. On Carollton near St. Charles is Camilla Grill, which is so fun, and then you can double back to Audubon Park just to hang out or go to the zoo. I like hanging out on Oak Street--Zotz on Oak has free wi-fi and great people watching. The Maple Leaf is good for music. And Jacques-Imo's Cafe is there too. There are at least two really fabulous restaraunts near by, Matt and Naddies is wonderful, is in the neighborhood (here's a link: http://wikitravel.org/en/New_Orleans/Carrollton), and is also two blocks from my in-laws (handy!). There's another good one whose name I cannot remember, but I can find it. Anyway, it's a great neighborhood.

Also, there's great fun places along the length of Magazine Street. I had a terrific Roast Beef po' boy at Ignatius, named for the character in A Confederacy of Dunces. Also on Magazine Street is Juan's Flying Burrito, near the Aiden Gill men's shop and barber, which is fun. And my last two trips have really changed my attitudes about the French Quarter--if you have friends who know their way around, you can get recommendations for good places. Or read the on-line reviews.

I've been visiting NOLA off and on for about 10 years now, with a lot more in the last four since my work involves studying Hurricane Katrina. The city is coming back--it's nowhere fully recovered, but the last two trips have not been as relentlessly depressing as it was pre-K. I once thought I'd hate NOLA--it is, sometimes, dirty, gritty, the cops were corrupt, etc., but the food and the culture are unique. There's no other place like it in the United States. (No, I don't work for the NOLA CVB!!).

Also, read reviews in the Gambit, the weekly paper, and in the Times Picayune, which both cater more to locals.

Oh, and one other thing. Rock n Bowl on Carrollton often does zydeco music, and it's great. It's a lousy bowling alley, but why bother when the music is so good?

Hope this sells you on a visit.

[john_proctor]

I'm going (and, mercy me but there seem to be a surprising number of SBLers on the board).

Camilia, Rock n Bowl, and Circle Bar (along with Laffitte's, Cafe du Monde and Oyster Bar) have already been mentioned, so I'll second them.  I'm planning some deep drinking at Rock n Bowl at least one evening and a brunch at some point at Cafe du Monde and dinner at least once at Oyster.  I'd love to do more, but I'm going to be nasty busy and won't have time to venture very far into the city.

[madhatter]

JP, please have a crawfish po'boy at the ACME Oyster House for me. On second thought, order one, pack it in a cooler, and ship it to me overnight. That's even better.

[ls410]

Not SBL here.  I think it's just a popular meeting destination.

[hipgeek]

I lived there. 

By the way, if you like thrift stores (not antique, vintage, whatever--I don't care about that kind of stuff so much) but real thrift stores where you dig through crap to find a treasure--New Orleans is good for that.  Thrift City next to Rock n Bowl, St. Vincent de Paul's, one on Magazine, one off Magazine...

[sibyl]

The last time I was in NO was pre-Katrina, so take this with a grain of salt. 

I hear what you are saying about overpriced & touristy places -- I am one of those folks who doesn't care for Cafe du Monde, much preferring the beignets (and for that matter the whole brunch) at Mr. B's, for example -- but there are so many good places that if you keep looking you'll find them.  Ask the concierge at your hotel, or locals, for recommendations, and be sure to tell them that you think that X and Y restaurants are too touristy.  They'll help you out.  I've been disappointed, sure, but never for two meals running.