Whether it’s your first or fifteenth visit to New Orleans, you can’t help but be impressed with the warm hospitality and sense of celebration that greets you. Whether you’re in the city for a convention, an organized event (there are festivals every month of the year) or on your own private celebration (Christmas in New Orleans is an unparalleled delight and bargain, a true Christmas gift to yourself) you are in for a treat!
 
 

The adventure begins the moment you approach your hotel. Consider the Clarion Grand Boutique All Suite Hotel in the Garden District, just a short ride on the St. Charles Streetcar from any tourist destination in town. This is a one of a kind, art nouveau, all suites gem. It offers large, authentically decorated suites, and continental breakfast in the adjacent and ever- popular, Copeland’s Café.
 

Clarion Grand Boutique Hotel

Venture uptown to the Upperline Restaurant where you will be warmly greeted by owner and hostess Joanne Clevenger. As you walk into the funky, artsy environment of this Victorian house, Joanne will make you feel at home. You will experience one of the best renditions of traditional Creole/Cajun fare offered in a sampler tasting menu. This gourmet delight is called the "Taste of New Orleans." If you are one of her many regulars, you will be surprised by the ever-changing new items that excite the palate. This dining venue remains a favorite of locals and repeat visitors for a reason; it is a consistently satisfying experience for all the senses!
 
 

Here is a chance to experience one of the best renditions of traditional Creole/ Cajun fare offered in a sampler menu. Items included are as follows.

The Upperline Restaurant
1413 Upperline St.,
New Orleans, LA 70115

Now, move downtown to the business district and French Quarter where the choices and pleasures are endless. Consider dining at the Rib Room, located in the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel on Royal St. in the heart of the Quarter. Although known for its straightforward beef and accompaniments, the real surprises start as you peruse Executive Chef Anthony Spizale's seasonal offerings.
 

As you glance at the array of appetizers and entrees, you see that the restaurant offers great possibilities for the adventurous and experimental as well as the meat and potatoes lovers. Light, creative items are finely executed and paired with an interesting selection of wines by the glass. The staff is professional and exudes the personal care that comes with longevity and pride in the product. Ask Director of Food and Beverage, Jonathan Kastner about his carefully selected wine recommendations.
 

If you are lucky, the "Pan Seared Foie Gras with Ginger Pear Relish" and the "Nest of Smoked Salmon with Leeks and Fried Oysters" will be on the appetizer menu. Besides the uniformly excellent beef selections, other entrees of note include the "Spit Roasted Gulf Shrimp" and the "Crawfish Ravioli". Desserts are freshly baked in their pastry kitchen and are worth the calories!
 
 

The Rib Room

Make the W Hotel  your next hotel experience. The hip, trendy, high-energy vibes that greet you as you enter the lobby and living areas are contrasted by the quiet, luxurious sensations that you feel as you enter your room. Perhaps this member of the Starwood properties, famous for their heavenly beds, has achieved the perfect combination of high tech and high touch. You too, can experience the best of all worlds here.
 
 

Be sure to try Zoe’s Bistrot, located one level above the lobby, for their interpretation of French bistrot fare. Here, even the predictable bistrot menu offerings are presented with flair and interesting variations on a theme. As of this printing, a new menu is in the wings. It will combine the best of their Bistrot classics with some surprising Asian additions.The "Duck Comfit Gumbo," "Bouillabaisse," and "Onion Tart" are memorable appetizers while their signature "Lobster Pie" as an entree is a definite must as well as the classically perfect rendition of "Profiteroles" to end an enchanted evening and retire to your “heavenly bed”.
 

Zoë Bistrot

E-mail: rebecca.brown@whotels.com
 
 
 

Just down the street from the W Hotel, is Restaurant August, one of the newest restaurants in town. Chef John Besh and partner Ali Sharifi offer a culinary experience that rivals the best in town. You will savor contemporary French cuisine with an emphasis on ingredients indigenous to Louisiana in an historical, 18th century building. This very personal menu includes surprises such as the “BLT, Buster Crabs, Lettuce and Heirloom Tomatoes;" a trio of foie gras preparations with duck, "Smoked Foie Gras, Foi /Gras in Baukuchen, Terrine of Foie Gras and Rare Moulard Duck Breast" and a “Cappuccino of Day Boat Scallops with Truffle Foam." They are startling in their complexity and presentation.
 
 

The entrees including "Escolar with Lobster Whipped Potatoes and Bouillabaisse Reduction;" "Crispy Roast Duckling with Rice Wine and Plums" and "Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs with Rare Seared Sonoma Squab Breast and Truffle Polenta" are equally ambitious, well-presented and palate-pleasing.The desserts are equally creative and well executed.
 

The sensations are excited with bursts of brilliance throughout the meal. Add to this culinary expertise the wine savvy of Sommelier Dwayne Savoie, who artfully pairs the complex culinary flavors with an interesting variety of wines from an eclectic cellar. What do you get: nothing short of a magical dining experience. Restaurant August is a new “must” for your list.
 
 

Restaurant August,

Hotel Monaco punctuates its city’s Caribbean and African roots in the décor, music and overall ambiance. This pet-friendly hotel offers guests their own personal goldfish for company during their stay, complimentary neck and shoulder massage during cocktail hours and the high-energy vibes of an adjacent Susan Spicer Restaurant, Cobalt, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What a combo!
 
 

The Hotel Monaco, New Orleans

Cobalt’s regional American cuisine waves the culinary flag from coast to coast and provides this seasoned chef, Susan Spicer, with the latitude she requires to make just about anything regionally American and yet retain some of her characteristic finesse. Set in a high tech, high voltage ambiance, the food holds its own among the martini-drinking crowd.
 
 

Start with a salad of "Kentucky Limestone Lettuce with Blue Cheese, Spiced Pecans and Roasted Pears" or try the "Olympic Peninsula Wild Mushrooms with Soft Polenta, Fennel and Sage. Then go on to the "Marinated Prince Edward Island Mussels and Meyer Lemon Mignonette or try the Spicy Shrimp and Black Bean Quesadilla with Chayote Slaw." Then consider the "Pan Roasted Maine Salmon with Susan's Martini Sauce" or the "Sautéed Texas Venison with Ancho-Berry Sauce" or the "Central Coast Herb Marinated Chicken with Seared Wild Mushrooms."
 

Well, you get the picture or should we say, the map? The desserts include some of America’s best loved classics and some surprises including a "Peanut Butter Mousse with Red Grape Ice Cream". There’s an interesting selection of wines by the glass to enhance your culinary tour.
 

Cobalt

If you’ve walked your heart out in the French Quarter and need a brief change of pace, consider a swamp tour. Dr. Paul Wagner’s Honey Island Swamp Tours will pick you up and whisk you away to another world, that of the bayou. You glide gently through waters learning a myriad of facts from Dr. Wagner, a biologist and local resident of the swamps that he obviously loves. But hush or you’ll miss sightings of alligator, owl, waterfowl, and birds along the way.
 
 

Dr. Paul Wagner's Honey Island

What a pleasant diversion to whet your appetite for dinner at Bistro at Maison de Ville. This intimate, welcoming New Orleans landmark is a favorite of locals who consider Matre’d Patrick Van Hoorenbeek and Executive Chef Greg Piccolo to be part of the fabric and family of New Orleans. Even tourists with so little time and so many restaurants to try, return again and again. A genuine tribute to the quality of the dining experience.

The food, contemporary Creole, offers French classics with unique and satisfying contemporary interpretations. The "Crawfish Remoulade en Croute" and the "Smoked Chicken with Wild Mushrooms" and "Alligator Susage Gumbo" rival the best renditions of these New Orleans classics.The "Steamed Mussels" are impeccable, as they should be, in an establishment run by a native of Brussels.The "Sautéed Gulf Fish with Smoked Salmon and Caper Maftoul and Blood Orange Buerre Rose" or the "Duck Sampler of Roasted Breast, Comfit and Seared Foie Gras with a Leek and Yam Griddle Cake, Sautéed Spinach and Grilled Peach Reduction" are entrees fit for the gods.
 
 

And the desserts are equally heavenly.Patrick’s wine cellar and his skill at pairing wine with menu items is legendary.It is no wonder why locals as well as savvy tourists return time and time again to this thoroughly satisfying culinary classic.
 

The Bistro

Consider ending this visit to the Big Easy with a stay at the newly opened Ritz Carlton on Canal Street Elegance and world-class service are what you expect and receive at this pinnacle of hotel excellence. A large gracious courtyard lightens the traditional European décor. Rooms are spacious and comfortably decorated in the traditional Ritz style.
 

Victor’s, the Ritz’s signature restaurant, is visually stunning and sets the bar for haute cuisine in the city. Food with complexity and finesse by Chef de Cuisine Frank Brunacci is expertly paired with wines by the Sommelier Kader Seddik.
 

To start, consider an elegantly refined version of "Duck Gumbo" or a marbled terrine of "Foie Gras with Fig Jam and Toasted Brioche."Then consider the "Lobster Wrapped in Panchetta with Chanterelles, Corn Timbale and Bacon Jus" or the"Pistachio Roasted Venison Loin with Sweet Potato and Veneur Sauce." Desserts include "Victor’sBeignet with Raspberry, Muscat Sabayon and Szechwan Ice Cream," a tour de force of textures, flavors and presentation. Victor’s is a special occasion restaurant that delivers all the elements of a fine dining experience.
 
 

Victor's

"The Big Easy" New Orleans style has a lot to offer the discriminating dinner. Stay at the fine hotels in New Orlenas and get as much big eating as you can in this truly remarkable American city.