Frenchmen Street, An Insider’s Guide

Congratulations! You are visiting the hippest, coolest neighborhood in town.

Here’s what Where magazine said about Faubourg Marigny, “… popular with French-Quarter expatriates looking to escape the crowds … The hip district is the nightlife center of town for locals, and Frenchmen Street swings with live music clubs, casual restaurants, and other hangouts.”

As Frenchmen Street rapidly becomes preferable to many French Quarter hotspots, it has also turned into “Restaurant Row” with a lively music scene.

The Three Muses has live music and bar-food service. Their tapas-size portions are very tasty. The music is perfect for a dinner night club. No reservations; closed Tuesdays.

The
Blue Nile on Frenchmen features live music most nights.
Sukho Thai is at the corner of Royal and Touro.

And, of course, there’s the coffee house,
Café Rose Nicaud at 634 Frenchmen.

Maison is a great place for live music on Frenchmen Street. It’s a bar, restaurant, and live music venue with three stages open 7 days a week. You will not find a club with more bands playing regularly anywhere in the city. Click here to go to the Maison video below.

You’ll pass
Igor’s Checkpoint Charlie Dance Club & Nightclub en route to Decatur St., with live rock music most nights. Mick Jagger “jammed” there.

Another hotspot on Frenchmen serving a couple hundred beers and liquors from all over the world is
d.b.a. Their first location is a big hit in New York City. We often send our European guests there and they love it. It’s really a great place to just hang out, and the crowd there is so pleasant and attractive. It’s also NON-SMOKING (Hooray!)

Take a break from the hot Frenchmen Street music scene in the Art Market courtyard. It features regional artists who create handmade art and goods. It’s located at 619 Frenchmen Street next to the Spotted Cat, and is New Orleans’ only weekly night-time art market. Open Thursday–Saturday 7 p.m.–1 a.m., Sunday 6 p.m.–midnight. Read more about the Art Market on artgarage.events and artsneworleans.org.

A fun coffee house with light fare, and where Brad & Angelina were known to hang out, is the stylish
EnVie at Decatur and Barracks (just walk one block further than Checkpoint Charlie’s on Decatur and you’re there).

Here’s another spot to try:
Satsuma Café—for gourmet organic food, open 7 a.m.–7 p.m. daily. 3218 Dauphine St., tel: (504) 304-5962.

Jack Dempsey’s in the Bywater is the “go-to” restaurant for old-time, New Orleans, fried seafood and shellfish. The large Dungeness crab is awesome, steamed and served with drawn garlic butter. Their Bananas Foster ice cream cake is a winner also. You’ll hear the real New Orleans accent here, an accent like in Brooklyn, New York, and be surrounded by friendly locals. If you’re lucky, you might even be seated next to Fats Domino, a regular.

Also, the new
Paloma Café, 800 Louisa St.,
Bywater American Bistro, 2900 Chartres St., and
Maurepas Foods, 3200 Burgundy St. open lunch and dinner; closed Wed.

And new too on the scene are the
Country Club on Louisa,
Who Dat Coffee Café/Café Nero and
Suis Generis, both on Burgundy.

Ruby Slipper Café, finally, is a really cool place, a great place to meet up with friends for a weekend breakfast, and a great spot for tourists to see what true, local New Orleans spots are all about. Fun, inventive breakfast and brunch menu. Open 7 a.m.–3 p.m. Closed Wednesdays. Click here to go to the Ruby Slipper video below.

There are other little “hotspots” incubating in many areas of town—but this seems to be ultra concentrated in a two-block area, so near the French Quarter, and such a special, happening area from lunchtime till the wee hours of the morning.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

PS: In case you’re headed uptown, our seven favorite restaurants are:
Coquette,
Upperline,
Lilette,
La Petite Grocery,
Gautreau’s,
Patois, and
Ciro’s Coté Sud.