Photo: rdpeyton, Flickr
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, eating in New Orleans is definitely not the same. Quite possibly, it's better. "I'd argue that our restaurants are better today than before," says Brett Anderson, restaurant critic for the city's paper, the Times Picayune. "It has a lot to do with the remarkable number and quality of new places that were unimaginable before September or October [of 2005]."
Eating in New Orleans is geographically specific like in no other American city. And where there is eating, there is passion -- passion about the food, passion about the region, and passion about the neighborhood. "We have a tradition of eating in neighborhood restaurants," notes Anderson. Willie Mae's Scotch House, famous for its fried chicken, could only exist within the fabled streets of Treme, just as the Creole stronghold Antoine's is unimaginable anywhere but among the genteel blocks of the French Quarter.
Since Hurricane Katrina, only a handful of the best neighborhood spots haven't reopened, and it seems that for every one shuttered, two or three new ones have moved in. Among those Anderson names as the best are Coquette, an Uptown wine bar and bistro; the nationally renowned pork paradise Cochon; Mahoney's, a new po' boy shop ("It's not easy to make po' boys in this town and get noticed," attests Anderson); and Boucherie, a crew of young chefs reinventing Southern food (think Krispy Kreme bread pudding). "It's also the small things," Anderson says, "now, New Orleans is a better place to get Italian. You can get really high quality meats and better sandwiches."















