During our five-night visit to New Orleans in January, we managed to squeeze in a lot of different dining experiences, from a refined Sunday brunch at Brennan’s to late-night beignets at Café du Monde. One evening we even managed to get in a little wine tasting at W.I.N.O. (Wine Institute New Orleans), a high-tech wine bar featuring 120 wines dispensed via automated pouring machines. Three restaurants, all coincidentally located on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, provide you with a sense of the range of places where we enjoyed Cajun and Creole dishes for a genuine taste of New Orleans.

Tujague’s (pronounced “two jacks”) proudly proclaims itself the second-oldest restaurant in New Orleans (opened in 1856), and we stopped in for a late lunch, entering through the historic bar before making our way beyond to the dining room. The grand old cypress, stand-up bar (no stools, here) is backed by a huge antique mirror, said to have presided over a Parisian bistro for 90 years before being brought to this space when the restaurant first opened. Pictures of famous guests and news clippings about Tujague’s adorn the walls, and one certainly feels the weight of time and history here. Everyone in our group opted for the 1856 Celebration Lunch, introduced during the restaurant’s 160th anniversary year and featuring three courses: gumbo du jour or salad; the main entrée of beef brisket, seafood courtbouillon; or Miss Brenda’s red beans and rice; and Bananas Foster bread pudding for dessert — all for the reasonable price of $18.65. I opted for the red beans and rice and thoroughly enjoyed it, served with smoked sausage, while others enjoyed the much-applauded brisket. As a bonus, we were lucky to be able to meet Miss Brenda, who’s been working at Tujague’s for 45 years, and thank her for a wonderful meal.

One evening we dined at Coop’s Place, a fairly small place with its horseshoe bar dominating the center of the room and giving off a distinctly hole-in-the-wall kind of vibe. Established in 1983, it certainly hasn’t been around as long as Tujague’s, but it has a well-established following and reputation as a place for good food and somewhat snarky bartenders (although we didn’t experience that aspect ourselves from our perches at the bar). Its dark, somewhat dingy interior also contrasted with the white tablecloths and white tile floors of Tujague’s, but the food won me over instantly. I had my favorite jambalaya there, a rabbit and pork sausage recipe, while the guys ordered a very generous Taste Plate with fried chicken, gumbo, shrimp creole, red beans and rice and that wonderful jambalaya. Order the local beer (Abita) and you’ll be a happy camper.

We wandered in to Coterie one night when we didn’t have any specific destination in mind. I’m not sure how long it’s been in business, but based on the clean, minimalist, modern design scheme and roomy space, I would guess it opened sometime this decade. It promised authentic New Orleans cuisine, however, and we enjoyed good food and fine service. Our bowls of creamy, rich, corn and crab bisque took the chill off the evening and made for a great starter course. Steering away from a more traditional New Orleans dish, I thoroughly enjoyed my crab cake pasta, featuring a crawfish and andouille cream sauce over linguine and topped with the house signature crab cake (on my list of top five crab cakes).   Harry chose a unique take on a burger with the Creole burger, offering a quarter-pound beef patty layered with a quarter-pound hot sausage patty, bacon, pepperjack cheese and toppings.    He unfortunately found it a bit messy to eat and not as flavorful as he was expecting. We were both more than delighted with the beignets we chose to finish our meal. Coterie’s version was warm and light and lightly dusted with powdered sugar, quite a pleasing contrast to the more famous but also much heavier ones served up at Cafè du Monde.

It seems to me one could dine in a different restaurant every night for a year in New Orleans, but based on the small sample of places we found on just one street in the city, it would be hard not to return to some over and over again.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor