It’s spring time in New Orleans and that means two things – festivals and beautiful weather. While the first is perhaps your reason for visiting New Orleans during the spring, the latter should be your reason for choosing where you eat. There are plenty of restaurants in NOLA that offer outside dining, but few that offer the right balance of delicious food, beautiful surroundings and, my favorite part, people watching.
Below are my top six go-to restaurants for outside dining. (You might be asking yourself, why six? And the answer is that I really enjoy all of these places and simply couldn’t cut one out.)
Dante's Kitchen is great for outdoor dining. (Photo Credit: danteskitchen.com)
1. Dante’s Kitchen (736 Dante Street). This is my go-to place for eating and cocktailing outside with friends. The courtyard has about five or six four-top tables completely surrounded by pots and planters of beautiful, blooming plants and flowers including a gigantic hot-pink Bougainvillea, which adds the perfect amount of vibrant color to the party. The atmosphere is relaxed and casual, as if you were enjoying a drink on the patio at your oldest friend’s house.
If that’s not enough for you, Dante’s is in my top five favorite restaurants in the city. The menu is fresh and updated seasonally, if not more often. Plus, the ingredients are, as often as possible, home grown. Their cocktails are also seasonally inspired and hand-crafted. Last Spring they had a peach mojito made with house-canned peaches from Ruston, LA. Delicious is an understatement.
2. Martinique (5908 Magazine Street). Where Dante’s is my go-to for outdoor dining with friends, Martinique is my go-to for a romantic outdoor dining experience. The courtyard at Martinique is a total escape; the four walls surrounding the courtyard are covered in luscious, green vines providing diners with an exotic getaway from the hustle and bustle of the everyday. With planters of seasonal flowers and a small, but charming, fountain in the center, the atmosphere is intimate and, with an almost overwhelming sense of calm, diners can relax and focus on the most important part of the dining experience in New Orleans: the shared company.
The Rum House on Magazine Street offers great Caribbean cuisine in the heart of New Orleans.
3. Rum House (3128 Magazine Street). The Rum House is a great spot for Al Fresco dining whether you’re in search of lunch or dinner and is a great spot for enjoying cocktails and a leisurely meal. The Caribbean inspired menu boasts a number of fruity, tasty knock-you-on-your-bottom cocktails, not to mention one of the best brisket sandwiches this brisket-aficionado has ever enjoyed. But, perhaps my favorite reason to head to The Rum House is for its prime people watching location; located on one of the busiest corners of Magazine Street in the Garden District, there is no shortage of activity, which means no shortage of entertainment. The Rum House gets packed, so I recommend coming early or late but sitting outside is a must!
4. Palace Cafe (605 Canal Street). Palace Cafe is another one of my favorite places to sit outside and enjoy some serious people watching. Located near the corner of Canal and Chartres Streets, Palace Cafe is the perfect place for watching people as they explore the city. But, Palace Cafe isn’t just good for an entertaining afternoon of people watching, it’s also a Brennan’s restaurant so the menu is top quality. I prefer to go to Palace Cafe for lunch because the atmosphere is more casual and the menu is more affordable.
The Napoleon House Courtyard. Photo from Flickr by gairid
5. Napoleon House (500 Chartres Street). Ask anyone that’s been to New Orleans and they will tell you that Napoleon House is a New Orleans staple in both cocktails and outdoor dining. Napoleon House isn’t relaxing like Dante’s or Martinique and doesn’t offer quite the same people watching as Palace Cafe or Rum House but is in a category all its own.
Napoleon House is the perfect choice for a large group of people looking to get their drink on, whether you’re a group of visitors starting off your first day in the Quarter or locals looking for a post-work happy hour. No matter what your reason for stopping by Napoleon House, make sure you grab a Muffaletta and a Pimm’s Cup. Especially the Pimm’s Cup.
6. Parkway Bakery and Tavern (538 Hagan Avenue). Parkway Bakery is absolutely my favorite place to get a po-boy in New Orleans, and, as if that weren’t enough, its location on Bayou St. John and huge outdoor dining space offer the perfect setting for a Saturday lunch with friends or family in the middle of Spring. It’s a little off the beaten path and located in Mid-City across from the old American Can Company, but the experience is well worth the cab fare.
What are your favorite places for Al Fresco dining in New Orleans?
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