Louisiana is proud of its heritage. This covers the music, customs, and different food that have evolved in our great state. The southern half of the boot is defined by the French solid and Cajun traditions passed down from the Acadians and African customs and cuisines.
These factors have combined to create an array of world-class restaurants that anyone in Louisiana can experience. Eateries are dishing up some of the best delectable meals in the region, regardless of where you go. The following are the top ten restaurants in Louisiana that you should visit.
1. Café Du Monde, New Orleans, LA
The first Café Du Monde Coffee Stand opened in New Orleans’ famous French Market in 1862. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except Christmas Day and the occasional hurricane.
The café serves dark roasted coffee with chicory, beignets, white and chocolate milk, and fresh-squeezed orange juice, among other things. They didn’t add iced coffee and Coke to the menu until 1988!
The outside patio area, which flows out towards the edge of the French Quarter across from Jackson Square, is packed with locals and tourists alike. You can have your coffee black or au lait, a half-and-half coffee, and a hot milk mixture.
Alternatively, while viewing a horse and carriage stroll down Decatur Street in downtown New Orleans, sip iced coffee and eat French-style beignets. Café Du Monde is a New Orleans institution, perfect for a morning breakfast or a late-night snack. This is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana.
2. Cajun Claws Seafood Boilers, Duson, Breaux Bridge, LA
Crawfish are regarded as a seasonal delicacy in Louisiana. For years, these mudbugs have been seasoned and cooked, and Cajun Claws is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana and is located in the heart of the crawfish country, where they know how to do it best.
They make their seasonings and only utilize graded crawfish, which means they receive the state’s most prominent and greatest crawfish, hand-selecting the best from local crawfish farms. When the crabs are in season, they boil Dungeness crab, blue crab, king crab, blue point crab, and barbecued crab.
There are funnel cake fries, gator nibbles on the menu, fried baskets, and po’boys for those who don’t want boiling seafood. On Saturdays, live music is performed from 6 to 9 p.m., making Cajun Claws the ideal spot to gather with friends, order a bucket of ice-cold beers, and dig into some boiled seafood while listening to live music.
3. Cascio’s Market Bistro, Bossier City, LA
Cascio’s Market Bistro is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana and is located just off Shed Road. It is a charming little restaurant with the most fantastic pizza in Louisiana, specialty panini sandwiches, and its market.
The Cascio family arrived in northeast Louisiana from Italy in 1918, where they continued to perfect the sausage recipe handed down to them solely to cook it during family holidays.
The current recipe was not weighed and handed down until the 1950s. Homemade Italian sausage, Boar’s Head meats, steaks, and other Cajun specialties may be found at the market.
Daily lunch specials include hamburger steak, chicken spaghetti, red beans, and rice. They’re particularly proud of their Pizzaletta, which blends a double-layer pizza dough, crushed red pepper, and mozzarella cheese with a typical muffuletta!
4. The Chimes, Baton Rouge, LA
The Chimes is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana, located just outside Louisiana State University’s North Gates, and offers a lively setting with delicious cuisine, good people, and good times.
This iconic Baton Rouge hangout serves classic Louisiana meals, typical bar food, and local specialties, making it a memorable stop for any tourist. There are 80 beers on tap and over a hundred in the bottle for those of legal drinking age.
There is also a selection of delectable delicacies like Louisiana alligator, which can be sautéed or blackened. The crab cake sandwich and famous red beans and rice are two other highlights.
On a Saturday in the fall, you might be swept up in the nationally renowned LSU football tailgating, which takes over the entire university and flows into the Chimes for the most refined party in town.
5. Gino’s Restaurant, Baton Rouge, LA
Good Italian food is one of the most soothing cuisines to share with friends and family. The table is set, the band is ready, and the cuisine has been prepared for decades at Gino’s in the state capital city.
Since the Marino family opened the restaurant in 1966, traditional southern Italian cuisine in a Mediterranean manner has been provided. The restaurant is still 100% family-owned and runs today.
The dining space epitomizes romance, with candlelight, a well-dressed serving staff, and a bar perfect for a classy drink or a nice bottle of wine. On Thursdays, they have Jazz Night, where local jazz musicians perform for your delight, and the piano is still wailing in the bar area on weekends.
They have over 300 wines on hand and are most renowned for their arancini (try the seafood one!) and Laurence Bread, which pair nicely with Gino’s Italian Salad.
Gino’s Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana. A Baton Rouge fine-dining institution is a terrific place to spend time with family, friends, music, and delectable southern Italian cuisine.
6. Galatoire’s New Orleans, LA
Jean Galatoire, the sixth-generation restaurant owner, opened his doors on the same iconic site in 1905. Galatoire, a native of Pardies, France, yearned to infuse the restaurant’s menu and decor with his childhood memories.
The family-owned business has adopted new menu items and expanded to additional sites around Louisiana during its decades as a part of the New Orleans fine dining community.
Galatoire’s is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana. The epitome of elegance, serving the classic black drum and redfish meals with a menu of optional garnishes ranging from jumbo lump crabmeat to meunière sauce and lemon caper beurre blanc.
Lamb chops and various delectable shellfish dishes are sizzled to perfection, including their bouillabaisse and shrimp creole. Galatoire’s, located in the center of the historic French Quarter, is a must-visit fine dining establishment in New Orleans.
7. The French Press, Lafayette, LA
This casual restaurant in Lafayette provides a different eating experience. Chef Girouard, a James Beard nominee, incorporates Cajun, Italian, and French heritage elements into classic and innovative dishes.
From their brunch and lunch menus throughout the day to their OK dining menu at night, they use local, fresh ingredients in every dish.
With brunch offerings like the Cajun benedict, which comprises toasted French bread, Hebert’s boudin, two medium poached eggs topped with chicken and andouille gumbo, and fresh scallions, this restaurant has a reputation for deliciousness.
They serve a selection of unusual fish dishes by night like seared snapper and rarer dishes like grilled Colorado racks of lamb. This award-winning restaurant, located in downtown Lafayette in Cajun country, is sure to tantalize the senses. This is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana.
8. Frank’s Pizza Napoletana, Shreveport, LA
Though Louisiana is famed for its seafood, Frank’s in Shreveport is the only pizza Napoletana restaurant in the region (pizza made in the old-world style of Naples, Italy).
They prepare their dough daily using Caputo “OO” flour, fresh yeast, and sea salt in a Stefano Ferraro wood-fired oven that reaches 850 degrees. However, they create their mozzarella, sauce from crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and Italian pork sausage daily!
They change their menu periodically, adding fresh basil and strawberry Insalata in the summer. Frank’s also served Louisiana charbroiled oysters as a sumptuous appetizer for visitors to share and enjoy, keeping with Louisiana customs.
Freshness and pride in their work characterize this casual-upscale dining experience. This is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana.
9. Lea’s Lunchroom, Lecompte, LA
This historic Louisiana restaurant, which opened in 1928, doesn’t have an extensive menu and never has. In the late Roaring Twenties, Lea Johnson opened a little highway restaurant that only served ham sandwiches, a special-of-the-day plate lunch, Louisiana coffee, and baked pies.
When asked why, Johnson stated that they were a waste of time and that if the food were good, customers would return. The menu has remained almost unchanged, except for the specialty-of-the-day plate lunch, which includes three different types of meat and a range of locally grown veggies and sides.
Johnson claimed to have perfected his ham sandwich by utilizing a blend of sliced, home-baked, and ground ham. You can’t leave Lea’s Lunchroom without trying one of their world-famous pies, which are said to have been handed down from Lea’s wife, Miss Georgia, and her family.
This ageless restaurant is a Louisiana heritage and an authentic diner in every word’s meaning. This is also one of the best restaurants in Louisiana.
10. Luna Bar & Grill, Lake Charles, LA
Lake Charles is one of the best restaurants in Louisiana and located on the Louisiana/Texas border and is the epicenter of Cajun culture. This has resulted in a large following of people from all walks of life who come out day in and day out to enjoy the cuisine and musical performances at Luna Bar & Grill.
Chef Dave Evans has been cooking since he was 13 years old and regarded himself as a life student. Every item on the menu and every note performed by the universal musicians who stop in to play at this locally famous venue exemplify this flavor.
They have everything, from a redfish apollo topped with crabmeat, au Gratin sauce, fried shrimp, and sliced avocado to your standard burger with cosmic crab dip.
