GAY NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANTS

GAY NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANTS

ANGELO BROCATO'S 
214 N. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-488-1465
Traditional Sicilian fruit sherbets, ice creams, pastries, and candies are the attractions of this quaint little sweetshop that harks back to the time when the French Quarter was peopled mostly by Italian immigrants. The shop has since moved to the Mid-City area, but the cannoli and the lemon and strawberry ices haven't lost their status as local favorites.

AUGUST 
301 Tchoupitoulas St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-299-9777
If the Gilded Age is long gone, someone forgot to tell the folks at August, whose main dining room shimmers with masses of chandelier prisms, thick brocade fabrics, and glossy woods. The formalities are toned down considerably in the service, however, and chef John Besh's modern technique adorns every plate. The prime beef and lamb dishes could hardly be improved, tiny soft-shell crabs crackle with sea flavors, and lumps of back-fin crabmeat and pillows of springy gnocchi glisten in truffle oil. 

BOURBON HOUSE 
144 Bourbon St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-522-0111
Perched on one of the French Quarter's busiest corners and it's a solid hit with seafood aficionados. The raw bar features sterling oysters on the half shell, chilled seafood platters, and antique, decorative oyster plates. Glistening beneath the golden glow of bulbous hanging lamps, the main dining room is the place for digging into the Creole catalog -- stuffed crab, oysters Bienville, gulf fish amandine. Take your frozen bourbon-milk punch in a go-cup, because you can.

CAFE DU MONDE 
800 Decatur St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-525-4544
No trip to New Orleans is complete without a cup of chicory-laced café au lait and sugar-dusted beignets in this venerable Creole institution.

CLOVER GRILL  
900 Bourbon St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-598-1010
40's-style, deco diner atmosphere is a favorite among local gays seeking (greasy) diner food. It's open 24 hours Friday and Saturday.

COOKIN CAJUN CAFE 
#1 Poydras Street, Store 116 Riverwalk, New Orleans, Louisiana 
800-523-6425     504-523-6425  
lisette@cookincajun.com 
Cookin Cajun is also a restaurant everyday from noon on. Enjoy lunch with a view of the Mississippi River. Gumbo, Jambalaya and Red beans and Rice are served every day and we also have daily specials; such as Shrimp Creole, Crawfish Etouffee and many more. Beer, Wine and Cajun Bloody Marys’ are also available.

DICKIE BRENNAN'S STEAKHOUSE
716 Iberville St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-522-2467
In spaces lined with dark-cherry walls and a drugstore-tile floor, diners dig into classic, expensive cuts of top-quality beef and seafood. The standard beefsteak treatment is a light seasoning and a brush of butter. Among the several other toppers are five buttery sauces. The menu doesn't lack for typical New Orleans seafood and desserts, among them a fine shrimp rémoulade and bread pudding.

EMERIL'S 
800 Tchoupitoulas St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-528-9393
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse's big and bouncy flagship restaurant is always jammed. A wood ceiling in a basket-weave pattern muffles much of the clatter and chatter. The ambitious menu gives equal emphasis to Creole and modern American cooking -- try the barbecue shrimp here for one of the darkest, richest versions of the local specialty. Desserts, such as the renowned banana cream pie, verge on the gargantuan. Service is meticulous,

EMERIL'S DELMONICO
1300 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-525-4937
Chef Emeril Lagasse bought the traditional, unpretentious, century-old Delmonico and converted it to a large, extravagantly appointed restaurant with the most ambitious revamping of classic Creole dishes in town. The high-ceiling dining spaces are swathed in upholstered walls and superthick window fabrics. Local oyster preparations are a reliable option, as are New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp, crab cakes, and sautéed fish meunière. Prime dry-aged steaks with traditional sauces have emerged as a specialty in recent years, but the menu gets more ambitious by the month. Plush and polish are the bywords here, and the service can be exemplary.

GUMBO SHOP 
630 St. Peter St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-525-1486
Even given a few modern touches -- like the vegetarian gumbo offered daily -- this place evokes a sense of old New Orleans. The menu is chock-full of relics: jambalaya, shrimp Creole and rémoulade, red beans, bread pudding, and seafood and chicken-and-sausage gumbos heavily flavored with tradition but light on your wallet. The patina on the ancient painting covering one wall seems to deepen by the week, and the red-and-white-check tablecloths and bentwood chairs are taking on the aspect of museum pieces.

K-PAUL'S LOUISIANA KITCHEN 
416 Chartres St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-524-7394
In this comfortable French Quarter café of glossy wooden floors and exposed brick, chef Paul Prudhomme started the blackening craze and added "Cajun" to America's culinary vocabulary. Two decades later, thousands still consider a visit to New Orleans partly wasted without a visit to K-Paul's for his inventive gumbos, fried crawfish tails, blackened tuna, roast duck with rice dressing, and sweet potato-pecan pie.

MURIEL'S JACKSON SQUARE 
801 Chartres St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-568-1885
In the large downstairs rooms, quaint prints and architectural relics evoke the city's colorful past, while diners in comfortable chairs indulge in hearty updated renderings of old Creole favorites. Chef Erik Veney wins tummies over with such combinations as seared foie gras and caramelized apples, and crepes of crawfish and goat cheese. Other dishes stick closer to local tradition, employing sweet potatoes, pecans, Creole tomatoes, mirlitons (a species of delicately flavored squash), and Gulf fish. Muriel's boasts one of the best dining balconies in the city, with a panoramic view of Jackson Square.

NOLA 
534 St. Louis St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-522-6652
Be warned, a few bites of the buttermilk fried chicken with bourbon mashed sweet potatoes and you may just start looking for property here. Leave room in your tummy, and heart, for the white-chocolate bananas-Foster bread pudding. The space is arty and bright.

PRALINE CONNECTION 
542 Frenchmen St., New Orleans, Louisiana
504-943-3934 
Offers "Creole with soul" -- down-home southern cuisine in a low-key atmosphere.

RIB ROOM 
621 St. Louis Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 
504-529-5333
Winner of the prestigious Zagat Award, the Rib Room serves prime rib, beef specialties, fowl and seafood prepared on giant French rotisseries and mesquite grills. 
Fine menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner are available for you to review. Also offered are special menus for Sunday Champagne Jazz Brunch featuring "Sugar Bear and the Jazz Cats", kids and for low cholesterol or vegetarian dining.