<p><strong>Creole Soul: </strong>There is fried chicken and there is fried chicken, and then there is Li'l Dizzy’s Café’s fried chicken, which is about as good as it gets. The restaurant, founded by legendary New Orleans restaurateur Wayne Bacquet, and now run by his son, Wayne, Jr., and his wife, Arkesha, is a love letter to the Tremé neighborhood and its Creole cuisine. And while the Creole gumbo and bread pudding are renowned for good reason, it is the fried chicken that brings us back again and again. </p>

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<p><strong>Vietnamese Dream Team: </strong>What began as a small family bakery is now a New Orleans institution, honored with an America’s Classics award by the James Beard Foundation. And, despite the fact that it can take as long as 30 minutes to drive to Dong Phuong from the heart of the city, hundreds of locals and tourists line up along Chef Menteur Highway every day during the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras for a chance at one (or four) of the bakery’s famous king cakes.</p><p></p><p>But Dong Phuong’s popularity isn’t predicated on those cream cheese-covered purple, green and gold king cakes alone. A lineup of traditional and creative bánh mì sandwiches, savory pies, buns, and bao all attract customers from across the city and throughout the region. For many in the know, it’s the Vietnamese meat-filled puff pastry known as pâté chaud that makes the journey a necessity.</p><p></p>

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<p><strong>Where To Eat Crawfish: </strong>It was during the pandemic, while we were longing for anything normal, that we discovered NOLA Crawfish King’s food truck in the parking lot of an abandoned building on Franklin Avenue in Gentilly, next to the Happy Discount gas station and liquor store. Seasoned cooks and caterers Chris “Shaggy” Davis and Kat Brennan were boiling, and people were coming. Long lines of masked people placed their orders and waited to receive their bags of hot crawfish and sides. It wasn’t normal. It was anything but – but it gave us hope. We would take our bounty home and eat it in the backyard on a folding table, while we drank cold beer and listened to music. It was the closest we could get. And for Chris, it was a lifeline, too.</p><p></p>

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<p><strong>Booze, Brunch, and Backroom Jazz: </strong>We all have that friend. A friend we should probably call more often. One who is always there for us, but we don’t see often enough. A friend who we can pick up where we left off with, no matter how much time has elapsed between conversations. A friend whose company always leaves you satisfied and wondering: Why didn’t we do this sooner?</p><p></p><p>Buffa’s Bar and Restaurant is that friend. An outpost in the Marigny neighborhood on Esplanade Avenue, divided from the French Quarter by a neutral ground (which is New Orleanian for “street median”).&nbsp; A few blocks away, the classic dive bar Port of Call draws tourists and locals in a line that stretches around the block for their potent drinks and hearty burgers. The French Quarter standard is always raucous, which makes the serene local vibe of Buffa’s on the other side of Esplanade seem even more improbable. </p>

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<p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/new-orleans/2022/vaucressons-sausage-company/"><strong><u>NOLA's Top Links: </u></strong></a>The blistering April – yes April – sun in New Orleans is an indicator of two things: climate change and the start of festival season. In other parts of the country, warm days and cool nights and the gradual bloom of trees and flowers define spring. But in Southeast Louisiana, spring seems to supernova into summer overnight despite what the calendar claims; nothing is subtle here. And under this hot sun, one of the stalwarts of festival season, Vaucresson’s Sausage Company, led by owner Vance Vaucresson, sells its hot sausage po’ boy to legions of adoring fans.</p><p></p><p>Vaucresson’s has been at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for fifty years and is the only original vendor still there. It is also a favorite at French Quarter Festival, where its Jackson Square booth has long lines and bags of Leidenheimer French bread piled high, the crisp yet yielding bread the perfect delivery system for the spicy sausage. On its face, it is a simple sandwich, lightly dressed with lettuce and tomatoes, with the option of hot sauce, mayo and Creole mustard. But like many things in New Orleans, its simplicity belies the rich tradition of 7th ward Creole families and their influence on the cuisine and culture of the city. And with a rebuilt brick-and-mortar about to open on the corner of N. Roman and St. Bernard Avenue, Vaucresson’s, which has been in business since 1899, is set to carry the Creole torch for another 100 years.</p><p></p>

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<p><strong>Sugar-Coated Community: </strong>In the spring of 2017, the Bywater Bakery opened its doors and became something of an “instant institution.” Part casual restaurant and part impromptu community center, the cafe space hummed with perpetual activity.</p><p></p><p>Deadline-racked freelancers posted up with their laptops, soon to be covered in butter-rich pastry flakes. Neighborhood regulars would crowd tables for a lingering lunch visit over salads or sandwiches. On many busy mornings, New Orleans jazz luminaries (the late-Henry Butler, Tom McDermott, John Boutte, Jon Cleary) might wander in to make use of the dining room’s upright piano, filing the space with impromptu performance and the occasional singalong.</p><p></p><p>Kids pressed their noses against the glass display cases to ogle towering layer cakes festooned with fancy icing, flaky coconut or a shiny layer of decadent fudge. Office folks grabbed a cup of coffee and a go-bite from a wall of sweet and savory baked goods. The daily menu offers distinctive offerings like “breakfast gumbo” (chicken and sausage gumbo ladled over grits and scrambled eggs) and classic yakamein (spicy beef noodle soup locally renowned as a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#781e2a] underline" href="https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/tbilisi/2021/maspindzelo-2/"><u>hangover cure</u></a>).</p><p></p>

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<p><strong>Strip Mall Oasis:&nbsp;</strong>Beignets &amp; More is the kind of place you want everyone to know about – and you don’t want anyone to know about. Tucked between a defunct Cineplex and an Off-Track Betting location in a strip mall in Chalmette, a downriver suburb of New Orleans, it is a family-run gem of Vietnamese cuisine.</p><p></p><p>But the name is a cloaking device of sorts: The beignets, which are made fresh daily, seem like an afterthought. Until recently, we’d never even had them. In all the years we’ve taken the short drive to this nondescript restaurant – through the Lower Ninth Ward and Arabi into Chalmette, past the drive-thru daiquiri shop (yes, in New Orleans you can purchase alcohol like it’s fast food), the Popeyes and the car wash – we have always stayed on the “More” side of the menu. And we’ve never been sure why a menu studded with pho, vermicelli bowls, banh mi and other Vietnamese delicacies is named after a French doughnut. Maybe it is the creolizing influence of the city, whose culture subsumes everything it touches. Maybe it is because Vietnam, a former French colony, is well versed in the food and pastries of its former occupier.</p><p></p>

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