Whether the competition is for the next big chef, hottest restaurant or heaviest citizens, New Orleans is a top contender. That means other people are talking about the city’s food as well. From the Food and Wine’s Best New Chefs to reader polls in other gourmet magazines, New Orleans makes news. But beyond the hype lies the simple truth that just the food is worth the trip.

In a sense, eating well is a relatively new concept in the United States. Until the 1970s, the trend in America was towards processed foods. Frozen dinners, cans of soup and squares of jello were taking over the home while fast food was all over the roads, literally. One of the most influential people in giving diners a fresh option was Chef Paul Prudhomme.

Prudhomme learned to cook at home in Opelousas, Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun country. His mother showed him how to start from scratch and cook for his entire family. There was nothing fancy about it, as the best produce from his family’s farm went to market. Prudhomme threw everything into a large pot and stretched what he had to feed everyone. But he learned to get the most flavor out of his ingredients and he developed a love of cooking.

He made his name at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans but he also began to leave left his mark on American cooking. In the early 70s, even fine restaurants were using frozen fish. Prudhomme started to change that. He reinvigorated Commander’s French-Creole cooking and was well on his way to becoming the first celebrity chef. At the time, fine restaurants across the country were dominated by European chefs. Their menus were written exclusively in French.

Prudhomme left to start his own restaurant, K-Paul’s, with his wife. He became famous for blackening redfish. The dish became so famous that the Gulf was almost emptied of the species and it had to be protected by law. Now restaurants use a lot of farm raised redfish or other Gulf fish in the same family. As the dish became popular across the nation, Prudhomme was saddled with several misconceptions he has since labored to rectify. “Most people were saying ‘blackened’ but they were just burning it,” he says.

Prudhomme started opening his own restaurants across the country to set the record straight. As his fame grew so did the popularity of Cajun culture, but Prudhomme and Cajun cooking became misunderstood anyway. While he called himself a Cajun, Prudhomme called his food South Louisiana cooking, meaning it incorporated Creole cuisine as well. While it was bold, flavorful and spicy by comparison to most other American regional cooking, “Cajun” became a synonym for raging heat. He hasn’t been able to turn the tide as national advertising has seized upon the term.

As his combination of New Orleans Creole cooking and his Cajun background gained in popularity elsewhere, American cooking was essentially reborn. Fine restaurants opened specifically to cook American regional dishes. Southwestern cooking enjoyed a wave of popularity. Later Fusion cooking muddled boundaries. But a whole generation of American chefs were free to replace French dishes with their own creations. Menus in fine restaurants were written in English. By the ’90s, a trained, professional chef who had never apprenticed in a European kitchen could open a restaurant in just about any decent-sized American town and make it. The path was clear for chef Emeril Lagasse, who had replaced Prudhomme at Commander’s Palace before opening his own restaurants, to go on television and get a studio audience to hoot and holler as he threw garlic into a dish. Cooking with fresh ingredients wasn’t a new idea, but it actually had to be rescued by American chefs like Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters. The concept was rpopularized under the term California Cuisine.

New Orleans is now full of celebrity chefs and budding talents. Locals like chef Susan Spicer have multiple restaurants just like Emeril. After making her name at Bayona, she added Herbsaint and Cobalt in recent years. The men who trained in Prudhomme’s kitchen have opened their own award-winning restaurants. Frank Brigtsen opened Brigtsen’s, Greg Sonnier opened Gabrielle, Paul Miller is in charge of Prudhomme’s K-Paul’s and Randy Barlow opened several acclaimed places before moving on to a consulting role. Other recently recognized chefs include John Harris at Lilette, John Besh at Restaurant August and Anne Kearney-Sand at Peristyle.

Famous restaurants are everywhere. Among the best known names in the restaurant business is that of the Brennans. Different branches of the family run different restaurants, including Brennan’s and Mr. B’s in the French Quarter and Commander’s Palace in the Garden District. Dickie Brennan, Jr. presides over Palace Café on Canal Street as well as the two newest restaurants, Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse and the recently opened Bourbon House on Bourbon Street. Ralph Brennan runs Bacco’s in the French Quarter as well as Redfish Grill.

Famous restaurants are nothing new in New Orleans. Perhaps the most famous restaurant in the city is Antoine’s Restaurant, opened in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore. It is the second oldest continually operating restaurant in the country. The fifth generation of his family now runs the massive and exceptionally traditional establishment. With seventeen dining rooms, it occupies most of the block. Famous dishes invented in its kitchen include Oysters Rockefeller and Pompano en Papillote. Tujague’s is also more than a century old and maintains a traditional Creole style of serving a multi-course, prix fixe dinner with several entrée selections. Arnaud’s is the third most senior restaurant. “Count” Arnaud opened it in 1918 and launched its signature Shrimp Remoulade with his own spicy sauce.

While fine cooking is nothing new in New Orleans, Creole cooking is not just for professional chefs. Home cooking shares many of the recipes. Plenty of locals will put their gumbo up against any chef’s. Comfort food in the city comes from old French and Spanish dishes that are everywhere. Jambalaya is like a Creole paella, though usually made with sausage and chicken instead of seafood. Crawfish etouffee sounds fancy, and can be, but is crawfish tails smothered in a rich dark sauce and served over rice.

Even everyday staples have gained a reputation. Po boy sandwiches stuffed with fried shrimp or oysters are everywhere in the city. Beignets are just donuts with powdered sugar. The locals don’t even put holes in them and yet they’ve got a certain caché. Even stuff that goes uncooked, like raw oysters, draw foodies from far away.

This also makes the dining scene in New Orleans a great place to taste the city’s history. It’s based on the combined techniques of the early colonial mix of European, African and Native American residents of Louisiana. Even Cajun cooking, which was once distinct, has traded recipes and ideas with Creole cooking to the point where many chefs speak about the region’s cuisine as that of South Louisiana, rather than Cajun or Creole. Later, Creole cooking incorporated influences from other migrations as well including Italian and Sicilians throughout the 19th century and up to the most recent influx of Asian culture and cuisine.

In New Orleans, everyone has their own version of Creole cooking. It can be high or low brow, so you’ll find sublime gumbos both in fine restaurants and in greasy spoons. Some Creole cooking follows the European vein with more cream sauces and pretty presentations. Others follow the African-American vein using more tomatoes and brown gravies. But both embrace the city’s unpretentious love of food.

Brennan’s Restaurant (417 Royal St., 504-525-9711) is one of the city’s legendary Creole restaurants and is the creator of such signature New Orleans dishes as Bananas Foster. Located in the heart of the French Quarter it is a longtime favorite for its extravagant “Breakfast at Brennan’s.” But no matter when one goes, there are Creole classics on the menu like their oyster soup, New Orleans-style turtle soup and seafood gumbo. For entrees, they offer Trout Amandine, Shrimp Creole and several different redfish dishes, many enhanced by succulent mounds of crabmeat, like the Redfish Perez.

Down Royal Street, the Court of Two Sisters (613 Royal St., 504-522-7261) is a slightly more senior Creole establishment named for the founders Emma and Bertha Camors. The Court offers a buffet style brunch everyday. Everything on the extensive spread is homemade, from the biscuits to the ice cream and omelets, and Eggs Benedict are made to order. In the evenings, the dining rooms offer a la carte dining from a menu of traditional Creole dishes from baked oyster dishes, such as Rockefeller or Bienville, Trout Meuniere, their version of Pompano en Papillote (pompano cooked in parchment paper) and veal and beef dishes.

Also in the Quarter, Broussard’s (812 Conti St., 504-581-3866) offers a more contemporary touch on Creole. Local staples like chicken and andouille gumbo, crabmeat or crawfish cakes and shrimp remoulade are offered as starters. For entrees the Louisiana Bouillabaisse with Gulf fish and shellfish is their twist on a traditional Creole dish often called Court Bouillon. The rest of the menu incorporates local ingredients in more continental dishes. And as a sort of wild card, chef/proprietor Gunther Preuss prepares a Hunter’s Game Grill in his native German style.

Creative Creole cuisine is the driving force behind Palace Cafe (605 Canal St., 504-523-1661). Crabmeat cheesecake leads the way for Chef Gus Martin’s innovations. Some dishes have lightened up the Creole tradition, like the Gulf fish served with a court bouillon sauce, which is more like a broth.

For Creole cooking with a heavy dose of character there’s Jacques Imo’s (8324 Oak St., 504-861-0886) in Uptown. The menu runs from Creole soul food like their fried chicken done to order to the more creative dishes like shrimp and andouille cheesecake or the gumbo served in a hollowed out loaf of bread. The entrees include blackened redfish the way Paul Prudhomme did it and more rustic dishes like paneed rabbit. The neighborhood restaurant has an earthy, casual charm and almost diner-style approach of letting guests choose sides like corn maque choux or greens with alligator sausage to accompany the entrees of creative Creole cuisine.

But New Orleans is by no means limited to Creole restaurants. Bacco’s (310 Chartres St., 504-522-2426) approaches Italian cuisine with the same zest. They make their own flat pastas but they import all of their cured meats from Italy. They offer Italian specialties like beef carpaccio, raw, paper thin beef served with a kiss of truffle oil and shaved parmesan. And they offer some Creole specials as well.

Keeping with the city’s Spanish heritage. RioMar (800 South Peters St., 504-525-3474) focuses on Spanish and Latin American dishes. Their Zarzuela de Mariscos is a seafood stew in a tomato saffron broth that shouldn’t look unfamiliar at all to local diners. But many dishes are more uncommon in New Orleans, like their selection of ceviches, fish and shellfish cooked only by the juices of a citrus marinade. There is also a garlic soup, a salted white fish called Bacalao and some richly sweet Latin American desserts.

When it’s all said and done, New Orleans is a city in love with its traditions. Like red beans and rice. So to check out the more home style cooking of Creole soul food, there’s the Praline Connection (542 Frenchmen St., 504-943-3934). They start with a base of beans or greens and build up with everything from chicken fried to order, to turkey necks, to smothered pork chops. They also serve two gumbos, crawfish etouffee and stuffed crabs. And to top it off, they serve their own pralines, the super sweet sugar treats made with pecans instead of the French recipe’s favored almonds. Like every dish that emigrated to the city, it’s got a unique local flavor.

Samurai (239 Decatur St., 504-525-9595) One of the city’s more senior sushi spots is run by Atsushi and Shinobu Morishita. Atsushi learned his sushi cutting skills in Japan and keeps it simple by following the two main rules: use the freshest fish and the sharpest knife. Samurai has a small dining room and sushi bar. Sushi and sashimi, or slices of fish not mounted on vinegar rice, are the mainstays. For the rolls favored by American diners, he has a special Crunchy Dynamite Roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll. For desserts, Atsushi gets creative with banana and pineapple tempura.

Rock ‘N Sake (823 Fulton St., 504-581-7253) Nestled in the Warehouse District near the Convention Center, Rock ‘N Sake combines a sleek bistro look with Asian elements. The music and décor are much more rock ‘n roll than tuna roll but the menu sticks to Japanese cuisine. The long sushi bar can accommodate many diners. From the kitchen there are dishes of tempura fried vegetables and shrimp, noodle soups like udon, with thick noodles, and there are meat dishes like chicken teriyaki.

Wasabi (900 Frenchmen St., 504-943-9433) The growing scene of clubs and restaurants along Frenchmen Street finally has its sushi restaurant. Named for the green horseradish served with sushi, Wasabi occupies an unassuming corner spot. The bar has a neighborhood feel but runs somewhat seemlessly into the sushi bar in the dining room. Chef Phat Nguy offers standard and creative sushi pieces and rolls. The Frenchmen Roll bundles eel, salmon and vegetables. The kitchen offers everything from meat dumplings like shumai and gyoza to ginger ice cream for dessert.

Sake Café (2830 Magazine St., 504-894-0033) Just on the edge of the Garden District, Sake Café joins the uptown sushi scene. While considerably more spacious than most restaurants you’ll find in Japan, Sake Café is very traditional in the attention to detail and the array of specialized and stylized plates that arrive with sushi and appetizers. Both the sushi and cooked-item menus offer extensive choices. Some of the fancier options include tempura fried lobster tails.

Spicer’s popularity came about the old fashioned way: from her restaurant Bayona, occupying an old Creole cottage on Dauphine Street in the French Quarter. Spicer is finally breaking into the media, though. She just signed on to do a cookbook.

“It’s on the front burner now. I’m compiling list of recipes and things,” she says. “I know from teaching cooking classes what people are interested in. But it also has to be pretty. It’s gonna be for the home cook.”

Since opening Bayona in 1990, Spicer has been one of the restaurant scene’s brightest and friendliest faces. She speaks modestly about her food and keeps her hair back with a signature red or purple bandana, a holdover from her hippie days of trekking to pop festivals. But Bayona is marked more by its elegance and has consistently ranked as one of the city’s top restaurants, as well as one of its most beloved. In 1993, the James Beard Foundation named Spicer the top chef in the Southeastern United States. The Beard Foundation awards are the Oscars of cooking.

Bayona is where Spicer’s style came together. She’s translating some of that style into her book. She describes it as being ingredient-driven, using solid technique and mixing tastes and textures in a dish. Her menus mix everything from Creole dishes to Indian and Thai curries, though not within a dish. She’s no fusionist. But putting together a global menu even sounds easy when she talks about her approach. “For me it’s just matching one from column A and one from column B,” she says. “Today, I bought redfish and Copper River salmon, hangar steak and I have some chicken. Then I look at what sauces and sauce bases I have on hand. Then the produce. We have baby artichokes and some tomatillos I got at the market.

“I say, so these are the things we have to use, and, well, I can use the blackberries and blueberries with the chicken and just do a little pan sauce. Why don’t we use the artichokes and chanterelle mushrooms with a nice little snapper. It’s just matching things.”

Breaking down the approach is what her book will try to do. “[It's] how to have a certain amount of spontaneity at home. Buy a piece of chicken or fish and bring it home and see what you have on hand and what you can do with it.”

Though she established herself very quickly, she didn’t get an early start. At the end of high school, Spicer thought about going to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, but her father refused to pay for it. Since she had done well in school, he was hoping she’d enter a field like engineering. Instead, she spent time traveling and trying different things. She tried working as a secretary, working for a printing company and cocktail waitressing.

Then a friend convinced her to go work in a fine dining kitchen. In the late 1970s, it was very uncommon to see women working in such kitchens above the rank of prep cook. Spicer had always liked cooking and was ready to try it seriously. In Chef Daniel Bonnot, she found a mentor. In the kitchen of Louis XVI in the French Quarter, she soaked up everything about cooking and food. Soon she took off to Paris to work for Chef Roland Durand in the Hotel Sofitel. When Spicer returned to New Orleans, Bonnot put her in charge of a new restaurant, Savoir Faire. The position was intimidating at first. As resumes came in, Spicer knew she was hiring chefs with more formal training and more experience. But that worked in her favor. “I came to a realization after a year,” she says. “I discovered that my standards, what I was willing to aim for and adhere to, seemed to be higher than what those people were willing to do. It was kind of a turning point for me. I realized I was more of a perfectionist. I had the maturity. My work ethic was pretty well developed.”

Spicer worked at Savoir Faire and traveled to California and France again to learn more. Eventually she opened another new restaurant and became one of several chefs who launched their solo careers at the Bistro at the Maison Deville. With its small kitchen and intimate dining room, it’s a natural showcase for whomever is in charge. While there, Spicer met a regular customer who convinced her they should open a restaurant together. They opened Bayona in 1990 and turned a profit just six months later.

While her early focus was simply Bayona, Spicer has expanded her reach and notoriety. She was one of the early enlistees in the Superbowl weekend’s Taste of the NFL. Spicer has been New Orleans’ sole envoy to the annual party and fundraiser. In recent years, she started Wild Flour Breads, a baking company that provides many of the city’s top restaurants with different varieties of bread. In 2000, she launched a new restaurant, Herbsaint, downtown on St. Charles Ave. She’s a partner in the restaurant and chef Donald Link oversees the menu of Louisiana-French cooking. Spicer has also served as a consultant for newer restaurants, as well.

As her notoriety and that of the profession has increased, opportunity is knocking often. In November, she will be a guest chef at a major Tokyo hotel in a series presenting top women chefs.

“Travel is one of the new perks,” she says. “That’s one of my big loves.”

Bourbon House (144 Bourbon St., 504-522-0111)
Situated on Bourbon Street at the beginning of the strip, Bourbon House has a bar and oyster bar with huge picture windows looking out on the party outside. Bourbon House is equipped with the city’s best selection of Bourbons, including small batches and aged bourbons like Basil Hayden’s, Knob Creek, Woodford Reserve, Buffalo Trace and many more. Seating in the bar area is café style and more relaxed than the dining rooms. The menu features classic New Orleans dishes and contemporary twists by chef Jared Tees.

House of Blues (225 Decatur St., 504-529-BLUE)
The House of Blues décor is a shrine to the blues with a back roads, juke joint feel. The menu heavily favors Southern cooking and New Orleans dishes like crawfish cakes, chicken and andouille gumbo, jambalaya, etouffée and po’ boys with fried seafood. Southern dishes include slow smoked baby back ribs, blues burgers, tuna steaks and brick oven pizzas. The desserts are super sweet and include white chocolate banana bread pudding and pecan pie.

Snug Harbor (626 Frenchmen St., 504-949-0696)
The premier club in the city for modern jazz is Snug Harbor located in a strip of funky bars and clubs in the Marigny. So it’s easy to overlook that the full name is actually Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro. The restaurant serves New Orleans seafood dishes and steaks. Snug also has an active bar scene and music is generally piped in from the club room to the bar and front of the restaurant. It’s open late with the second show starting at 11pm nightly.

Crescent City Brewhouse (527 Decatur St., 504-522-0571)
The Brewhouse is a good place to start by cooling off with a homemade beer. Bavarian brewmaster Wulfram Koehler brews a pilsner, an ale, a dark beer and other seasonal beers. The menu features an eclectic selection of New Orleans and creative dishes. There is everything from Mississippi quail to lamb chops and Gulf fish. There’s also an oyster bar and live jazz trios entertain in the bar area.

The New Orleans Grill at the Windsor Court – 300 Gravier St., 504-522-1992
The Grill Room underwent a major renovation and is now the New Orleans Grill, run by Chef Jonathan Wright, one of England’s premier modern French chefs. He is joined by one of the nation’s top pastry chefs, Keegan Gerhard, a veteran of several Four Seasons hotels and Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.

Café Adelaide and the Swizzle Stick Bar – 300 Poydras St., 504-595-3305
The Brennans are New Orleans’ first family of restaurants and the Loews Hotel contacted them about opening a restaurant in their new downtown property, just opened in late December. Named for Adelaide Brennan, the restaurant features innovative Creole cooking by chef Kevin Vizard. The menu combines sophisticated touches with classic New Orleans favorites.

Emeril’s Restaurant 800 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-528-9393
Superstar chef Emeril Lagasse was one of the first locals to open a restaurant in the Warehouse District before the revitalization took steam. But his namesake restaurant made an immediate splash in 1990 and launched a series of restaurants. The original Emeril’s now has his dream kitchen and an award-winning wine list. The menu features his “New New Orleans” cooking, with takes on New Orleans standards like barbecue shrimp as well as his bold-flavored contemporary cooking.

Herbsaint – 701 St. Charles Ave., 504-524-4114
Herbsaint is a fairly recent addition to the Warehouse District. Partner and chef Susan Spicer helped open the restaurant, named for a local licorice flavored liqueur. But now chef Donald Link is running the kitchen on his own and improvising with the best local seafood and fish he has flown in from the West Coast. A native of Lake Charles, La., he keeps a spicy gumbo on the menu, but incorporates all sorts of dishes into his repertoire.

La Cote Brasserie – 700 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-613-2350
Seafood is the focus of La Cote Brasserie. Certified French Master Chef Rene Bajeux, the executive chef at the Windsor Court before he left to open his namesake Rene Bistrot, opened his second New Orleans restaurant this past fall in the Renaissance Arts Hotel. The restaurant features a long snake like bar he designed himself. The menu features a wide selection of seafood dishes and chilled raw seafood, including several different types of oysters.

Besh Steakhouse at Harrah’s – Bottom of Canal St., 504-533-6000
One of America’s rising star chefs, John Besh graced the cover of Food & Wine magazine in 1998 as one of the nation’s top new chefs. He’s made a splash locally at Restaurant August and now has a second restaurant in the form of a steakhouse at the Harrah’s New Orleans Casino. It features exquisite steak dishes and fresh local seafood.

New Orleans is the capitol of celebrity chefdom. Emeril Lagasse turned a new page on the profession in jumping from his immensely popular live-audience cooking show to darling of the national media. Emeril became a regular on Good Morning America, he graced the cover of People Magazine and took a celebrity turn for charity on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He even climbed the food chain a step higher to his own sitcom on NBC last fall. While he may have been a fish out of water in the comedy department, his celebrity has not suffered.

Emeril started at the bottom of the food chain before there were celebrity chefs. A native of Fall River, Massachussetts, he attended cooking school at Johnson and Wales. After a few stints in the northeast, he was selected to take over the kitchen at New Orleans’ Commander’s Palace. After building a considerable name and reputation, Emeril went out on his own and launched his namesake restaurant, Emeril’s, in the Warehouse District in 1990. His second restaurant, NOLA, soon followed.

His next kitchen was in front of a camera. Emeril started his series The Essence of Emeril to bring his bold “New New Orleans” cooking to television. Then he graduated to Emeril Live with a live audience, a house band and celebrities dropping by to help him cook. To spice up the presentation he started yelling “Bam” as he hit food with his seasonings. Soon audiences hooted and hollered when he added chopped garlic to a dish. His empire expanded with a new restaurant in New Orleans, Emeril’s Delmonico, as well as restaurants in Orlando and Las Vegas. An Atlanta restaurant will open this year. On the side, Emeril has sold two million cookbooks and counting.

As a celebrity chef, Emeril has a local to thank. In fact, it was his predecessor at Commander’s Palace, Paul Prudhomme. While Prudhomme is perhaps the most popularly misunderstood chef in America, he is the father of American regional cooking. When he brought his South Louisiana cooking across the country, he legitimized the concept of an American chef. Before that, fine restaurants almost exclusively cooked French food and wrote their menus in French.

A native of Opelousas, Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun country, Prudhomme learned to cook at home. While helping his mother feed his 12 brothers and sisters, he developed a love of cooking and took it as a profession. His mastery of New Orleans’ Creole cooking landed him at Commander’s Palace. He also preceeded Emeril in taking that notoriety and launching his own restaurant.

At K-Paul’s, Prudhomme popularized his most famous creation, Blackened Redfish. The dish became so popular the Gulf was almost emptied of the species. But not everyone was doing it right. “Most people were saying ‘blackened’ but they were just burning it,” he says.

Prudhomme started opening his own restaurants across the country to set the record straight. As his fame grew so did the popularity of Cajun culture. Since then he has tried to make a few things clear. His cooking is not Cajun but a mix of South Louisiana cuisines. And more importantly, Cajun does not mean raging heat any more than Emeril’s “Bam” does. The cuisine favors bold flavors but pepper is just one part of that.

Prudhomme was followed by a wave of American chefs who were free to cook American dishes. Or just their own creations. Fine American restaurants finaly wrote their menus in English.

New Orleans is now full of celebrity chefs and budding talents. Locals like chef Susan Spicer have multiple restaurants just like Emeril. After making her name at Bayona, she added Herbsaint and Cobalt in recent years. The men who trained in Prudhomme’s kitchen have opened their own award-winning restaurants. Frank Brigtsen opened Brigtsen’s, Greg Sonnier opened Gabrielle, Paul Miller is in charge of Prudhomme’s K-Paul’s and Randy Barlow opened several acclaimed places before moving on to a consulting role. Other recently recognized chefs include John Harris at Lilette, John Besh at Restaurant August and Anne Kearney-Sand at Peristyle.

Famous restaurants are everywhere. Among the best known names in the restaurant business is that of the Brennans. Different branches of the family run different restaurants, including Brennan’s and Mr. B’s in the French Quarter and Commander’s Palace in the Garden District. Dickie Brennan, Jr. presides over Palace Café on Canal Street as well as the two newest restaurants, Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse and the recently opened Bourbon House on Bourbon Street. Ralph Brennan runs Bacco’s in the French Quarter as well as Redfish Grill.

Famous restaurants are nothing new in New Orleans. Perhaps the most famous restaurant in the city is Antoine’s Restaurant, opened in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore. It is the second oldest continually operating restaurant in the country. The fifth generation of his family now runs the massive and exceptionally traditional establishment. With seventeen dining rooms, it occupies most of the block. Famous dishes invented in its kitchen include Oysters Rockefeller and Pompano en Papillote. Tujague’s is also more than a century old and maintains a traditional Creole style of serving a multi-course, prix fixe dinner with several entrée selections. Arnaud’s is the third most senior restaurant. “Count” Arnaud opened it in 1918 and launched its signature spicy Shrimp Remoulade.

While fine cooking is nothing new in New Orleans, Creole cooking is not just for professional chefs. Home cooking shares many of the recipes. Plenty of locals will put their gumbo up against any chef’s. Comfort food in the city comes from old French, Spanish and African dishes that are everywhere. Jambalaya is like a Creole paella, though usually made with sausage and chicken instead of seafood. Crawfish etouffee sounds fancy, and can be, but is crawfish tails smothered in a rich dark sauce and served over rice.

Even everyday staples have gained a reputation. Po boy sandwiches stuffed with fried shrimp or oysters are everywhere in the city. Beignets are just donuts with powdered sugar. The locals don’t even put holes in them and yet they’ve got a certain caché. Even stuff that goes uncooked, like raw oysters, draw foodies from far away.

Cooking in New Orleans is dominated by two words: Cajun and Creole. Creole cooking is much more common in New Orleans than Cajun but the distinctions have been fading away. Both are French derived and have evolved to fame on their own. While chefs or diners may have pronounced preferences for one camp or the other, the truth is that neighbors share recipes. Both Creole and Cajun cooking have similar gumbos, etouffees, jambalaya and other dishes but there are distinctions between the two.

Creole means many things in New Orleans but in terms of food it refers to the combination of culinary traditions from the original European colonists and African slaves. Essentially, they created Creole food when they applied their old techniques to the food available in Louisiana. Creole food was also influenced by Native Americans who showed the Europeans how to use new ingredients.

Creole food follows the same ideas whether it is a fancy or simple version. Cooks layer flavors in recipes. Fish and meat are accompanied by sauces. Some classic Creole dishes include Court Bouillon, a sort of Bouillabaisse with tomatoes, or Oysters Rockefeller which bakes the oysters with a pureed spinach and herb top. Trout Meuniere features a brown butter sauce and Amandine adds almonds.

Both the city’s European Creoles and African American Creoles cook Creole food. The African American Creoles favor heavier use of tomatoes and more brown gravies than the European Creoles. They favor more cream and butter. Soul food also comes under the umbrella of Creole food. Creole soul food is spicier than Southern soul food and takes advantage of all of Louisiana’s abundant seafood. It’s as easy to find stuffed crabs as it is to find smothered pork chops.

Cajun cooking is an evolved rustic cuisine developed by South Louisiana’s Cajun people. The descendants of the French Acadians were forced out of Canada by the English in the 1750s. They settled the Atchafalaya River basin in central southern Louisiana. Most were farmers but eventually learned to fish the bayous and swamps for fish and crawfish. In recent decades, as Cajun food has become more popular, many chefs came to New Orleans knowing the locals and visitors here would welcome their cuisine.

Originally, Cajun cooking reflected their humble beginnings in Louisiana. Cajuns typically cooked one dish in a large pot, stretched whatever meat or fish was available to feed many and ate it over rice. Setting a huge pot on a table didn’t really work well for restaurants. So Cajun cooking was refined by chefs like Paul Prudhomme, a bona fide Cajun from Opelousas. Prudhomme translated Cajun recipes to be cooked to order in a restaurant, keeping both the food and the flavor fresh. But he worked in Creole restaurants in New Orleans and is the first to say that he cooks the cuisine of South Louisiana. There are many chefs in New Orleans who do call themselves and their food Cajun.

Prudhomme’s famous Blackened Redfish was invented in New Orleans and is not a traditional Cajun dish. In fact, it isn’t supposed to be raging with cayenne pepper heat. When chefs around the country tried to recreate his dish, they often overspiced and overcooked the fish. He’s spent half his career trying to set the record straight as he battled the popularity of Cajun culture. That popularity has helped spread the music and culture of Cajun country. But with food, it has reduced “Cajun” to a marketing term that only means volcanic heat. Cajun cooking should give you a warm feeling all over, not a scorched throat. The best way to taste the difference for yourself is to find some Cajun cooking while you are in town and enjoy it.

The Hurricane was brewed up at Pat O’Brien’s (718 St. Peter St., 525-4823). During World War II, bars had a hard time getting Scotch because of rationing. In order to get single bottles of Scotch they had to buy cases of rum. Pat’O’s turned their surplus of rum into the Hurricane, a mix of passion fruit juice and clear rum in a towering glass with an orange and a cherry. Now everyone has their own version of the Hurricane, with different juice mixes but the original and the signature Hurricane glass belong to Pat’O’s.

While not the city’s most common drink, the Sazerac is another New Orleans original. The cocktail used to call for a splash of absinthe to wet the glass before rye whiskey was added. Eventually the mildly toxic and hallucinogenic spirit was outlawed and Sazerac drinkers had to settle for Herbsaint for a hint of licorice in the glass. The Sazerac Bar in the Fairmont Hotel (123 Baronne St., 529-7111) is the home of the cocktail.

Absinthe used to be popular in New Orleans but as its own cocktail. In the traditional preparation, the bitter absinthe was poured over a sugar cube to soften its taste. The drink was then diluted with water. Special spoons and funnels were created for serving it and can still be found in New Orleans antique shops. While absinthe is still illegal, the spirit Absente is a refined version that lacks the wormwood content that spiked absinthe. Absente is only legal in one other state besides Louisiana. The Old Absinthe House (240 Bourbon St., 523-3181) offers the cocktail.

Bloody Marys are a popular hangover cure but New Orleanians have another option. Milk punch made with either bourbon or brandy is a morning eye opener at many local restaurants. The drink mixes liquor and milk with a kiss of nutmeg on the top. Brennan’s Restaurant (417 Royal St., 525-9711) offers a fine Milk Punch with its renowned “Breakfast at Brennans.”

Bourbon Street has a bottomless thirst and the will to quench it. Some of the drinks are more notorious than historical, but there are all sorts of creative drinks available on the strip, some in neon colors and served in bucket-sized containers. Creatively-shaped drink containers are the pioneering work of a local company whose work is carted along the street every night with all sorts of potent mixes inside. If you’re still standing at the end of the strip, there’s the Hand Grenade at Tropical Isle (721 Bourbon St., 529-4109). The grenade shape is most appropriate to the drink inside.

DeGroff, other mixologists and some of the city’s best known chefs are mixing it up at “Spririted Dinners” in the second annual “Tales of the Cocktail” event (Aug. 19-21). Setting aside the wine, cocktails will be paired and presented with each course at the dinners, and other cocktail parties and events will feature new drinks, bar trends, entertaining and more.

The Tales of the Cocktail event grew out of a French Quarter history tour of the same name, still offered daily (569-1401). The bar hopping tour takes visitors to famous restaurants, bars and sites offering the not surprisingly rich history of drinks and drinking in New Orleans. It covers the creation of Southern Comfort by a French Quarter bartender to Antoine’s secret dining rooms where alcohol was available to knowing patrons during Prohibition.

The highlight of the three-day August event are the Spirited Dinners. The idea isn’t a new one but it’s finally spreading across the country. DeGroff, perhaps one of the industry’s best known bartenders and bar managers, came up with the idea while he was running the bar at the the Rainbow Room. He was dining late one night after work when a strange pair crossed his palate.

“I had ordered a spicy Thai fish soup and was planning on ordering a glass of Gewurtztraminer to go with it,” he says. “I was still drinking a glass of scotch when they brought me the soup. It was Lagavulin, a smoky single malt scotch. I cancelled the wine because I was still drinking the Scotch and I noticed the smoky scotch paired well with the smoked fish in the soup. It got me thinking.”

DeGroff was already behind the revival of the cocktail. While many bars and restaurants now have signature drink menus, that wasn’t the case in the mid-80s when he was hired at the Rainbow Room. Most bars had one type of glass that all their cocktails went in, he says. In fact, he had to talk his way into the Rainbow Room by selling the owner on doing a special cocktail menu to suit its concept. The Rainbow Room is a ’30s-style supper club and he suggested developing a menu of ’30s cocktails. When he went looking at other places to see what they were up to, there wasn’t a cocktail menu in sight. Drinkers of all sorts of new martinis have him to thank for bringing cocktails back into fashion.

Almost like wine, he tends to pair white spirits with fish and darker spirits with meat and game. Fish dishes often go well with gin, vodka and rum drinks mixed with citrus or sour ingredients, DeGroff says. A mojito goes well with many Caribbean fish dishes. Dark spirits also stand up well to spice. He’s paired spicy Cajun-styled dishes with a classic Blood in the Sand, a drink of equal parts scotch, Cherry Herring, sweet vermouth and orange juice. Sometimes a sauce may tilt his pairings as he either seeks to augment or counterpoint its key ingredients.

Many of New Orleans’ more senior Creole restaurants are featuring dinners, perhaps suggesting that New Orleans’ tastes have always matched well with cocktails. Restaurants hosting dinners include Antoine’s, Arnaud’s, Brennan’s, Broussard’s, Galatoire’s, Louis XVI, Muriel’s Jackson Square and Tujaque’s. See www.TalesoftheCocktail.com for the complete list of participating restaurants and other events, like the book signing cocktail reception with visiting authors. All dinners are on Thursday 8/19, and reservations should be made directly with the restaurants.

Other guests and topics include Ted Breaux on the history of absinthe, magazine writer Thomas Conners on classic hotel bars, food writer John DeMers, Mittie Hellmich, author of Highballs High Heels, Sharon Herbst, author of The Ultimate A-toZ Bar Guide, cocktail expert Robert Plotkin and many more.

It’s a great chance to raise a toast to some true New Orleans history.