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Where to Eat Before and After the Theater in New Orleans

New Orleans's Essential Lunch Restaurants

Where to Eat Pasta in New Orleans

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Pasta from Compère Lapin.
Denny Culbert/Compère Lapin

14 First-Rate Restaurants Near the New Orleans Convention Center

Explore the Warehouse District to find some of the city’s best sandwiches, seafood, and Caribbean fusion

by Beth D'Addono and Clair Lorell
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Pasta from Compère Lapin.
| Denny Culbert/Compère Lapin
by Beth D'Addono and Clair Lorell

The Warehouse District area surrounding the New Orleans Convention Center has changed drastically over the last few years, thanks to a half-billion dollar construction project adding more green space to Convention Center Boulevard. What hasn’t changed is the wealth of great food nearby, including some of the city's best sandwiches, seafood, and Caribbean-Creole fusion. Here are some super options that are walkable from the Convention Center and nearby hotels (all well under a mile), to help you stay fueled and happy.

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Carmo

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The food at this tropical oasis in the CBD is fresh, tasty, vegan-friendly, and full of the kind of nutrients that can be a game changer after a big night out. Its menu includes plenty of plant-based food (like vegan ceviche with mushrooms, beans, cucumber, aji limo, red onion, choclo, sweet potato, avocado and cancha) but the cafe will satisfy anyone in a party of meat eaters too with items like Brazilian chicken salad.

527 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 875-4132
(504) 875-4132
A view inside Carmo. Carmo

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Sofia NOLA

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This Italian spot on Julia delivers fine pasta and specialties from around the boot, including steak Florentine, wood-fired pizzas, and a range of oven-roasted vegetables. Sofia, an homage to a true Italian dish, Sophia Loren, is an airy, stylish space brimming with eye-popping art.

516 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 322-3216
(504) 322-3216
Pizza, shrimp scampi, kale salad, and squid
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Pêche Seafood Grill

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Peche is to be trusted, still popular after nearly a decade in part due to its consistent quality delivery. The Donald Link group restaurant has a wood-burning oven, great raw bar selection, and expertly done seafood, with a diverse enough menu to satisfy most palates. The crab claws, “fish sticks,” duck pasta, and whole grilled fish are crowd-pleasers, and specials are always a winner.

800 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 522-1744
(504) 522-1744
Peche, a trusty standby
Peche
Brasted

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Gianna Restaurant

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From Donald Link’s resataurant group, Gianna is a temple of rustic Southern Italian cuisine. Chef Jared Heider presides over a menu rich with house-cured meats, locally farmed produce, Gulf seafood, and of course, pasta. The bar is focused on Italian wines and cocktail bases of Vermouth, Apertivo, and Amari. Open for lunch and dinner daily with brunch on weekends, the price point is about the same as Link’s other restaurants.

700 Magazine St Suite 101, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 399-0816
(504) 399-0816
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

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Meril

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Meril is a more casual option from Emeril’s stable of restaurants, with a super happy hour featuring substantial flatbread pizzas that will certainly tide a body over. It’s huge, so it’s good for the inevitable group lunches and dinners that keep growing and growing, with great service to boot. Highlights include dishes like yellowfin tuna wraps with jalapeno, meatballs, hand-rolled gnudi, and the best dang turkey necks you’ve ever had.

424 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 526-3745
(504) 526-3745
Inside Meril
Meril
Brasted

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Vyoone’s

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Though French-inspired, this Warehouse District restaurant is New Orleans through and through — in ambiance, hospitality, and food and drink. Chic and charming with hanging lights strung throughout a cushy patio, Vyoone Segue Lewis has created something special here, welcoming for date night and hugely popular with large groups. On the menu, highlights include the escargot, French onion soup, white bean cassoulet, crab cakes, and the soft shell entree with maque choux and crawfish cream sauce if available.

412 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 518-6007
(504) 518-6007

Also featured in:

Annunciation

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This elegant Warehouse District gem is a contemporary Creole stunner, seamlessly combining Louisiana classics with French-inspired techniques and Southern American ingredients. Try the excellent gumbo or turtle soup, the ravioli starter, and soft shell crab Monica or grilled pork chop for dinner. Annunciation is romantic and cozy; a lovely option for an intimate meal.

1016 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 568-0245
(504) 568-0245

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Compère Lapin

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Compère Lapin is the debut restaurant from famed chef Nina Compton and it remains one of New Orleans’s most original restaurants, serving food that blends Caribbean flavors with French technique and a whole lot of creativity. While the menu changes often, Compere is known for a mix of small plates that might include dirty rice arancini served with sour orange mojo, crispy pig ears, and conch fritters; entrees like her famed curried goat and spiced chicken with Jollof rice and chow chow, and unbeatable cocktails.

535 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 599-2119
(504) 599-2119
A large dining room with white and black tile floors, wood tables and chairs, and a long bar with stools lined up in front.
Inside Compere Lapin
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

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Cochon Restaurant

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Local swine is only the beginning at this James Beard award-winning Southern meets Cajun eatery from chefs Donal Link and Stephen Stryjewski. Cochon also happens to have one of the best chargrilled oysters in town, in this case enhanced with a divine chile garlic butter that lets the flavors of the bivalve sing.

930 Tchoupitoulas St suite a, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 588-2123
(504) 588-2123
A Look Inside Cochon’s New Dinign Room Expansion
Cochon dining room
Brasted

Also featured in:

Cochon Butcher

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Cochon Butcher offers a very different experience than its sister restaurant, with an emphasis on Dawood house-cured meat sandwiches, charcuterie, brats, and sausages in a cool casual setting. Beyond the sandwich counter, there are small plates and daily specials to tempt. Sausage or cheese platters and sandwich trays are available for catering needs.

930 Tchoupitoulas St b, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 588-7675
(504) 588-7675
Facebook/Cochon Butcher

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Corporation Bar & Grill

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If your day has you craving something a bit more gritty, Corporation Bar’s got you covered. This hole-in-the-wall on the corner of S. Peters and Andrew Higgins has all the Louisiana staples: jambalaya, gumbo, muffulettas, red beans and rice, and great po-boys. It’ll have a shorter line than Cochon Butcher, and you may even meet a character or two.

931 S Peters St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Galliano Restaurant

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Named for a Cajun town down da’ bayou, Galliano dishes raw and char-grilled oysters along with specialties like country-fried steak, fried chicken and shrimp, and Sunday pot roast. Chef/owner Ricky Cheramie, who hails from Bayou Lafourche, serves gumbo and traditional po-boys and of course red beans and rice. Enter from Fulton Street for a taste of real deal Cajun cuisine, seven days a week.

200 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 218-5753
(504) 218-5753

Restaurant Rebirth

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Chef Richy Cheramie’s original spot, Restaurant Rebirth, is a farm-to-table Cajun-Creole restaurant ideal for wowing foodie clients. Soulful bowls of country gumbo, oysters and pasta, and double-cut pork chops are a few tempting options. The blackened redfish on the half shell is outstanding, and if it’s offered, don’t leave without trying the beignet-topped creme brûlée.

857 Fulton St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 522-6863
(504) 522-6863
Restaurant Rebirth

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Two Chicks Cafe

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This breakfast and lunch spot couldn’t be more convenient — it sits just across the street from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Dishing up sweet and savory crepes, omelets and egg Benedict dishes, pancakes and parfaits, healthy juices, and necessary bloody Marys, Two Chicks is the bomb. The restaurant has a second location in the CBD.

901 Convention Center Blvd #109, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 407-3078
(504) 407-3078
Two Chicks

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Carmo

527 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130

The food at this tropical oasis in the CBD is fresh, tasty, vegan-friendly, and full of the kind of nutrients that can be a game changer after a big night out. Its menu includes plenty of plant-based food (like vegan ceviche with mushrooms, beans, cucumber, aji limo, red onion, choclo, sweet potato, avocado and cancha) but the cafe will satisfy anyone in a party of meat eaters too with items like Brazilian chicken salad.

527 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 875-4132
(504) 875-4132
A view inside Carmo. Carmo

Sofia NOLA

516 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130

This Italian spot on Julia delivers fine pasta and specialties from around the boot, including steak Florentine, wood-fired pizzas, and a range of oven-roasted vegetables. Sofia, an homage to a true Italian dish, Sophia Loren, is an airy, stylish space brimming with eye-popping art.

516 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 322-3216
(504) 322-3216
Pizza, shrimp scampi, kale salad, and squid
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Pêche Seafood Grill

800 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Peche is to be trusted, still popular after nearly a decade in part due to its consistent quality delivery. The Donald Link group restaurant has a wood-burning oven, great raw bar selection, and expertly done seafood, with a diverse enough menu to satisfy most palates. The crab claws, “fish sticks,” duck pasta, and whole grilled fish are crowd-pleasers, and specials are always a winner.

800 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 522-1744
(504) 522-1744
Peche, a trusty standby
Peche
Brasted

Gianna Restaurant

700 Magazine St Suite 101, New Orleans, LA 70130

From Donald Link’s resataurant group, Gianna is a temple of rustic Southern Italian cuisine. Chef Jared Heider presides over a menu rich with house-cured meats, locally farmed produce, Gulf seafood, and of course, pasta. The bar is focused on Italian wines and cocktail bases of Vermouth, Apertivo, and Amari. Open for lunch and dinner daily with brunch on weekends, the price point is about the same as Link’s other restaurants.

700 Magazine St Suite 101, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 399-0816
(504) 399-0816
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Meril

424 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Meril is a more casual option from Emeril’s stable of restaurants, with a super happy hour featuring substantial flatbread pizzas that will certainly tide a body over. It’s huge, so it’s good for the inevitable group lunches and dinners that keep growing and growing, with great service to boot. Highlights include dishes like yellowfin tuna wraps with jalapeno, meatballs, hand-rolled gnudi, and the best dang turkey necks you’ve ever had.

424 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 526-3745
(504) 526-3745
Inside Meril
Meril
Brasted

Vyoone’s

412 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Though French-inspired, this Warehouse District restaurant is New Orleans through and through — in ambiance, hospitality, and food and drink. Chic and charming with hanging lights strung throughout a cushy patio, Vyoone Segue Lewis has created something special here, welcoming for date night and hugely popular with large groups. On the menu, highlights include the escargot, French onion soup, white bean cassoulet, crab cakes, and the soft shell entree with maque choux and crawfish cream sauce if available.

412 Girod St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 518-6007
(504) 518-6007

Annunciation

1016 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70130

This elegant Warehouse District gem is a contemporary Creole stunner, seamlessly combining Louisiana classics with French-inspired techniques and Southern American ingredients. Try the excellent gumbo or turtle soup, the ravioli starter, and soft shell crab Monica or grilled pork chop for dinner. Annunciation is romantic and cozy; a lovely option for an intimate meal.

1016 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 568-0245
(504) 568-0245

Compère Lapin

535 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Compère Lapin is the debut restaurant from famed chef Nina Compton and it remains one of New Orleans’s most original restaurants, serving food that blends Caribbean flavors with French technique and a whole lot of creativity. While the menu changes often, Compere is known for a mix of small plates that might include dirty rice arancini served with sour orange mojo, crispy pig ears, and conch fritters; entrees like her famed curried goat and spiced chicken with Jollof rice and chow chow, and unbeatable cocktails.

535 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 599-2119
(504) 599-2119
A large dining room with white and black tile floors, wood tables and chairs, and a long bar with stools lined up in front.
Inside Compere Lapin
Josh Brasted/Eater NOLA

Cochon Restaurant

930 Tchoupitoulas St suite a, New Orleans, LA 70130

Local swine is only the beginning at this James Beard award-winning Southern meets Cajun eatery from chefs Donal Link and Stephen Stryjewski. Cochon also happens to have one of the best chargrilled oysters in town, in this case enhanced with a divine chile garlic butter that lets the flavors of the bivalve sing.

930 Tchoupitoulas St suite a, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 588-2123
(504) 588-2123
A Look Inside Cochon’s New Dinign Room Expansion
Cochon dining room
Brasted

Cochon Butcher

930 Tchoupitoulas St b, New Orleans, LA 70130

Cochon Butcher offers a very different experience than its sister restaurant, with an emphasis on Dawood house-cured meat sandwiches, charcuterie, brats, and sausages in a cool casual setting. Beyond the sandwich counter, there are small plates and daily specials to tempt. Sausage or cheese platters and sandwich trays are available for catering needs.

930 Tchoupitoulas St b, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 588-7675
(504) 588-7675
Facebook/Cochon Butcher

Corporation Bar & Grill

931 S Peters St, New Orleans, LA 70130

If your day has you craving something a bit more gritty, Corporation Bar’s got you covered. This hole-in-the-wall on the corner of S. Peters and Andrew Higgins has all the Louisiana staples: jambalaya, gumbo, muffulettas, red beans and rice, and great po-boys. It’ll have a shorter line than Cochon Butcher, and you may even meet a character or two.

931 S Peters St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Galliano Restaurant

200 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Named for a Cajun town down da’ bayou, Galliano dishes raw and char-grilled oysters along with specialties like country-fried steak, fried chicken and shrimp, and Sunday pot roast. Chef/owner Ricky Cheramie, who hails from Bayou Lafourche, serves gumbo and traditional po-boys and of course red beans and rice. Enter from Fulton Street for a taste of real deal Cajun cuisine, seven days a week.

200 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 218-5753
(504) 218-5753

Restaurant Rebirth

857 Fulton St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Chef Richy Cheramie’s original spot, Restaurant Rebirth, is a farm-to-table Cajun-Creole restaurant ideal for wowing foodie clients. Soulful bowls of country gumbo, oysters and pasta, and double-cut pork chops are a few tempting options. The blackened redfish on the half shell is outstanding, and if it’s offered, don’t leave without trying the beignet-topped creme brûlée.

857 Fulton St, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 522-6863
(504) 522-6863
Restaurant Rebirth

Two Chicks Cafe

901 Convention Center Blvd #109, New Orleans, LA 70130

This breakfast and lunch spot couldn’t be more convenient — it sits just across the street from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Dishing up sweet and savory crepes, omelets and egg Benedict dishes, pancakes and parfaits, healthy juices, and necessary bloody Marys, Two Chicks is the bomb. The restaurant has a second location in the CBD.

901 Convention Center Blvd #109, New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 407-3078
(504) 407-3078
Two Chicks

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