The food at this plant-based Creole spot is a revelation and likely helped kick off the now-common intersection of vegan cuisine and soul food found in New Orleans. The cafeteria-style Sweet Soulfood pays homage to New Orleans plate lunch classics, from serving red beans and rice on Mondays to swapping out fried catfish for fried cauliflower and collards on Fridays. Prices are reasonable, portions are hefty and the menu is so tempting even carnivores won’t miss the meat. Lots of gluten-free options too.

Anchoring Orleans avenue like a cornflower beacon, Gabrielle Restaurant reopened in September, 2017 after an imposed post-Katrina hiatus. Chef Greg Sonnier’s award-winning Cajun meets Creole cuisine is impressive at any address, from his legendary slow-roasted duck topped with duck “quaklin’” over dirty rice to a fragrant bowl of duck, rabbit, and guinea hen gumbo that intoxicates with smoky goodness. His wife and co-owner Mary creates amazing desserts and the restaurant’s cocktail program is also noteworthy. Put Gabrielle on your list for dinner, Thursday through Saturday.

Willie Mae’s Scotch House, a Treme tradition since 1957, is all about fried chicken, thickly battered and deep fried. Dubbed the best fried chicken in America by the likes of the James Beard Foundation and the Food Network, that’s for you to decide. Get the white beans for sure, and the fried okra while you devour half a bird and make up your mind.

Tiger Watson runs this Treme gem, and the New Orleans native has created a lively — and delicious — destination for the neighborhood in the years he’s been open. You may end up here for the strong drinks and good vibe, but it serves some of the freshest comfort food in town — perfectly-fried catfish and shrimp, crawfish pies, wings infused with Hennessey, two kinds of yak-a-mein, and the catfish Reagan are all highlights.

I-tal Garden on Claiborne Avenue — “i-tal” being a play on “vital” — follows in the footsteps of Sweet Soulfood and Vegan Wit’ a Twist before it, serving creative, crave-able vegan soul food dishes heavy on vegetables, not to mention a robust breakfast menu. The build-your-own-plate lunch option offers plentiful combos of one or two veggie proteins with three sides for $18 and $22, respectively.

Although the coffee is excellent at this friendly little cafe, there’s plenty of both sweet and savory options to stave off the hangries. There’s a rotating menu of quiche, possibly filled with crawfish or spinach, just one of the many vegetarian options offered. Barbecued crawfish and grits is sometimes on special, and sandwiches include the likes of avocado, lettuce, tomato, and smoked salmon on an everything bagel. There’s a range of breakfast options and salads too. And sweet treats like cake slices and fresh muffins and pastry, including vegan options.

Buttermilk Drop Bakery isn’t just a bakery. The busy no-frills location in Treme serves breakfast and sweets to a non-stop line of hungry locals from 6 a.m. daily. If you’ve never had a buttermilk drop, think donut hole on steroids, but even that isn’t quite right. Fried and crispy outside, sweet and yielding at its heart, this is a treat of dreams.

The loss of Miss Leona ‘Chine’ Grandison to the coronavirus was a devastating blow to the many neighborhood friends who frequented her bar, the Candlelight Lounge. Treme born and bred, Miss Leona was the glue that held the corner together. The bar continues, always with her in mind, a hole in the wall brought into the limelight by the HBO show Treme. This is the place for strong cash-only drinks and local brass bands, a cultural gumbo that thrums with welcoming energy. Sometimes there’s homemade gumbo at the bar, other times barbecue outside, but this place isn’t about food.

You can smell Manchu a block away from the low-slung purple wingery on Claiborne. Deep-fried, fresh, hot, and guaranteed to make you thirsty, these wings are positively addicting. You can get them dipped in barbecue sauce, but why? Fried seafood, yak-a-mein and po’ boys are also on the menu.

The shuttering of this fried chicken and gumbo destination in 2020 was one of the pandemic’s most devastating closures — until the owner’s son and daughter-in-law Wayne Baquet Jr. and his wife Arkesha stepped in to save the day, buying the longtime family business and reopening it in February 2021. Lil’ Dizzy’s Cafe has a history that reaches deep into the neighborhood, a busy breakfast and lunch joint serving family recipes popular with the after-church crowd on Sundays. The Creole gumbo and fried chicken are some of the best in town.

There is live music most weekends, with the emphasis on brass bands at this friendly neighborhood bar situated at 2442 A.P. Tureaud Avenue, a street named for the civil rights attorney credited with fighting Jim Crow laws in New Orleans. Bullet’s Sports Bar is a mostly locals hang, with live music several nights a week and a barbecue wagon typically firing up seasoned ribs, sausages, or chargrilled oysters outside.

Chef Manny January opened his cozy restaurant on Claiborne Avenue, 8 Fresh Food Assassin, in 2022. His chops are impressive, and not just his lamb chops, which are delectable and grilled to perfection every time. January’s fine dining chops were honed at Galatoire’s for 17 years but this spunky entrepreneur needed to do his own thing in his own kitchen. Whether it’s a fried fish and shrimp plate, a mega-T-bone with home-style sweet potatoes and baked macaroni, or buttery lobster tails over creamy pasta, Fresh Food Assassin delivers the goods.