I will be staying for a night at the Hyatt in the French Quarter in two weeks. I will have half a day to walk around. What are the best places to eat within walking distance of the Hyatt?  

I don't eat much fried foods, but love seafood and love spicy. Any recommendations? I have eaten at the Bourbon House. That was good. Others?

How dressy you want to be, how much you lookin' to spend, and will you be wanting cocktails with your meal?

Brennan's is close by and very good.


Acme Oyster House I would say avoid.

But really I have never had a bad meal down there.

I usually like to look for local beers on tap. IPAs and pale ales are my favorites. Prefer casual. I assume I will be wearing shorts. Will go wherever though.

I have been invited to a dinner and drinks at Napoleon Room (House?), but am leaning towards not attending. Sounds like a lot of people standing around talking about work. Blah.

Eh....from the sound of it, the Quarter ain't really gonna be your sort of thing.  The types of places for shorts and local(ish) beers are gonna be the touristy joints along Decatur, really, or chains like Gordon Biersch (sp.)  I mean, I can point you to some neat bars where you (probably) won't be surrounded by tourists and where it won't be too overpriced, but no real food, or I can point you to great places to eat that would be a bit more dressy and less casual.  Though if you are a fan of Italian at all, and don't mind spending a bit, The Italian Barrel on Barracks St. right off Decatur is simply amazing, and they have a bar you can sit at and eat.

Oh, and since I finally bothered to read where you will be staying, if you exit the hotel on the Iberville/Dauphine side, you can literally just cross the street to eat at Deanie's, which is pretty good.

Deanie's looks great. I think I will hit that up for lunch as soon as I get there.

The roasted gulf oysters and the gumbo look really good at Brennan's. This might be my dinner stop.

Very good gumbo and get the crawfish balls as an appetizer.  The BBQ shrimp are amazing.  When you get them, remove them from the molten butter so they stop cooking.  As you peal them, dip them back in to cover them in butter and spice.

Instead of Acme, go across the screen to Felix's Oyster House.  If they are shucking, just sit down at the bar and eat.  If Izador is there, ask him to make you his special cocktail sauce for the oysters.  And the red beans and rice is great.

I also like Oceana.  Maw-maw's breakfast is served until 1pm and will cure a hangover.  I also get blackened redfish oceana.  

The Royal House at the corner of Royal and St. Louis is great.  Upstairs is a little quieter.  Downstairs you may get a waiter with a thick cajun accent that will tell you half a dozen dirty jokes during your meal.  I laughed so hard my side hurt.

My wife and I hang out with the band that plays at Fat Catz and they took us to a place that they like.  Bar Mon Cher is their go-to place now that the Erin Rose has become a tourist attraction.  https://goo.gl/maps/368gEvLE3iz  If the owner is there, ask him about the building being haunted.  He has some good stories.

We will be down there a few weeks from now to see a concert at the House of Blues as well as hanging out and watching our favorite bar bands.

Absolutely.  This is one of those very rare occasions where the normal wisdom* is reversed.  You will get into Felix's much faster, and it is way better.  The long lines at Acme are a symptom of the tourist press it gets.




*The normal wisdom being, essentially, that when confronted with two competing eateries, the one with the longer line/wait is better.  

e.g.:  In the aftermath of Katrina, around lunchtime, if you saw a taco truck at, say, Toledano and S. Claiborne, with a line of 100 Hispanic folks waiting, and one a block away at Louisiana Ave. and S. Claiborne with a half dozen folks in line, or no one in line at all, well, head for the dang long line my friend.  There's a reason there's a line, and it ain't because Hispanic folks like standing in one.

Or, back before the change of ownership in Ninja a few years ago, folks would go to Ninja Sushi on Friday, during Lent, and get upset at the wait and leave to go to Hanna's (a nearby sushi place,) where there was no wait at all.  On a Friday.  During Lent.  In a majority Catholic city.  Yeah, there's a reason there's a wait at Ninja.

This normal wisdom does not apply to Felix's versus Acme----go to Felix's.

I've checked out their menus. They all look so good. So many choices, so little time. I really want to try some char grilled oysters. Never had them before. They sound and look, really good.

for beers, NOLA tap room, Courtyard brewery, both are outside of the FQ.
for breakfast, Surrey's on magazine a few blocks away from courtyard.
Mexican, Juan's flying Burrito also on Magazine (two other locations in the city but I never been to them)
I would also recommend the Irish House on St. Charles for dinner

Mothers is usually a good place to eat, a walk from your hotel, but not that bad.

Char grilled oysters in NOLA is like pizza in NYC or Chicago.  You can go to 10 different places and the pizza will taste different while at the same time all being great.  Felix's and Oceana both offer what you want.  Try them both.  Also see if Felix has the "oysters du jour".  They are flash fried oysters that are put back on the half shell and then covered in a crawfish bisque.  Absolutely amazing.  On the last trip they were out on the first day we stopped in for dinner but Chef said he would make some for the next day.  In fact, he made just enough to make a dozen for my wife.  Between this special treatment and the absolute friendliest staff, it is one of our favorite places.  I'll be stopping there in less than 2 weeks.

Sounds great. Planning on Felix's for lunch tomorrow. Can't wait.

Ok, so char-grilled oysters aren't my thing. But, I did go to Deanie's tonight and had the bbq shrimp at the bar. Wow. Great stuff. Place is obviously well liked. Took me 45 minutes just to get a seat at the bar. There was still a wait list for tables when I left at 9:30. All the food people had around me looked great, too. And to top it off, I had a NOLA Brewing Rebirth pale ale, which is a great beer. Thanks for all the info.

ETA: also had a crab cake slider from Broussard's at the French Quarter Festival. Nice, big crab cake. It was wonderful.