New Orleans Set the Table for Our Fifth Anniversary

Tommi and I celebrated our fifth anniversary this month, and we decided there was no better place to mark the occasion than New Orleans—a city that has mastered the art of food, charm, and a good time.

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We stayed at the historic Hotel Monteleone and soaked up a full day of relaxation in their spa, Spa Aria.

The hotel was fully decked for the holidays; and busy with holiday spirt.

We also made it made it our personal mission to eat well while we were in town.

If you’re planning a quick getaway or just want to bookmark a few culinary gems for your next visit, here are the places we enjoyed the most this trip; spots I think you’ll want to add to your list.

The Gumbo Shop
Our first stop every time we cross the bridge into New Orleans is The Gumbo Shop. It’s tradition at this point.

Road construction? Doesn’t matter. Crowds? We’ll wait. There is simply no starting a New Orleans weekend without their Red Beans and Rice or their Seafood Gumbo. This 1948 classic is a repeat Readers’ Choice winner for good reason.

I normally order the Seafood Gumbo, but this weekend, it was time to swtich it up a bit and order the same as Tommi.  And I was glad I did.  It was perfection.  Honestly, I don’t know anyone that does gumbo and red beans and rice better than this place.

It is located in the French Quarter at 630 St. Peter Street. And with more than 9,000 Google reviews and a solid five-star rating, clearly, we’re not the only ones who feel this way.

Baru
Next up: a new stop, thanks to a recommendation from our friend Doug Jolly. Baru, a Latin Caribbean restaurant owned by Chef Edgar Caro, sits right on Magazine Street, a street where Tommi and I spend most of our time when we’re in the city.

It opened in 2006 and has been filling tables ever since with their delicious menu of tapas. We sat outside on the patio and the service was excellent.

Our favorite dish? The Chuzos De Carne. These marinated beef skewers come topped with chimichurri and served with bollo limpio, and let me tell you… We would go back just for that plate alone.

Our second favorite tapas was the Mazorca.  Grilled corn, Cotija cheese, salsa rosada, and hand shaved shoe string potatoes.  This small plate was delightful!

The Grill Room at The Windsor Court
For breakfast, we wrapped up our trip with The Grill Room inside the Windsor Court Hotel. The dining room is elegant but welcoming, and I love that they accommodate gluten-free dining without hesitation. And yes—they serve a hot latte directly to your table, which is my love language.

This stop is $$$ for a party of two, but if you are wanting an elevated experience for breakfast, this is the place. If you can snag the two-top overlooking the courtyard, do it. You’ll feel like you’ve been transported straight to Europe.

Sweet Saint
And because every good trip deserves a sweet ending, we made one last stop at Sweet Saint. This artisan ice cream shop in the heart of the French Quarter serves handcrafted ice creams, sherbets, and sorbets—all made in-house. The family who owns it is born-and-raised New Orleans, and they were in the back making ice cream while we stood there trying to choose our flavor.

We landed on The Charlie Brown, but the menu is full of rich, creative combinations like Louisiana Satsuma with Sorghum Butterscotch Swirls, The Mona Lisa, and Jacques O’Lantern—a pumpkin ice cream blended with dark chocolate and orange curd. It’s the kind of place where every flavor tells a story.

After five years of marriage and countless adventures, this anniversary getaway felt especially sweet. New Orleans will always be one of our favorite cities to escape to—full of flavor, history, and those little moments that remind you how good life really is.

If you go, I hope these stops make your trip just as memorable. Taking a food tour of a city you love is always on my bucket list and I hope it makes your bucket list also.

Lisa Long Lyter, Editor in Chief, Local Pulse Pensacola