Commander’s Palace opened in the 1890s and is the quintessential New Orleans restaurant. This Garden District landmark serves all of the local staples, like turtle soup, gumbo, and barbecue shrimp, and it’s a great option for when getting a little dressed up sounds fun. If you want to drink 25-cent martinis while doing so, though, make a reservation at Commander’s for lunch, when you can get two courses for under $30 and a few cocktails that will collectively cost you less than a dollar.

Dooky Chase is a family-owned restaurant that used to be run by the late Leah Chase, a.k.a. “The Queen of Creole Cuisine.” That’s a massive title for anybody to hold, but you’ll see exactly why it was warranted: the restaurant does excellent gumbo, shrimp clemenceau, red beans and rice, and some of the best fried chicken in the city. Come for a fun weekday lunch, where you can sip on a spiked lavender lemonade or strawberry wine spritzers.

If you only have brunch once in New Orleans, it should be at Brennan’s. This place opened more than 70 years ago and is known for both its excellent service and classic food, like eggs benedict, gumbo, and a crawfish omelette. Make sure to try the brandy milk punch as well, if morning drinking is in your future. If you don’t feel like battling the plethora of bachelorette parties that flock to Brennan’s earlier in the day, then come for dinner instead.

Whether you need a mid-afternoon pick-me-up or a post-bar snack at 3am, Cafe Du Monde will be open. This place has been serving coffee and beignets in the same location on Jackson Square since 1862. It’s about as vintage New Orleans as you can get, and while it’s one of the most touristy spots in the city, the coffee and beignets—which are available 24/7, every day except Christmas—are worth showing up in the background of people’s vacation photos.

Castnet Seafood in New Orleans East makes our favorite po’boy in the city (yes, even better than Parkway). They've been serving fried shrimp sandwiches, crawfish pies, and all kinds of seafood since they opened in 1988. They also make a hot sausage po'boy that’s equally good, using Patton’s, which is the gold standard for ground meat patties. Did we mention there’s also a snowball stand on the right (Brain Freeze) and a barbecue joint that’s a Jazz Fest classic on the left (Walker’s BBQ)?

The po’boy might be the most famous sandwich in New Orleans, but the muffuletta—a giant Italian sandwich that can easily feed four people—is a close second. You can find it across the city, but it was invented at Central Grocery in the French Quarter, and that’s where you should eat one. This Italian specialty shop recently reopened in the same building with more seating in the back. There’s always a lunch crowd, but they’re constantly churning out muffulettas, so the line moves quick.

There are a bunch of New Orleans restaurants where you can walk in and feel like you’re in another time period. Brigtsen’s is one of them, and they also have both some old-school Creole dishes and a Victorian cottage vibe. That means you’ll see things like veal sweetbreads, red snapper amandine, pan-roasted pork chops with debris gravy, and broiled Gulf fish with lemon crab sauce.

Arnaud’s is located right off Bourbon Street, but it’s about as far removed as you can get from that tourist trap of a street. This classic New Orleans restaurant has been serving up great food, cocktails, and live jazz since 1918. The best time to come here is for their lively jazz brunch when they do a three-course, prix fixe with dishes like grillades and grits, eggs sardou, and shrimp arnaud. You should also make time for Arnaud’s French 75 Bar for a sazerac or an Old Fashioned.

One of the best free things you can do in New Orleans is walk through the Garden District on Magazine Street. The whole stretch is lined with restaurants, bars, and shops, so you can snack and drink as you go. But one place you’ll want to save room for is La Petite Grocery. It’s a modern take on Creole fine dining and while the whole menu is excellent, we’re especially big fans of the blue crab beignets and pasta with turtle ragu.

Po’boy shops in New Orleans are as common as the discarded beads you’ll find on the street post-Mardi Gras. There are endless options, but if you want the best, head to Parkway Bakery in Mid-City. This corner sandwich shop is more than a century old and has been feeding everyone from local musicians to presidents since they first opened. The two standout sandwiches are the fried oysters—only available Mondays and Wednesdays—and the roast beef with gravy.

Casamento’s started serving oysters on Magazine Street more than 90 years ago and has barely changed at all along the way. This is a situation where you should really stick to the bivalves, especially the fried oyster loaf sandwich, but make sure to get some soft shell crab if it’s in season, too. As a forewarning, Casamento’s closes when Gulf oysters are out of season—from the end of May to the beginning of September—so plan your trip accordingly.

Friday lunch at Galatoire’s is a New Orleans rite of passage and the best way to kick off a long weekend. To do it right, you need to sit in the downstairs dining room, which requires getting in line on Bourbon Street before it opens at 11:30am. Once you’re in, it’s basically an upscale party where the servers wear tuxes, drinking is definitely encouraged, and you can eat old-school classics like shrimp remoulade and gumbo until you’re ready for a post-lunch nap.

This Creole Italian restaurant has had a busy dining room for decades. Maybe it’s because the space feels like a cool uncle’s hangout spot with neon, Jazz Fest posters, and Saints memorabilia. Or, maybe it’s thanks to the $15 weekday lunch specials and the fact that all the seafood is perfect, no matter the preparation. Start with broiled crab claws, which are dripping in herbed butter and come with toasted French bread for dipping.

There are certain things you have to do in New Orleans, like hear a brass band, walk down Bourbon Street, and get at least one to-go beer or cocktail. Eating the wood-fired oysters with chili garlic butter at Cochon is also on that list. This spot in the Warehouse District opened more than a decade ago and serves great modern cajun food, like fried boudin and a massive pork shank topped with chicharron, but really it’s all about the oysters.

Eating at this legendary Uptown spot is as much a party as it is an actual meal. The waits are long and it’s only open for dinner, but Jacques-Imo’s is an essential experience that you should have at least once in your life. By the time you get a table, you’ll be good and buzzed, and very ready to try out the alligator sausage cheesecake and some shrimp etouffee.

Pêche is a seafood place run by the same team as Cochon and it takes just as high quality of an approach to fish as its sibling does to pork. The large, open space, along with the seafood platters and whole grilled fish, makes this spot in the Warehouse District ideal for big groups (take note bachelor and bachelorette parties). However, you can also come solo or with a date and just grab drinks and oysters at the bar.