New Orleans is known for a few things, but somewhere at the top of the list is its food. Local cuisine is one of the most cited reasons for New Orleans’ booming tourism trade, and it has some of the most recognizable regional dishes in American cuisine. If you’re going to NOLA, you’re going for the gumbo, the jambalaya, the po boys, and the beignets. With a Creole grandmother, it’s the food I find myself pining for most that’s hardest to get here in LA.
But while in The Big Easy for the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture, I discovered at least one surprising addition to the usual roundup of local New Orleans fare after taking a gamble on a recommendation from — where else? — TikTok. It was a reminder for me that sometimes, the most magic can be found off the beaten path, by getting away from the “must try” tourist traps and taking the local view of any so-called destination city.
But first, I had to try the offerings from the Essence Festival itself. After all, the Festival was the whole reason for the trip, and there’s no easier way to catalog all the possibilities of New Orleans’ local food scene than by hitting the convention floor’s food court, where over a dozen of the parish’s local vendors had been assembled to purvey a variety of takes on the Creole and Cajun cuisine that makes up the city’s staples.
Choosing from the proffered assortment of catfish, fried chicken, sausages, and sweet treats proved to be a challenge, though. After all, one only has so much stomach space, and as seafood made up the bulk of the options on call, very little of any given plate would have survived the heat and humidity of the 30-minute walk back to my hotel (or a night spent in the room’s mini-fridge, for that matter).
Eventually, I settled on an establishment serving one of everything. From Finger Lickin’, a combo plate of catfish, fried shrimp, and fried chicken sufficed for the first day’s lunch, accompanied by a healthy slathering of yum yum sauce, the sweet and tangy condiment that often accompanies dishes from the proliferation of “hibachi”-style establishments that have popped up in New Orleans over the past several decades. All three proteins were perfectly crispy, and seasoned the way only southern cooking can be — not too salty, though, with a zing that would keep anyone diving back for more.
And look, I could have gone more adventurous — think catfish soule, seafood eggrolls, or oxtail plates — but I’ve always believed the best way to get a read on what a restaurant or municipality does well food-wise is to order the thing they do the most. If you’re in Texas, get barbecue. If you’re trying a Thai place for the first time, it’s hard to go wrong with pad see ew. And at Essence Festival, that three-way plate was absolutely a home run.
I have no scientific evidence to support this, but I’m fairly certain that that New Orleans accent makes food taste at least 36% better. If the person serving it calls you “baybeh” as they hand you the container, it’s going to kick. That was the case on day one with Finger Lickin’s three-way, and on day two, when I opted for crawfish pasta from NOLA Creole Cookery, a spicy, creamy combination that opened my sinuses with a blast of pepper. My only regret is that there was no way to get it back to California.
Beyond the festival, the awe-inspiring variety ranged from local historical icon Cafe Du Monde for its world-famous beignets and café au lait to a dive bar called Parasol for a shrimp po boy that put a brother in touch with the ancestors. A quirky breakfast nook called Ironworks felt more in line with a Silver Lake hipster hot spot, but served up a savory crêpe with prosciutto and apricot jam that could only be described as divine. Sweet and savory are flavors that have always gone together, and here, both were turned up to the max, with the tangy jam taking the edge.
But that place TikTok sent me to was the highlight of the trip. Now, taking recommendations from TikTok is an iffy proposition at best; I’ve lost count of the trendy spots it’s landed me at in Los Angeles that ranged from overpriced “meh” to “barely worth the wait” delicious, but Acamaya, an upscale regional Mexican spot just north of the French Quarter, proved to be everything those wannabe influencers promised.
Built around coastal Mexican go-tos like roast octopus (soft and chewy without being rubbery as octopus can so often be) and aguachile (bright, tangy, addictive), its carne asada was probably one of the best steaks I’ve had in months, with a light, friendly atmosphere that clashed a bit with the homey casualness of the down-to-earth service I experienced elsewhere in New Orleans (I joked in my festival recap that almost no counter clerk was nice for the entire weekend, although there was a familial familiarity to the whole frustrating procedure). But Acamaya’s café de olla (slightly sweet, with hints of cinnamon, cardamom, and chives) would have made the trip worth the cost of a ticket by itself.
The Essence Food and Wine Festival offerings included panels with well-known chefs and restaurateurs like Kevin Hart, Patty LaBelle, Marcus Samuelsson, Ghetto Gastro, and the like, and if you’re someone who loves Food Network and Netflix cooking shows, that programming looked interesting from the few times I popped my head in. But when it comes to food, I’m Kevin Garnett from Uncut Gems: “Why the f*ck would you show me something if I couldn’t have it then?” Fortunately for me, New Orleans and the Essence Festival of Culture had plenty for me to see AND eat. I left satisfied.
