New Orleans Guide
For my big 3-0, I finally took the trip I’ve been meaning to take for years: New Orleans. A city bursting with life, culture, and a little debauchery.
I traveled with my fiancé and one of my best friends from high school, who I happen to share a birthday with. It felt so serendipitous to celebrate together, especially since the last time we did was at eighteen (jumpscare). Birthdays, for me (like for many people), are oddly anxiety-inducing and a little lonely. There’s so much pressure to be reflective! To make it meaningful! Have the most fun!
I feel awkward receiving gifts, uncomfortable with intimate attention, almost guilty? Sharing a birthday softened a lot of that guilt. It made the celebration feel lighter, communal, and less performative.
As for New Orleans, I crowdsourced recommendations, and most of this list comes straight from friends who know the city well. Three days felt like the perfect amount of time. Enough to see and do a lot without rushing. We ate, drank, and shopped extremely well,
Enjoy.
Stays
Hotel Peter & Paul: A boutique hotel inside a 19th-century church, schoolhouse, rectory and convent. Rooms are filled with antique furniture, gingham coordination and baroque reverie. Five stars for the Hotel Peter and Paul map of the neighborhood, marked with the staff’s favorite local bars, restaurants, and shops. I loved being walking distance to the heart of the French Quarter and the Bywater. Oh, and there is a pool coming in 2026!
Hotel Saint Vincent: Located in the lower Garden District. A boutique hotel that apparently has a Friday Night DJ in the Chapel Club. We didn’t stay here but walked by, and it was absolutely breathtaking!
Shops
Low Timers: filled to the brim with 70s vintage, I found my fiancé a pair of perfect Levi’s 505s for $75.
Century Girl Vintage Century Girl Vintage: Fur, sequins, boas. I needed an occasion to buy everything here.
Anthology Anthology: a small shop located in a house in the lower garden district, reasonably priced. Formed by a collective of a few different vendors.
Merchant House: giant vintage furniture store.
Lekha Lekha: natural fibers, boxy silhouettes, and they have a dragon diffusion dupe!
Seasoned: kitchen thrift store.
Slow Down Slow Down: Found the red 70s puffer I have been hunting for. Shop filled with various vendors and slow fashion brands. They have a clothing swap every Thursday.
Vice & Graft: curated selection of vintage, heritage, and handmade items.
Patron Saint: wine shop and bar, has a mystery wine and tarot every Wednesday!
Culture
Pharmacy Museum: do not sleep on this one!
Tipitina’s: live music in a warehouse-y space.
The Spotted Cat: No photos from here because I was too busy dancing the night away!
Cajun Encounters Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour: Not the tour where Lana Del Rey met her husband. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any gators (hibernation season), but the swamp was stunning and majestic. Our tour guide, Gary, was incredibly knowledgeable.
Montgomery-Hero House Garden District: Montgomery-Hero House, Carroll-Crawford House and so much more!
Nous Nous: small gallery space in the heart of the French Quarter.
Food
Molly’s Rise and Shine: One of the best breakfasts of my life, do not skip the gran slam mcmuffin.
Bar Pomona Bar Pomona: mostly bar seats, natural wine bar with small plates.
Fives: refined oyster bar.
Mosquito Supper Club: couldn’t get a reservation here, but heard only amazing things. A reason to come back :)
Brennans Brennans: the only place to have a boozy, over-the-top, cotton candy-filled birthday brunch.
Saint-Germain: A ten-course prix fixe tasting menu in the Bywater—refined and seasonal.
N7: I think I was recommended this place by 15 different people, and it did not disappoint!
St. Roch Market: all-day dining - curated ensemble of local chefs.
Le Moyne Le Moyne Bistro: delicious classic French cuisine (perfect for a special occasion). Good martini.
Coop’s Place: ventured here after our swamp tour - amazing seafood gumbo.
Cafe Du Monde Cafe Du Monde: did not disappoint.
A list of resturants I didn’t get to try but come highly recommended:
Saint Claire
Parasol’s
Acamaya
Atchafalaya
The Commissary - Market + Kitchen by Dickie Brennan & Co.
San Lorenzo Restaurant
Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe
Drink
Fourth Wall Coffee: good coffee, big space, good interiors.
Bacchanal Wine Bar Bacchanal Wine Bar: Absolutely do not miss. You enter through a wine bottle shop, choose your bottle, build your own cheese plate from a refrigerator if you wish, grab some glasses, and find a table. I only wish the weather had been warmer so we could have sat outside.
Peychaud’s at The Celestine: chic!
Bud Rips Bud Rips Old 9th Ward Bar: a perfect dive bar in my books.
THE TELL ME BAR: wine bar with small plates, tucked away - so don’t be discouraged by the long gravel pathway.
Salon Salon: incredible interior, make a reservation, we were turned away (sad)!
Patula: wine bar!
Anna’s: ended my birthday here! Pool table downstairs, dance party upstairs.
Really love the layered structure here with stays, shops, culture, food and drinks all seperated. The observation about shared birthdays softening that performative pressure is so true, I had a similr experience celebrating with a friend and it totally changed the vibe. Brennans sounds perfect for that exact kind of over-the-top celebration when turning 30.
Patula 💕