Weekend Getaway: New Orleans, Louisiana
From traditional catfish po'boys to modern muffulettas (think tinned fish), the Big Easy is a haven for sandwich lovers.
Welcome to the weekend! Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:
Weekend Getaway: A few days in New Orleans can’t be beat. We’ve visited a dozen times, and this month, we’ll be sharing all our picks for where to eat and drink, starting with the ultimate sandwich tour.
Featured Field Guide: Download our Signature Field Guide to New Orleans, a curated dining guide with more than 40 recommendations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks, organized into a six-day itinerary in the Crescent City. It’s free this month for paid subscribers!
Weekend Reading: Ice-cold martinis, finding joy in chilly beaches, plus some travel tips for folks who need a little extra help letting go of stress.
Our Favorite Sandwiches in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS, LA. — I go to New Orleans for the sandwiches. Well, and the cocktails, and the seafood, and the people, and my favorite activity, which is getting up early, grabbing a chicory iced coffee from French Truck Coffee or Café Du Monde, and wandering around the French Quarter when the only other people out and about are spraying down the sidewalks from the previous night or delivering loaves of bread. It’s the best. Whatever drew you to New Orleans doesn’t matter, what’s important is that you made it. So let’s get breakfast.
I always swing by Café du Monde for an order of beignets encrusted with powdered sugar whenever I’m in New Orleans, but my favorite breakfast in town is at Molly’s Rise and Shine, Mason Hereford’s ’90s-inspired morning joint. There are two breakfast sandwiches on the menu. The Grand Slam McMuffin has sage pork sausage, a crispy hashbrown, griddled onions, American cheese, and Heinz ketchup on a housemade English muffin. The McDonald’s sausage McMuffin with egg is my favorite fast-food item of all time, so I love this one. The other, the classic biscuit sandwich, has sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheddar on a buttermilk biscuit with Duke's mayo, and, the key ingredient, pickled banana peppers that add a bright tang. We also started one day at Stein's Market and Deli for garlic bagel sandwiches with fried eggs and Taylor ham; there’s a great little coffee stand inside, Whatever Coffee.