Galatoire’s has occupied 209 Bourbon Street in the French Quarter since Jean Galatoire opened it in 1905, and its French-Creole cooking, tuxedoed waiters and long Friday lunches have made it one of the most storied dining rooms in New Orleans.
The ground-floor dining room is the main event. Mirrored walls, brass coat hooks, slow ceiling fans and white tile floors frame tables of regulars who often request the same waiter for decades. Start with puffed soufflé potatoes with béarnaise, shrimp rémoulade or oysters Rockefeller, then move to turtle soup laced with sherry. For a main course, order pompano en papillote or trout meunière amandine. Cocktails lean classic, and the room grows loud and convivial as lunch stretches into late afternoon. Check the current menus before you go, since seasonal selections rotate.
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Men must wear jackets in the evening and all day Sunday, and casual wear is discouraged at any hour. Reserve the quieter upstairs rooms in advance. The downstairs room has long followed a first-come tradition, and Friday lunch draws lines so long that locals hire stand-ins, especially during Carnival and the holidays. A weekday lunch offers the easiest entry. Afterward, the adjacent Galatoire’s 33 Bar & Steak works well for a nightcap, and Canal Street’s streetcar lines run one block away.
