[Godfather]

For starters:

The jazz brunch/buffet at Court of Two Sisters in the Quarter is great.

Commander's Palace is one of the "fancy" restaurants, but the price is very reasonable for the kind of restaurant it is. You can get lunch for two people for $60-$70.

There's an inexpensive and very good Middle Eastern restaurant Uptown near Tulane's campus. You just take the streetcar to the Riverbend area and get off at Burdette or Fern (it's been a few years so I don't remember which corner, they're one block apart). Head two blocks off St. Charles to Maple and turn right. It's half a block from Burdette. The name of the place is Babylon Cafe. Get the chicken shawarma or the dish with the lamb and veggies on a bed of hummus. The labna is the best side dish. There's also a bubble tea place nearby. Bubble tea is a slushy drink made from milk, fruit flavor, tea and tapioca bubbles. You can get it with herbal or decaf teas (I'm not sure if the Word of Wisdom applies but I'll mention it.) If you just want a burger, go to O'Henry's around the corner on Carrollton Avenue. They give you free peanuts and you're supposed to just throw the shells on the floor.

You'll need to check if this is still current, but there's a restaurant named Dunbar's where you can get all you can eat fried chicken and red beans and rice for $5. It's their Monday lunch special (if anyone is still around then.) The best fried chicken in town when I lived there was Mama's Tasty Foods, located on Louisiana just off of St. Charles. That's a major intersection and the streetcar stops there. The place has (had?) a red and yellow roof. I don't know if they're still there. DO NOT go there after dark.

There isn't much you'll like on Bourbon Street. There is an Italian restaurant called Tony Moran's, and Pat O's has a Bourbon Street entrance. That's the place you see on TV sometimes where they have the fountain with a flame inside it. You can get non-alcoholic drinks there. Don't go past the corner of St. Ann's--the 800 block of Bourbon is where the hardcore gay bars are. They usually have male dancers so even if you're a straight female who wants to go dancing without being hit on, you might be uncomfortable.

On Decatur Street in the French Quarter, you'll find an Italian grocery store called Central Grocery. They're known for a sandwich called a muffelata. It's a huge sandwich with meat, cheese and olive salad.

There are a number of po-boy places. A po-boy is kind of like a hoagie, but it's made with French bread. You can get french fry po-boys, roast beef po-boys, but if you get one you really want it to be fried seafood (catfish, shrimp, or oysters).

Safety will be an issue. NOLA has always had a high crime rate, but until a couple of years ago you were fine as long as you weren't into gangs or drugs and didn't wander into the wrong neighborhood. But the last two years or so it's been open season on innocent people. Best thing to do is stay with the crowds and near busy streets, and try not to get caught too late at night in an isolated area. Also, don't go too far away from the river in the French Quarter. Probably best not to go more than a block past Bourbon in that direction. One of the city's worst projects is on the other side of Basin Street.

Directions in New Orleans can be confusing because the city is tucked into a bend in the river. That makes north, south, east, and west meaningless--it's better to think in terms of upriver, downriver, lakeside, and riverside. If I find a good map I'll post it and that will make more sense.