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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,608 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

#2488 - French Market Restaurant and Bar, New Orleans - 3/24/2014

The French Market Restaurant and Bar claims to date back to 1803, "Twelve years before Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans, The French Market Restaurant & Bar began serving outstanding seafood and ice-cold drinks to visitors and natives alike." But I don't now what form(s) that would have been in, have not found any details, and it is not included in lists of the oldest restaurants in New Orleans. But it is, of course, on the edge of the French Market itself, the oldest in America and hosting a rich mix of culture and cuisines here since the 18th century:

"As for the confusion of tongues in the market, it was simply delicious. French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and “Gumbo” contended with each other for supremacy  … There are Gascon butchers, and the Italian and Spanish fruit vendors, and the German vegetable women; there are Moors, with their strings of beads and crosses, fresh from the Holy Land . . . Chinese and Hindu, Jew and Teuton, French and Creole, Malay, Irish, and English, all uniting in an ceaseless babble of tongues that is simply bewildering." (frenchmarket.org)

Some of the buildings, including the space occupied by the Cafe Du Monde, date back to 1813, after the previous structures were destroyed in an 1812 hurricane.

Whatever the history of the French Market Restaurant, it draws in tourists with a giant vat of crawfish steaming in the front window, and a menu full of Cajun and Creole dishes with an emphasis on seafood. This was our last bar and restaurant stop of this trip to New Orleans and it concluded nicely with the blackened alligator.


1001 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 525-7879
Web site: frenchmarketrestaurant.com
Reviews: anythingispossibletravel - neworleansonline - yelp - tripadvisor - neworleansrestaurant 

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