Best Places for Thanksgiving and Holiday Meals in New Orleans

There are several different routes you go could if you're looking for a good Thanksgiving dinner out in New Orleans. You could go to one of the finer hotels; they offer exquisite specials and dining experiences. You could go to one of the big-name restaurants by one of the big-name chefs, like K-Paul's Kitchen. Or you could try one of the lesser-known, hole-in-the-wall type places, those that are dim lit and don't appear to be much from outside, but inside smell amazing and where they treat you like family. Any of these routes is a good one, so it's all a matter of preference. Here are some suggestions, one from each category. (PS - these restaurants are all open post-Katrina.)

1. Fine hotel dining: The Begue's Restaurant at the Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans offers a very, very nice Thanksgiving Day brunch. Open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, they feature a soup station, a seasonal salad station, a seafood station, a carving station, and dessert. The stations break down like as follows:

Soup Station
Roasted Butternut Squash Veloute
Lobster Bisque

Fresh Seasonal Fruit Display
Assorted Pates & Terrines
Domestic & International Cheese Display

Seasonal Salad Station
Grilled Seasonal Crudités with New Orleans Green Onion Dip
Vietnamese Shrimp & Noodle Salad
South Western Grilled Chicken Salad
Lentil & Wild Rice Salad
Grilled Pineapple & Black Bean Salad

Seafood Station
Smoked Salmon & Smoked Gulf Fish
Spicy Boiled Shrimp
Oysters on the Half Shell
Junco Crab Claws
Marinated Calamari
Eggs Sardou
Currant Glazed Boneless Pork Chop
Blackened Atlnatic Salmon

Carving Station
Slow-roasted Prime Rib with Horseradish Cream & Herb au Jus
Honey Pepper-glazed Ham with Pineapple Rum Sauce
Oven-roasted Tom Turkey with Cranberry Relish & Terragon Aioli
Baby Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
Herb and Almond Orzo Rice Pilaf
Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Black Pepper Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Selection of Breakfast Breads
Golden Belgium Waffles

Dessert
Assorted French Pastries
Sonesta Quiche Florentine
Gourmet Cakes & Pies
Bananas Foster & Cherries Jubilee

As is the custom in New Orleans, there is live music as you dine, in this case the piano, and prices are as follows:

Adults - $42.99
Seniors - $36.99
Children - $19.95

Adult brunch includes Champagne. Non-alcoholic beverages included.
Tax and gratuity not included. The Royal Sonesta is located at 300 Bourbon Street New Orleans, LA 70130, and reservations need to be made at 504.586.0300 (ask for Begue's).

2. Big-name dining: K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen is one of the most nationally "famous" restaurants, and is re-opened after Hurricane Katrina. The restaurant has an intimate dining room and a quaint courtyard, and there are two open-air kitchens where diners can actually see their food being prepared. The atmosphere is both fun and elegant, and the food is, of course, excellent. They are open only for dinner, from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm. For parties larger than four, please call K-Paul's reservations at (504) 524-7394 (you might want to call for parties of fewer than four as well, just in case). K-Paul's is located at 416 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 - in the heart of the French Quarter!

3. Hole-in-the-wall dining: Mother's Restaurant has been around, in New Orleans, for a long time (since 1938). It is your typical New Orleans hole in the wall, a brick building below a balcony, not a big place, just off the street, looks like little from the outside, but inside it is loud and busy and smells great. There are many great places just like Mother's to choose from, but, because it's Thanksgiving, and because they have "the world's best baked ham," and because it is called Mother's, because it resonates with that home-cooked, family feeling, because it is a New Orleans staple, it seems to be the most appropriate for Thanksgiving. The following fun information is taken directly from their Web site:

"What a Whole Lotta Love!
Mother's love, that is. In a single year, Mother's serves up:

No less than 175,000 pounds of ham and roast beef
More than 40,000 pounds of turkey
A staggering 30,000 pounds of homemade sausage
Quarter of a million biscuits (and even more eggs!)
A whopping 90,000 pounds of jambalaya
Some 25,000 soft-shell crabs and even more shrimp
Nearly 250,000 pounds of cabbage
An incredible 150,000 loaves of French bread
As many pies as there are ships passing through the port of New Orleans (3,500)
A spicy 1,500 gallons of Creole mustard
And an honest ton of hot pepper sauce"

Do I need to say more? I didn't think so. They are located at 401 Poydas Street at the corner of Tchoupitoulas is one of the most recognized landmarks in New Orleans' Central Business District (CBD). Zip code is 70130, and their phone number is (504) 523-9656. Please call for Thanksgiving Day details. Holiday hours of operation are otherwise: 6:30 am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday, and 7 am to 10 pm on Sundays. There is no dress code.