My favorite part of French Quarter Festival is the French Quarter itself. This is the place where our city comes together to celebrate New Orleans life, the same goes for the festival food, drawn from all across different parts of the community.
For the four-day span of French Quarter Festival, now through Sunday this week, the streets and corners and riverfront stretches of the historic core are transformed into a showcase of local music and local food. The neighborhood itself is the stage.
Food vendors are clustered in what feel like individual food courts for quick street eats. Taken together, it’s a tour de force of New Orleans flavors, including deep-running local traditions and more that show how New Orleans cooks and eats today.
Many French Quarter restaurants are represented, but the festival also draws in restaurants, food trucks, pop-ups and caterers from all across the area. Just as the festival crowd reflects different parts of New Orleans gathered in the Vieux Carre for the party, so too does the festival food.
This is why you can find shrimp remoulade and stuffed mirliton from Tujague’s, one of the oldest names in French Quarter dining, and also a lamb po-boy from Smoke & Honey, a Greek restaurant that opened in Mid-City just last year. You can get yakamein from Miss Linda the Yakamein Lady, a household name for local foodies, and you can get a lesson in Ethiopian flavors from Addis NOLA, the African restaurant on Bayou Road. You can get a classic Creole hot sausage po-boy from the 7th Ward legend Vaucresson’s, and learn about Haitian Creole flavor from the Treme restaurant Fritai.
Another distinguishing characteristic: the diversity of food vendors themselves. That’s the result of an intentional strategy toward inclusion and opportunity. The festival can be a big break for vendors, who can showcase what they do every day at their restaurants. I always love hearing how people discover favorite new spots around town through the festival.
It’s a refreshing reminder of the richness at our finger tips in this city, much like a visit to the French Quarter itself.
