Eating in New Orleans is as much a celebration of unpretentious cuisine as it is a hub of fancy food.NOLA has all your favorite cheap eats, from doughnuts to pizza to tacos, but with a unique Big Easy flair that can be hard to describe, but really easy to taste. Plus, cheap food really pairs well with drinking, which you will presumably be doing a lot of if you're rolling through New Orleans and hitting up its daiquiri, cocktail, and dive bars.
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This list will allow you to eat like a king for just a few bucks a pop. And for more tips on what to do while in New Orleans, check out the complete MUNCHIES Guide to New Orleans.
La Boulangerie: This place serves a great cup of coffee, but it also does bread, sandwiches, and pastries just right. Donald Link recently took over this spot and got into a small kerfuffle with regulars, but they've since worked it out. The tarts are great and the sourdough bread is the best you'll find in the city. Meanwhile, the sandwich meat here is coming from Link's other restaurant, Cochon Butcher (also included in our guide), so you'll be getting a taste of the some great meats and breads at the same time.
Pizza Delicious: Those who live in New Orleans seemed to have given up on serving a decent slice of pizza for most of the 20th century. Thankfully, Pizza Delicious showed up, bringing the good intel of how pizza is made in New York City, and it now serves some of the best damn pizza you can find anywhere. They have both simple standby pizzas and epic combinations of fresh ingredients that they've come up with. If any of the daily specials include meatballs, order it. Don't be an idiot and miss out on the pepperoni, spinach, broccoli, or cauliflower rolls either.
District: Donuts.Sliders.Brew: You're not coming here for donuts—you're coming here for donuts styled after banana pudding, a ginger-mint julep, tiramisu, dirty almond chai, and essentially anything these geniuses come up with that day. But don't sleep on the sliders, either. On a tiny, adorable bun, you can get pork belly, catfish, fried chicken, falafel, the original cheeseburger, and more. If you feel like mixing the two, you can always grab a "croquenut," a griddled donut sandwich. The breakfast tacos aren't bad either.
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Felipe's Mexican Taqueria: You coastal elites think you're special with your Dos Caminos or your El Farolitos. Well in New Orleans, folks have Felipe's, a fast Mexican taqueria paradise. You're looking for the super burrito that goes for less than $6. There's a couple locations throughout the city, but if you're at the one in the French Quarter, be sure to also find Tiki Tolteka, the cocktail bar from the same owners that's located right above it.
Butcher: You're going to find some of the best damn meat in the city right here at Cochon Butcher. A budget joint connected to Donald Link's fancier Cochon restaurant, these folks focus on the artisan meats, their sandwich counter, and a kicking wine bar. The sandwiches are what's to look for here, and they'll harden your resolve as well as your arteries. You'll want to pick up the buckboard bacon melt, the muffuletta, and the "Le Pig Mac," which is their take on McDonald's divine sandwich.
Red's Chinese: You might have a tough time finding this restaurant, located on St Claude Ave. in the Bywater neighborhood. It's a difficult-to-notice ground floor space, but once you get inside, you'll find some of the most inventive Chinese food in the country. Coming from the mind of a former cook at Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese in San Francisco, the food is flavorful and gives a Chinese flair to local cuisine. Start with the crawfish rangoons and the woodsy Swallow Cloud soup, and finish with the Louisiana-Style Kung Pao Pastrami.
Turkey & the Wolf: A new addition to the Irish Channel, Turkey & the Wolf is a redefining sandwich joint in a city too deeply focused on po boys. The wagyu chicken-fried steak sandwich on two slices of white bread is killer, and the deviled eggs topped with fried chicken skins might actually kill you. Though the sandwiches are great, also check out their cocktail menu and order their Ma'am Don't Be Hysterical, a gin and Campari cocktail with blackberry syrup, lime, and pickled peppers.For our complete list, check out the rest of our picks for New Orleans coolest shit in the MUNCHIES Guide to New Orleans.