Veteran visitors often make a beeline for Café du Monde (800 Decatur St., 800-772-2927) for warm beignets and hot coffee. Located at the gateway to the New Orleans French Market and open 24/7 with the exception of Christmas Day and anytime a hurricane gets a little too close, the café has been an institution since 1862.

The coffee is rich and unique thanks to the addition of chicory, a wild perennial that was used to help stretch the limited coffee supplies during the American Civil War. Beignets are deep-fried choux pastry covered in powdered sugar. No, it isn't good for you, but it's a tradition in New Orleans, a city where a lot of things aren't good for you.

Earthy seasonality and an ongoing homage to locally sourced foods give Restaurant August (301 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-299-9777) a definite edge over more traditional New Orleans eateries. Award-winning Chef John Besh epitomizes not what New Orleans cooking has always been, but it will one day become.

Savor hot appetizers of handmade potato gnocchi with blue crab and black truffle, or huitlacoche agnolotti, slow-roasted Sandy Hook rabbit with smoked chilies. Enjoy roasted duckling with tomatillo, hominy and blackened foie gras, or roasted Dorado with turkey neck, morel mushrooms and asparagus. Critics say Restaurant August is the Antoine's of the 21st Century.

Small plates and main courses clutter the menu at Herbsaint (701 St. Charles Ave., 504-524-4114) like little culinary jewels. Chef Donald Link is a five-time James Beard Award winner, which is testimony to what a little crawfish and creativity can do.

Start with Louisiana shrimp and fish ceviche served with cucumbers and pepitas, or butter-poached gulf tuna with pickled chilies and mint. Move on to the braised Kurobuta pork belly with mushrooms and potato puree, or even lamb and mushroom lasagna. A small Sazerac on the side makes everything nice.

DRINK

Speaking of Sazerac, New Orleans' official cocktail made from cognac or rye whiskey, absinthe, sugar and dash of Peychaud's Bitters, there is no shortage of libations in the Big Easy. It's not only what you drink, but where you drink that makes a difference.

Few watering holes are more historical than Napoleon House Bar & Café, (500 Chartres St., 504-525-2431). First owned by Nicholas Girod, New Orleans' mayor from 1812-1815, the house was offered to Napoleon Bonaparte as a refuge during his exile in 1821. The famous French general never made it, but the legend stuck and Napoleon House has become a French Quarter attraction.

Open on two sides, the bar's stone walls provide a cool refuge on even the sunniest and hottest days. Sip a little Pimm's Cup and soak up the history.

New Orleans is no stranger to the emerging craft beer scene, and the Crescent City Brewhouse (527 Decatur St., 504-522-0571), the city's first brewpub, brews fresh French Quarter beer daily. Whether your tastes run to the Munich-style Black Forest with a sparsely-hopped but richly-malted character, or the unfiltered Weiss Beer, brewed with wheat and sporting flavors of banana and clove, the five styles brewed on premise offer something to please most palates.

According to an April 8 post on Culturated.com, Crescent City Brewhouse was named one of the best places to eat oysters in New Orleans. That's handy knowledge to have in case you need something for the beer to wash down.

Craft beer aficionados may want to hop in a taxi and head for New Orleans Lager & Ale (NOLA) Brewing Co. (3001 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-301-0117).

In addition to typical blonde and brown ale, NOLA also brews Hopitoulas, a West Coast-style pale ale that combines six malts and six varieties of hops that create a highly hopped, yet balanced brew with hints of pine and citrus. Unfortunately, its not yet time form Hurricane Saison – saison is Flemish for “season” – a Belgian style wheat beer, but that may be a good thing for many reasons.

EXPLORE

Colorful doesn't begin to describe New Orleans, a city founded in 1718 and owned first by France (1718-1763), then Spain (1763-1802), then France again (1802-1804) until it became part of the U.S. Its wide-ranging national and cultural influences have made one of the world's unique cities with much to see and do.

No other city has managed to turn voodoo, the ecumenical mashup of Catholicism and African religious beliefs, into a business enterprise. But New Orleans offers several opportunities for visitors to get their voodoo on.

Voodoo Authentica of New Orleans Cultural Center & Collection (612 Dumaine St., 504-522-2111) offers a complete line of voodoo dolls, gris gris bags and other Haitian and African spiritual arts and crafts. The store, just off Jackson Square, also gives spiritual readings and consultations.

If that's not enough, there's also Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo (739 Bourbon St., 504-581-3751), the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum (724 Dumaine St., 504-680-0128) and the Voodoo Spiritual Temple (828 N. Rampart St., 504-522-9627), where you might find Priestess Miriam Chamani hard at work on herbal healing and West African spiritual practices.

New Orleans' Garden District is just a short cable ride from downtown, but miles away from the city hubbub in its Southern mentality. Developed between 1832 and 1900, the National Historic Landmark District is considered the best preserved collection of Southern mansions in the U.S.

Bordered by St. Charles Avenue on the north, First Street on the east, Magazine Street on the south and Toledano Street on the west, the district was settled in the 19th Century by the city's elite who didn't want to mix with the Creoles populating the French Quarter. The district was developed to include only several houses per block, each surrounded by a large garden.

The area is still home for the elite. Keep your eyes open for famous residents, including actors Sandra Bullock and Nicholas Gage, musicians Mos Def and Trent Reznor, and athletes Drew Brees and Peyton and Eli Manning.

Inevitably, you will be drawn to Bourbon Street, New Orleans' boulevard of debauchery that stretches 13 blocks from Canal Street to Esplande Avenue. The most famous street in the city's oldest neighborhood is home to countless bars, clubs serving all persuasions, and endless revelry into the morning's wee hours.

But you will also find Galatoire's (209 Bourbon St., 504-525-2021) where classic French Creole cuisine is served and jackets are required after 5 p.m. There also are numerous restaurants with balconies where you can dine in peace high above the human jumble below.

But if you do dine al fresco and overlooking Bourbon's street-seething mass of humanity, don't forget to bring beads.