Family friendly dining in NOLA

[xulori94]

We are spending Memorial Day in NOLA. Have reservations at the Drury Inn near FQ. We'll traveling with our 3 year old daughter so we are looking for places that have good food but family friendly. Also, we saw an ice cream shoppe on Chef vs City but can't remember the name of it. Finally, has anyone ever at the bugs at the Insectarium?

Thanks for your help

[xulori94]

thanks everyone for your suggestions. I am salivating already. does anyone know anything about taqueros y coyoacan or santa fe tapas? The latter has has a livingsocial deal today & I wanted to see if it was any good.

Thanks again!

[noradeirdre]

Santa Fe Tapas is a newish place near the Avenue Pub. I was intrigued by the Living Social deal too until I saw that it excluded tapas, to which I thought, WTF?

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Avenue Pub
1732 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130

[xulori94]

i thought that was weird too! I need to check to see if they accept the Restaurants.com gift cards b/c we have several of those. I checked out SFT menu and it looked good so maybe it's worth a try. do you know if it's a local place or a chain?
thanks

[uptownlibrarian]

Coyocan is closed.

[xulori94]

thank you. Do you know of any truly authentic Mexican restaurants in the area? We have a car so we can drive if necessary even though we are trying to stay downtown as much as possible.

[Paisley16]

I'm not sure if it would qualify as truly authentic, but we really enjoy el gato negro in the quarter on the french market.

It's not as ambitious as Coyocan was, but it's good. They use fresh juices in the margaritas, do tableside guacamole, etc.

Where are you coming in from? I'm curious because while I love Mexican, I hesitate to recommend it to visitors because it's often better in their hometown.

[xulori94]

we are coming from Mobile but my husband is Mexican so he's picky about Mexican food. I'll have him check out the website and see what he thinks. Thanks for the tip

[collardman]

This is on the North shore off I-12 so it may be a choice either coming in or leaving N.O. It was opened by 3 Mexican brothers to serve the Hispanic workers after Katrina but has been taken over by the locals who do not want the usual Tex-Mex. They make their own chorizo which is quite good.

http://www.la-noria-tacos.com/

[collardman]

Loved the insectarium but they weren't serving bugs the day we were there. Remember it is a Federal building so you do have to check your guns at the door, (i.e., there is a light screening procedure :-))

I think you will find all the restaurants recommended on this board good with children so don't cut off a great meal because of a tot. If you know your childs limits you can pick the right time of day and the staff will most likely work with you to make it a pleasant experience.

[noradeirdre]

ice cream: Creole Creamery? That's on Prytania near Upperline. It's also close to St. James Cheese Company, which is a great place for lunch with or without a 3 year old.

The only other ice cream places I can think of off the top of my head are actually gelaterias - Sucre on Magazine and La Divinia in the FQ and Magazine Street.

There are also Sno-Ball places- I bet your family would love Hansen's on Tchoup (why yes, I have been obsessed with Hansens since they re-opened for the season, why do you ask?)

I haven't been to the Insectarium, but I hear it's wicked cool!

Trying to think of other family friendly places- Domenica, The Butcher Shop, Ruby Slipper, Camellia Grill (either location), Cafe du Monde, Parkway Tavern/Bakery (which is also close by to another gelateria/bakery/awesome place to check out, Angelo Brocato's.) Maybe Juan's Flying Burrito.

Hope this helps to start at least!

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Camellia Grill
626 S Carrollton Ave, New Orleans, LA 70118

Creole Creamery
4924 Prytania St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Juan's Flying Burrito
2018 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Ruby Slipper Cafe
139 S Cortez St, New Orleans, LA 70119

Domenica
123 Baronne Street, New Orleans, LA 70112

[Fydeaux]

There is also Remoulade: definitely family friendly, pretty good food as is, and sometime menu items from Arnaud's are available. Not very expensive as I recall.

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Remoulade
309 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA

[Littleman]

Bon Ton's nice but it's closed on weekends.

Bon Ton Cafe @ 401 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA. 504 - 524 - 3386.
http://www.thebontoncafe.com/

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Bon Ton Cafe
401 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130