Antoine's Restaurant

Antoine's is the oldest family-run restaurant in the United States, continuously operated by the Alciatore family since Antoine Alciatore opened it in 1840. It occupies an entire French Quarter block and operates fourteen separate dining rooms — from the formal main room to wood-panelled private chambers lined with wine bottles and Mardi Gras memorabilia. The room called the Rex Room is hung with the photographs of every Rex, King of Mardi Gras, since the krewe was founded in 1872.

The menu is a monument to Creole French cuisine: Pompano en Papillote (baked in parchment, invented here in 1901 to honour a balloon pilot), Oysters Rockefeller (invented here in 1899), soufflé potatoes, and a wine cellar that has been accumulating since Prohibition. This is not a trendy restaurant; it has been doing the same things for nearly two centuries and doing them very well. Reservations are essential, particularly for the weekend.

eating out restaurant french quarter
A story
Antoine's invented Oysters Rockefeller in 1899 — baked oysters on the half shell with a secret green sauce so rich it was named after the richest man in America. The recipe has never been published and is still made daily in the Antoine's kitchen. The restaurant has fourteen dining rooms, each with a different character, and some of the walls are covered in the signed photographs of three generations of famous diners.