Where to Eat and Stay in New Orleans
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Just stroll along Magazine Street and you'll discover one inviting cafe or restaurant after another. One particular standout is stylish La Petite Grocery, which serves up modern takes on French favorites, such as tomato-and-mint-braised lamb shank with roasted red onions and ricotta gnocchi. It's a sister restaurant to nearby Sucre, a delightful little bakery acclaimed for its sinful cakes and pastries, potent java, and light lunch fare; and Grand Isle Restaurant, which is back in the Central Business District adjacent to Harrah's, and is a big-city version of an old-style Louisiana fish camp. Seafood lovers will find all their local favorites here - boiled crawfish, shrimp remoulade, and oyster gumbo.

Farther uptown, you'll find still more bustling retail and restaurant activity - places that increasingly compel tourists to explore beyond the French Quarter. In the Riverbend area, Jacques-Imo's Cafe serves up delicious contemporary dishes and New Orleans standbys, from country-fried venison with wild-mushroom pan gravy to fried mirlitons (a popular local squash) stuffed with oysters. Around the corner, wonderful burgers, breakfast fare, and house-made pies are the hallmark of Camellia Grill, a stalwart of delicious, down-home comfort food.

Mid-City
You can count yourself among New Orleans's more enterprising visitors if you take the time to venture into the Mid-City area, a loosely defined section of town about a 10-minute drive north of the French Quarter. It's anchored by City Park, which extends north almost as far as Lake Pontchartrain and contains the New Orleans Museum of Art. Adjacent to the park is the rapidly gentrifying Esplanade Ridge area, which is home to some excellent accommodations and restaurants. The cozy bistro Cafe Degas serves such superb French cuisine as salade Nicoise and Cajun-style bouillabaisse. In warm weather you can enjoy a meal on the lush garden patio.

There aren't too many places to stay in Mid-City, but one superb, gay-owned choice is the 1898 O'Malley House, an imposing Colonial Revival mansion run by friendly innkeepers Brad Smith and Larry Watts. The gracious rooms are filled with exceptional antiques, handsome Oriental rugs, plush four-poster beds, and elegant armoires and bed stands, yet the rates here are far lower than what you'd pay for similarly handsome accommodations in the French Quarter. A bounteous Continental breakfast is included.

If you have even a slight sweet tooth, be sure to stroll around the corner to Angelo Brocato, which serves some of the richest desserts in the city. Try a scoop of chestnut or panna-cotta gelato, or for the ultimate in decadent dining, a slice of Sicilian Cassata cake (filled with ricotta cheese and topped with marzipan). This neighborhood institution opened a century ago, was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and has been completely rebuilt - just another sign that New Orleans is back, better than ever.

Andrew Collins is the author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA and as well as numerous other guidebooks.