Compère Lapin is the debut restaurant from famed chef Nina Compton and it remains one of New Orleans’s most original restaurants, serving food that blends Caribbean flavors with French technique and a whole lot of creativity. While the menu changes often, Compere is known for a mix of small plates that might include dirty rice arancini served with sour orange mojo, crispy pig ears, and conch fritters; entrees like her famed curried goat and spiced chicken with Jollof rice and chow chow, and unbeatable cocktails.

From Donald Link’s resataurant group, Gianna is a temple of rustic Southern Italian cuisine. Chef Jared Heider presides over a menu rich with house-cured meats, locally farmed produce, Gulf seafood, and of course, pasta. The bar is focused on Italian wines and cocktail bases of Vermouth, Apertivo, and Amari. Open for lunch and dinner daily with brunch on weekends, the price point is about the same as Link’s other restaurants.

Though French-inspired, this Warehouse District restaurant is New Orleans through and through — in ambiance, hospitality, and food and drink. Chic and charming with hanging lights strung throughout a cushy patio, Vyoone Segue Lewis has created something special here, welcoming for date night and hugely popular with large groups. On the menu, highlights include the escargot, French onion soup, white bean cassoulet, crab cakes, and the soft shell entree with maque choux and crawfish cream sauce if available.

This Italian spot on Julia delivers fine pasta and specialties from around the boot, including steak Florentine, wood-fired pizzas, and a range of oven-roasted vegetables. Sofia, an homage to a true Italian dish, Sophia Loren, is an airy, stylish space brimming with eye-popping art.

Peche is to be trusted, still popular after a decade in part due to its consistent quality delivery. The Donald Link group restaurant has a wood-burning oven, great raw bar selection, and expertly done seafood, with a diverse enough menu to satisfy most palates. The crab claws, “fish sticks,” duck pasta, and whole grilled fish are crowd-pleasers, and specials are always a winner.

One of the city’s most stylish lounges landed in the Warehouse District late last year, bringing a sexy, old-world feel to a former beer bar on Julia Street. Jolie is all about atmosphere and cocktails, a lineup of extravagant tipples utilizing tools like atomizers, eye droppers, and blow torches, occasionally incorporating a dash of glitter or other accouterments — like the French 75 with a small baggie filled with pop rocks attached to the glass rim. Come here for live music, DJs, and occasional “Cirque de Jolie” lineup of performers including sword swallowers and acrobats. The food menu is mostly made of elegant shareable plates with a French flair, like escargot, foie gras toast, tempura frog legs, bone marrow, and beef carpaccio.

Named for a Cajun town down da’ bayou, Galliano dishes raw and char-grilled oysters along with specialties like country-fried steak, fried chicken and shrimp, and Sunday pot roast. Chef/owner Ricky Cheramie, who hails from Bayou Lafourche, serves gumbo, traditional po’ boys, and of course red beans and rice. Enter from Fulton Street for a taste of real deal Cajun cuisine, six days a week.

Local swine is only the beginning at this James Beard award-winning Southern meets Cajun eatery from chefs Donal Link and Stephen Stryjewski. Cochon also happens to have one of the best chargrilled oysters in town, in this case, enhanced with a divine chile-garlic butter that lets the flavors of the bivalve sing.

If your day has you craving something a bit more gritty, Corporation Bar’s got you covered. This hole-in-the-wall on the corner of S. Peters and Andrew Higgins has all the Louisiana staples: jambalaya, gumbo, muffulettas, red beans and rice, and great po’ boys. It’ll have a shorter line than Cochon Butcher, and you may even meet a character or two. Open ‘til late, making for a fun one-last-drink stop.

This breakfast and lunch spot couldn’t be more convenient — it sits just across the street from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Dishing up sweet and savory crepes, omelets and egg Benedict dishes, pancakes and parfaits, healthy juices, and necessary bloody Marys, Two Chicks is the bomb. The restaurant has a second location in the CBD.

This elegant Warehouse District gem is a contemporary Creole stunner, seamlessly combining Louisiana classics with French-inspired techniques and Southern American ingredients. Try the excellent gumbo or turtle soup, the ravioli starter, and soft shell crab Monica or grilled pork chop for dinner. Annunciation is romantic and cozy; a lovely option for an intimate meal.