Chapter IV is where you go when you’re looking your best, because everybody and their mama is there. Your ex is at a table sharing smothered okra with their new fling, your former coworker is at the bar drinking a refreshing strawberry spritz, and a group of people you went to school with is around the corner when you walk to the bathroom. Plus, this great (and more modern) Creole spot from the team behind Dooky Chase has almost too many dishes here to choose from.

New Orleans is undoubtedly a seafood city, but most places do the same type of fish, along with the same preparations—we’re talking about you, fried catfish with some sort of cream sauce and a handful of crawfish tails or crabmeat on top. Even though that’s lovely, GW Fins is where you come for innovative seafood dishes. Among the most impressive are options that mimic meat, like dry-aged yellowfin and bluefin “ribeyes” or the muffaletta sliders made with cuts of swordfish.

Brennan’s is the fine dining standard in New Orleans. It’s the type of restaurant where you’ll find yourself checking your posture, because you’d hate to slouch, and saying “powder room” instead of bathroom. Servers put on shows when doing tableside bananas foster or crepes fitzgerald (both dishes that Brennan’s actually invented), and are somehow still able to answer any questions you have seamlessly. The menu changes seasonally, and all of it’s excellent.

There are many New Orleans restaurants with storied histories, but none quite like Dooky Chase’s, which was a central meeting point during the Civil Rights Movement and fed its famous fried chicken to A.P. Tureaud and Thurgood Marshall. Get a plate of that chicken for yourself while you admire the art on the walls from Black artists. On Holy Thursday (the last Thursday before Easter Sunday), they do gumbo z’herbes, a traditional preparation of the local dish made with nearly a dozen greens.

Our lives can be split into two distinct time periods: before we tried the turkey neck appetizer at Café Reconcile, and after. These crispy, caramelized hunks of fall-off-the-bone poultry are worth a visit alone, but you should definitely throw in a fried chicken plate, too—theirs is one of the best in the city. Café Reconcile is only open for lunch, and it’s a pretty big space where you can almost always find a table.

Dakar is one of the hottest and most unique restaurants in New Orleans. It’s a tasting menu, supper club-style spot where the chef and owner cooks dishes inspired by the food of Senegal, his home country. Not only that, but he’s right there with you for every course, telling stories and personal anecdotes about each bowl of blue crab seafood stew or pot of jollof rice. It’s a special occasion restaurant that will probably teach you a lot, while also simultaneously being a party.

Castnet Seafood makes our favorite po’boy in the city (yes, even better than Parkway). If it’s your first time, go with the quintessential dressed New Orleans fried shrimp, which comes with lettuce, pickle, tomato, Blue Plate mayonnaise, Crystal hot sauce, and a little butter on Leidenheimer French bread. They also serve a hot sausage option that’s equally good, made with Patton’s, which is the gold standard for ground meat patties, and tastes great dressed with cheese.

Bayona is a spot where you can get Creole dishes and linger with a couple of friends for a while and not feel like you’re part of a large march of tourists (unlike other classic spots like Galatoire's, which turn tables much faster). The courtyard, filled with plants and more cobblestones than a Roman sidestreet, is where you want to be. It feels like your own secret little garden where you can eat duck liver pate, grilled pork chops, and fennel and pepper-crusted lamb loin.

When you want to eat New Orleans-style seafood that’s better (and half the price of what you’ll find at touristy spots in the Quarter), come to Deanie’s on Hayne. Focus on the specials—last time we visited we had the crabmeat-stuffed redfish served with squash and salad for around $20. The seafood platters are also always a winner, especially since they’re totally shareable with heaping amounts of fried shrimp, catfish with stuffed crab, oyster patties, and onion rings.

New Orleans has plenty of Thai restaurants, but there’s something magical about Budsi’s in the Marigny. Maybe it’s because there have been so many iterations: it was originally a restaurant in Thailand, then a pop-up, and finally a gorgeous corner brick and mortar. Regardless, it’s one of our top group dinner spots in the city. Sure, going solo for a cocktail and plate of larb is cool and all, but it’s better to go with friends so you can share all the great appetizers.