Cafe Degas
French restaurant · Fairground ·
French bistro with tree growing through dining room
French bistro with tree growing through dining room
"Cafe Degas offers a dramatic dining room for date night, more like an open-air patio, with a pecan tree growing in the middle of it and twinkling lights aplenty. Stroll along tree-draped Esplanade Avenue to reach your candlelit meal, a classic menu of French specialties with an occasional Creole and New Orleans flare — think escargot, steak frites au poivre, and mussels." - Clair Lorell
"Take a seat at 6 p.m. ($105) or 9:15 p.m. ($115 including a midnight toast), for NYE with live music and a French accent at Cafe Degas in Bayou St. John. Chef Joe Turley has a menu with options like foie gras torchon, veal roulade, and chocolate truffle mille roulade for dessert. Double Whiskey is both a drink order and the name of the band." - Beth D’Addono
"A charming, classic French spot lit up by Christmas lights year-round; patio seating is available and guests can choose from chef Joe Turley’s French-centric regular menu or a multi-course Réveillon. Last year’s Réveillon included escargot Rockefeller, lamb steak au poivre, and a decadent apple frangipane tart." - Clair Lorell
"Owners Jacques Soulas and Jerry Edgar opened Café Degas in 1986 on leafy Esplanade Avenue. The Cafe, with its lovely tree growing through the center of the dining room, has drawn Francophiles ever since for its comforting menu of French brasserie food. Chef Joe Turley presides over the kitchen, which turns out savories like roasted quail over baby mixed greens and seared duck breast with blood orange basmati and wild rice. Always get the Ile Flottante — floating islands — if it’s featured for dessert: ethereal clouds of meringue floating on crème anglaise." - Beth D’Addono
"Located on a gorgeous tree-draped block of Esplanade Avenue, Cafe Degas has been one of New Orleans’s defining French restaurants for nearly four decades; Jacques Soulas and business partner Jerry Edgar opened the restaurant in 1986 and named it based on its proximity to the Degas House. The restaurant is famed for its open-air dining room with a pecan tree growing in the middle, jovial, familiar service, and a consistent menu of classic French brasserie food like mussels and frites, escargot, French onion soup, and a seasonal soft-shell crab dish." - Clair Lorell