Get a Taste of NOLA Without Leaving Home

If you 'know what it means to miss New Orleans,' here's a little bit of the Big Easy at your doorstep

Seafood gumbo from Commander’s Palace. Photos: Laine Doss

New Orleans has a rich and varied food culture: Its location along the Mississippi River and proximity to the Gulf Coast, provides oysters, shrimp, and other seafood. The city’s French, Creole, African, and Southern influences all meld together into a language of food that can be found nowhere else.

A trip to New Orleans is a feast for the senses with dishes like etouffee, gumbo, beignets, turtle soup, crawfish boils, and beignets just a few of the pleasures to be sampled.

If “you know what it means to miss New Orleans,” here are a few ways to enjoy her charms at home.

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Gumbo from Commander’s Palace

Your gumbo arrives in containers like these.

Since 1893, this gorgeous blue-and-white awninged restaurant in New Orleans’ Garden District has been one of the city’s most iconic dining destinations, with great chefs like Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, and Jamie Shannon cutting their teeth in its kitchen.

The restaurant, which earned a handful of James Beard awards, offers dinners and traditional two-course three-martini lunches. The menu offers the best of New Orleans favorites like turtle soup, jambalaya, and gumbo. Both the turtle soup and gumbo are available for overnight shipping. Gumbo ($89) arrives frozen in two containers, each serving two people. The key to a good gumbo is its roux, and this one is thick, smoky, and slightly spicy. The gumbo is filled with okra, shrimp, and crawfish. Defrost the containers overnight, and pour into a pan to simmer. Though many gumbos are served over rice, this gumbo is so thick, it’s not necessary. Go traditional and add a loaf of Commander’s Palace garlic bread ($20 additional) for dipping instead.