Vegetarian$
Dat Dog on Freret in New Orleans is the Freret Street specialty hot dog counter, with $9 alligator sausage, crawfish dogs, vegetarian franks and crawfish.
Try: Specialty hot dog
Tip: Build with crawfish etouffee on top of a frank for the local order; sides of fries run $4 a basket.
Cajun & Creole$
Parkway in New Orleans is the 1911 Mid-City po-boy room on Hagan Avenue near Bayou St John, with $13 fried shrimp po-boys dressed on Leidenheimer bread.
Try: Shrimp po-boy with debris
Tip: The back garden patio runs cooler in summer; the counter line is faster than the wait staff.
Cajun & Creole$
Domilise's in New Orleans is the 1918 family po-boy counter on Annunciation Street in Uptown, with $13 fried shrimp po-boys dressed on Leidenheimer bread.
Try: Fried shrimp po-boy
Tip: Cash and local-card only at the counter; the kitchen closes when the bread runs out for the day.
Cajun & Creole$
Mother's in New Orleans is the 1938 CBD cafeteria-line lunch counter at Poydras and Tchoupitoulas, with $12 red beans and rice plates and the Ferdi Special.
Try: Red beans and rice
Tip: Lines run long; arrive 11:00 or after 14:00 for the shortest wait, the cafeteria runs fast at the counter.
Cajun & Creole$Mon-Sat 11:00-20:00
Liuzza's by the Track in New Orleans is the Bayou St John lunch counter near the Fair Grounds that invented the BBQ shrimp po-boy, $15 with butter-pepper.
Try: BBQ shrimp po-boy
Tip: Cash only at peak; check the Jazz Fest schedule, the room turns into a circus on festival weekends.
Cajun & Creole$
Hansen's Sno-Bliz in New Orleans is the 1939 Tchoupitoulas Street snowball stand at Bordeaux, the country's oldest sno-ball stand at $5 to $8 a cup.
Try: Sno-ball with cream-of-nectar syrup
Tip: Open March to October only; cash only, the cream-of-nectar with condensed milk is the canonical order.