Traveling to ALA’s annual conference? Take along our insider’s guide to the best eats, sights, and sounds.

New Orleans’s collective memory is often long and surprisingly detailed, and it can surface at unexpected moments. In the last few years, a taxi driver taking a fare to the airport has more than once fondly recalled “the librarians” or those “book people” as the first ones to hold a convention here after Hurricane Katrina devastated our city in 2005. That show of support from the American Library Association (ALA) and its friends was very economically and psychologically important to the city, and New Orleanians who were here haven’t forgotten.

Now the book people are coming back—ALA’s annual conference is June 23–28—and some of you will get a chance to see how things have changed. Rebuilding is shockingly not as complete as you might expect, and the local economy is a bit suspect. Although the region’s population remained stable following Katrina, the city lost more than 125,000 residents. But there are also encouraging signs. The most visible are the new restaurants that have joined the well-established ones, the resurgence of reliable music clubs, and the fact that while Bourbon Street is still its own bad self, it doesn’t smell as awful because of a new determination to keep the French Quarter clean. This mixture of old and new reminds me of a longtime friend who’s been through some life-altering circumstance, only to come out the other end with a verve that tempers the familiarity.

While the French Quarter looks pretty much the same as it always has, take some time to sneak off to explore Frenchmen Street (outside the far back of the Quarter) for music and Magazine Street for shopping. And don’t forget to stroll down Julia Street, in the Warehouse District (the area around the Convention Center), where the long-lived LeMieux Galleries feature an appealing selection of ceramics, paintings, and one-of-a-kind jewelry, and the venerable Arthur Roger Gallery showcases some of the city’s best contemporary artists. And while you’re in the area, you may notice that the D-Day Museum has changed its name to the National World War II Museum—and it’s added a theater and restaurant, which draw a lot of locals for lunch and happy hour.

Perhaps the two chefs who are creating the most buzz here are James Beard Award winner Donald Link and the telegenic John Besh, who’s popping up on PBS these days with a 26-part cooking series, Chef John Besh’s New Orleans. Besh manages The American Sector restaurant at the National World War II Museum, and the eatery features good drinks and a tempting selection of appetizers, and ranks among many people’s favorite lunch spots. Take one bite, and it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about. While hanger steak and meatloaf may sound mundane, the chef’s updated standards are as creative and tasty as his more exotic offerings (like pork cheeks and rabbit pâté with celery root slaw)—and everything is made with fresh, locally grown ingredients. If you have a few extra bucks, Besh also owns the upscale August, a dining destination for many visitors, much like Emeril’s Restaurant, just off of Julia Street.

Link owns Herbsaint, where he features small plates, as well as entrée-size portions and a bistro menu. Whatever you do, don’t skip the shrimp and grits, a local favorite, as is the homemade spaghetti with guarnciale and fried poached egg and the papardelle with Bolognese sauce that’s crowned with a farm-fresh egg. Given his creative cuisine and willingness to accommodate large parties, you’ll often see groups of locals in celebration mode. Link also owns the louder and very busy Cochon, another local lunch favorite. Although you won’t go wrong ordering the oyster and bacon sandwich, more adventurous eaters should try the beef tongue (it’s very tender), hogshead cheese with field beans (for a taste of traditional New Orleans cooking), or fried alligator (so you can say you did!). If you’re just in the mood for a sandwich or some food to snack on in your room, head to Cochon Butcher (which is attached to the main restaurant), where you can pick up some of Link’s artisanal sausages—the Cajun andouille is a winner—and a carton of smoky black-eyed peas.

Lunch options near the Convention Center run the gamut, and locals have their share of very dependable places for the quick in and out. Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar & Restaurant features American (read, burger) fare, while Deanie’s, just down the street from Cochon, serves up excellent plate lunches and po’ boys in the old tradition of a cafeteria. If you’re in the mood for a slightly more formal setting, RioMar’s creative chef, Adolfo Garcia, cooks (or not, in the case of his ceviche) the best seafood in the District, combining Spanish, Latin American, and local influences in delicious dishes such as Portuguese bacalao and escabeche of Gulf fish—and the sautéed flounder with red wine, garlic, fried oysters, and ham is also pretty amazing.

Don’t be discouraged by the long line outside Mother’s, a convenient lunch spot on Poydras Street—somehow the queue always moves along quickly. But locals who lunch in the Quarter head for Johnny’s Po-Boys, a standby that some swear is the gold standard for traditional Louisiana sub sandwiches. Over on Frenchmen Street, the venerable Praline Connection serves up tempting soul food plates of first-rate red beans, corn bread, greens, and chicken livers at a fair price, and the nearby Marigny Brasserie is a local staple for great food before heading out for a night of music. One of the truly great dishes of current New Orleans cuisine (or perhaps a not so well kept secret since you heard it here first) is the brasserie’s crawfish cakes appetizer, served on corn maque choux. Pair it up with some andouille gumbo and you’ve got a perfect light meal that you’ll never get anywhere else in America.

Amble half a block down the street and you’ll find Snug Harbor, the city’s most reliable contemporary jazz club—it has been for decades—where pater familias Ellis Marsalis (whose accomplished sons include Wynton and Branford) regularly holds forth on piano, and when he’s not around, young lions fill the bill. Snug Harbor’s restaurant side is also no slouch, with excellent shrimp in garlic and wine sauce and the best steaks and burgers on the block.

If you’re looking for entertainment, check out the most recent issue of the Gambit (the newspaper is also available online at www.bestofneworleans.com) for local club listings, or just stroll down Frenchmen Street and pick your own poison from the sounds wafting through the Spotted Cat’s or Café Negril’s open doors. (One note: around 10 or 11 p.m., the street shifts to a younger, very local crowd that attracts young artists and performers and creative types.) And for some hot old-school sounds, don’t forget Palm Court, a veritable bastion of traditional jazz with old liners like Lars Edgeran and nonagenarian Lionel Ferbos manning the bandstand, the musicians at Preservation Hall, and the little group (with a phenomenal banjo player) that swings at The Gazebo, a pocket park just upriver from Palm Court and adjacent to Magaritaville.

Before working one’s way in the opposite direction uptown, with a streetcar ride to see the grand houses on St. Charles Street and in the Garden District, be sure to visit the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, which has fascinating displays of Southern culinary memorabilia, including a display of absinthe paraphernalia, and a gift shop that sells many hard-to-find local and regional cookbooks. The museum also features a museum within a museum: the Museum of the American Cocktail, which displays the history of drink with a staggering thoroughness.

Magazine Street continues to ebb and flow with quirky shops, such as Thomas Mann’s Gallery I/O (when only the finest techno-romantic jewelry will do), the Brad & Dellwen Flag-Party-Gift Shop (for whimsical souvenirs), and Belladonna Day Spa (for wonderful soaps, classy souvenirs, and a meditation courtyard to relieve the strain of walking down the Convention Center’s miles of aisles). Magazine Street also abounds with eateries—everything from Brazilian and tapas places to the Lilette Restaurant, where James Beard nominee, chef John Harris, serves up a mean version of potato gnocchi with sage brown butter. Surrey’s Café & Juice Bar, a cheap cab ride from the Convention Center, is great for healthy breakfasts or lunches, with a tofu breakfast platter and a terrific crab omelet. (It also offers bananas Foster French toast for those who insist on carbo-loading.) Also on Magazine, but more uptown, farther from the Convention Center, Le Petit Grocery dishes up a savory appetizer of blue crab beignets and a hip, unabashedly flavorful rendition of shrimp and grits with shiitake mushrooms, smoked bacon, and thyme. And if you’re craving an early dinner, the Martinique Bistro (which is “way uptown”) features great Prince Edward Isle mussels and outdoor seating. If you can tear yourself away from a committee meeting or a session, the trick to seeing Magazine Street during the day is to take the streetcar as far as you like, walk to Magazine, and then take the bus back downtown.

But before you hop on the bus, don’t forget to visit La Divina Gelateria, which features frozen concoctions—works of art, really—that rival anything you’ll find in Europe. Grab a scoop of lime sorbet or anything chocolate at the gelateria’s Magazine Street location to sustain you while you ride back to the French Quarter. And then order the stracciatella or fior di latte at La Divina’s Saint Peter Street location!

(See our ALA Conferences site for complete event coverage from the editors of Library Journal and School Library Journal)