Tujague's Restaurant

The house

Guillaume Tujague opened this house in 1856. It is the second-oldest restaurant in the city, a place of boiled brisket, shrimp rémoulade, and a cypress bar that sailors used to lean on. The spirit most often named is Madame Butera, a later owner, seen in formal clothes after close. Servers have reported colleagues in older uniforms who do not work there, standing in the dining room as if the floor chart had not been updated since the nineteenth century. The restaurant moved a short walk down Decatur in recent years and took its haunt stories with it — or the Quarter simply does not let a room that old go empty.

Start with shrimp rémoulade. The brisket is the old-house plate. Stand at the bar even if you have a table. That is where the room is still a port.

The Ghostly Gourmet