New Orleans is home to one of the few true indigenous cuisines of the USA. Creole, the rich, seafood-heavy, largely urban cuisine of New Orleans (not to be confused with Cajun – the rustic food of rural Louisiana) is reinterpreted on a daily basis by adventurous fusion chefs in the area. But what about the places cooking the New Orleans favourites that the hot young chefs are modifying?  Bywater, now flooded with post-Katrina transplants, is regularly touted as New Orleans’ answer to Brooklyn (a fact New Orleanians both embrace and hate with the passion gentrification tends to engender). On Dauphine Street you can find international street food and vegan breakfasts – a far cry from traditional gumbo.  Across the street from those trendy outlets is Frady’s One Stop Food Store. This corner shop turned café is not a hotbed of slickly dressed waiters. At Frady’s, folk crowd in for plate lunches that follow the Southern meat-and-three tradition – one meat (smoked sausage, baked chicken) with two or three vegetables or starchy sides. Po’boys, the local version of a sandwich served on softer-than-French-but-reminiscent-of-baguette bread, are also popular.  While tucking in to a po’boy at the few wrought-iron tables on the sidewalk outside, enjoy the view of the old Piety Street Recording studio, which has hosted the Dave Matthews Band and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among others.  If you like the sound of po’boys, head to Freret Street and have a seat at Freret St Poboy & Donut Shop (freretstreetpoboys.com). On a corridor dominated by intensely designed dining spaces, it offers simply a room with a few tables, often populated with their delicious sandwiches. Of particular note are the fried oysters (always plump and liable to burst with seawater when you bite into them) and roast beef slow-cooked for hours in garlic, spices and its own “debris” (local slang for drippings gravy). They do a mean cup of gumbo too – far better than some that can be found in the busy French Quarter.  The doughnuts are also good, but they don’t approach the feverishly addictive qualities of the Buttermilk Drop Bakery and Café (buttermilkdrop.com). The buttermilk drop, popularised by the now defunct McKenzie’s Pastry Shoppe, warrants definition: it is the hole of a doughnut (the part you don’t usually see), with a slightly crumbly texture, infused with buttermilk, fried and drenched in a sugary coating. Dwight Henry’s drops at the Buttermilk Drop Bakery and Café are the platonic ideal of a sweet that make strong men weep with joy.  While New Orleans is not well known for world cuisine, it does boast a large Vietnamese population. In the suburb of Gretna, in a concrete strip mall as removed from the elegant and well-established New Orleans architecture as The Gherkin in London, is Tan Dinh, which may be the best-value restaurant in the city – and serves up delicious food too. The pho is fragrant and simultaneously hearty, the charred Korean short ribs are moreish and the garlic butter chicken wings may be the best thing ever to go with a cold beer.  New Orleans is a lush, subtropical city with an abundance of parks. The two largest, Audubon and City Park, are justifiably famous beyond the city borders, but smaller parks remain undiscovered by visitors.  After years of delay, Crescent Park opened in the Bywater in February. For a city that is so culturally and geographically ingrained with the Mississippi, there are not many well-manicured spots to watch the river in peace (the Riverwalk along the French Quarter is often very busy and bustling). The Crescent, which will one day link to the Riverwalk, is popular with families, dog walkers and the curious, who flock to its industrial-aesthetic inspired edge to see the “Big Muddy” flow slowly by.  The city hosts an art market in Palmer Park  In Faubourg St John, a neighbourhood of shade trees and elegant old homes, Alcee Fortier Park (usually known as Fortier Park) is an excellent example of urban planning done well. It’s little more than an irregularly shaped plot of land, but neighbours pitched in, adding fairy lights, lawn chairs and art to create a perfect little copse-and-clearing that sits across from a strip of worthwhile restaurants and shops.  While New Orleans is deeply linked to the Mississippi, it also shares a shore with the enormous Lake Pontchartrain. At the intersection of St Bernard Avenue and Lakeshore Drive, there is a small public shorefront complete with picnic tables, flowering trees and, best of all, easy swimming access. Clean-up efforts have left the lake safe for swimming, but no one in the city seems to know where to access it. This is the spot. While some come here to cool off during the hot summer, it’s still largely unknown for most New Orleanians, not to mention tourists.  New Orleans has always attracted the oddballs, eccentrics and iconoclasts of the generally conservative American South, and, as a result, the arts scene is rich and ever-changing.  Those seeking a film outside the blockbuster roster would do well to look up the schedule at Indywood (indywood.org). A pair of cinephile siblings run this art-house cinema from a converted laundromat. It’s perfect as an evening opener, given its proximity to the music along well-known Frenchmen Street and the slightly more obscure clubs popping up along St Claude Avenue.  All sorts of shows – from experimental dance to puppet festivals to performances associated with the city’s famed Fringe Fest – tromp along the main stage in the artfully dilapidated Marigny Opera House (marignyoperahouse.org), a converted church and beloved venue of the local performing arts scene.  In Palmer Park, Uptown, on the last Saturday of every month, the Arts Market is a good place to find handmade  art and craft products made by locals, including glassware and original prints. There is also a family-friendly day-long festival, organised by the Arts Council of New Orleans. Music, food and dozens of vendors selling at cut-rate prices make for a bazaar where you can find a unique piece of local work that doubles as the perfect souvenir.  There are no direct flights from the UK to New Orleans. Services to the city’s Louis Armstrong Airport connect from JFK and Newark airports in New York as well as Miami airport in Florida. American Airlines (americanairlines.co.uk) also flies internally from many other US states. Non-stop flights take around three hours from New York and two from Miami.  A taxi from the airport to central New Orleans costs $33 (£20) for a couple or $14 per person for three or more people. An airport shuttle is available for $20 per person and can be booked in advance (airportshuttleneworleans.com).  Getting around by bike is fairly easy or, if you prefer to take taxis, United Cabs operates an efficient service (unitedcabs.com). Information on bus routes can be found at norta.com.  For more information on visiting the USA, go to discoveramerica.com  A new museum puts Johnny Cash at the heart of the country music pantheon  Download the free Telegraph Travel app, featuring expert guides to destinations including Paris, Rome, New York and Amsterdam https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/travel-guides-by-telegraph/id793779955?ls=1&mt=8
As the Jazz Festival entertains the city, a New Orleans local shares lesser-known hotspots for food, culture and outdoor spaces