Shaking out our umbrellas, we follow the barkeep’s nod toward a cayenne-walled room, where a dozen damp tourists mill around a man in a red felt fedora.  A single long table set with white linen dominates the windowless space.  Among the framed black-and-white photos that line the walls, a small plaque tags this “The Mystery Room”.

And the mystery?  Why, it’s a former Prohibition-era speakeasy, says the behatted Naif Shahady.  Of course!  This is New Orleans – we’d expect no less…

READ MORE of my food tour column in the current issue of Taste & Travel International (tasteandtravelmagazine.com).