Jazz Fest food is next level. Here are 12 classics from the food vendors to try first.

Some of the food at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has obtained legendary status. It’s delicious and also tied up with good times and good feelings that people cultivate around the festival.

Every year, there are new additions to the menu, and over the years, some of these can make the jump to classic status.

On the eve of the 2025 Jazz Fest, I’ve been rethinking my own roster of dishes that are Jazz Fest essentials. I’ll be cutting up the massive menu in different ways as the days go on with a look at new dishes, niche players, and other angles on festival eating.

This year, more than 60 vendors provide the provisions, with a total of more than 200 items. Some vendors are restaurants, others are caterers and a few are nonprofits.

You can follow your whim and sample with confidence. Jazz Fest maintains very high standards for its food vendors. This is not the glorified stadium food you get at some other big events.

But veteran Jazz Fest revelers will tell you it helps to have a plan.

So, to begin, here is the must-try list I would put in the hands of any newcomer to Jazz Fest to quickly learn why food is such a big deal here.

These are arranged by area:

• Food Area 1 is near the center of the festival grounds, in front of the Economy Hall Tent.
• Food Area 2 is closer to the Festival Stage (previously called the Acura Stage).
• Congo Square food area is by the Congo Square Stage.
• And the Heritage Square food area is between the Blues Tent and the Jazz Tent

Crawfish bread (Food Area I): Crawfish bread went missing in 2023, and boy, did a lot of people miss it. This classic returned the following year and now continues its tenure. With crawfish and cheese baked into crusty bread, this is a little like a calzone, but distinctively Louisiana.

Hot sausage po-boy Vaucresson (Food Area 1): The Vaucresson family has been part of Jazz Fest from the beginning. This sausage is chaurice, a Creole heritage food, an important ingredient for many gumbos around town. You get one all to yourself in this classic po-boy.

Crawfish sack, oyster patties, shrimp beignets (Food Area 1): This is a head-turning combo platter and one-plate feast. The sacks are like fried dumplings filled with crawfish, the oyster patties are vol-au-vent pastry shells filled with a creamy oyster sauce, and the puffy fried savory beignets are made with shrimp again this year, a change from the usual crawfish.

Cochon de lait po-boy (Food Area 1): There are only a handful of vendors serving a single dish at their booths. The runaway popularity of this po-boy dictates that kind of focus. This is Louisiana barbecue, with pork broken down into smoky chunks and topped with a crunchy, creamy slaw in a French bread loaf.

Yakamein (Food Area 1): A hangover is not required to enjoy this second-line parade classic, also known as “old sober.” But Miss Linda Green’s broth, smacking with green onions, sluiced with noodles, bits of beef and egg and the (optional) shot of hot sauce, is undeniably restorative. New this year is a vegan version of the soup. 

Mango freeze (Food Area 1, and near Fais Do-Do stage): The iconic sweet treat of Jazz Fest, it’s a sorbet with robust mango flavor but only mellow sweetness. It’s refreshing, and it also doubles as a fundraiser for community radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM in New Orleans. Pro tip: This pairs beautifully with the sparking wine sold from nearby beverage tents; pour some over the mango freeze or add a spoonful to your bubbly.

Trout Baquet (Heritage Square): Li’l Dizzy’s, the essential Treme café, serves up a one-plate demo of Creole soul flavor with this plate. The golden-edged fish is crowned with crabmeat and sluiced in butter sauce, for a taste of home cooking. Get the combo with crawfish bisque and you have a Baquet banquet.

Poulet fricassee with jama-jama (Congo Square): When longtime African restaurant Bennachin missed the fest one year, the jones from its fans was real. This pairing of grilled chicken (served on skewers) and sautéed, mildly seasoned spinach has long been salvation for those seeking a lighter, energizing meal.

Crawfish Monica (Food Area 2): For many devotees, this is the dish that welcomes them back to Jazz Fest each year. It’s a bowl of rotini in a spicy cream sauce all shot through with the pop of crawfish tails.

Pheasant, quail, andouille gumbo (Food Area 2): The roux is deep and dark, the andouille sausage is smoky, and the fowl add more rich, rustic flavor. Gumbo is everywhere in New Orleans, and yet many locals eagerly anticipate Jazz Fest each year for another taste of this one from Prejean’s Restaurant in Lafayette.

Crawfish strudel (Food Area 2): In the past, I’ve called this dish from Cottage Catering a sleeper hit, but at this point, I think it’s earned Jazz Fest classic status. Crawfish tails with trinity and green onions in a lightly creamy, flavorful sauce are encased in delicate sheets of phyllo dough, making it an easily portable snack with a rich flavor to boot.

Lump crab beignet (Food Area 2): Rich, indulgent and quite possibly the single best bite of food at Jazz Fest, these are beignets merged with crabcakes. The sweet, fresh taste of crab melts into a beignet with its own croissant-like texture and crisp outer shell. You’ll devour this in just a few bites. It’s not a meal, it’s an experience.

And some lagniappe:

Rosemint iced tea (Food areas 1 and 2, Heritage Square): It’s not a dish. It’s just iced tea, plain and simple. But it’s also unquestionably one of the defining flavors of Jazz Fest. Refreshing, voluminous in portion, with just a light herbal flavor, it pairs well with just about anything from the food booths (and, rumor has it, it’s handy as the basis for endless customization by those who prefer to fest it up with spiked tea).