step forward, and let me pick your brain

im headed there next weekend, first time in the city, really have been looking forward to it for a long time

staying a block from frenchman street

already plan to do some kind of drinking tour through the quarter

i would also like to hit up a jazz brunch on sunday, but i have questions:

which one would you recommend? how dressed up do i need to get for it?

is it a must that i hit cafe du monde for beignets? or is that overrated tourist shit?
is there anywhere that youd recommend to kill a few hours thats kind of off the grid (not necessarily in the quarter)

any good historical tours/stuff to see that you would recommend?

say i wanted to hit the french quarter on friday night, anyone have a goto gameplan?

what say yall about the howlin wolf? reviews are mixed. hot 8 brass band is doing a show there saturday and i thought it might be cool to check out.

any other thoughts are welcome

****edit****

oh, fuck! FOOOOOOOD! i realize that i dont have much time there, so i wont get to hit as much as i really want to....what are the *must eat* foods?