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I could help you if I knew a little more of what you wanted, like what type of food and price range. For Jazzfest, what types of long waits are you talking about? I am assuming you mean for the food lines. If so, pretty much all the booths have excellent food. Of course, there are the most popular items that you'll have to wait in line for, but adventure around and try new things like the ya ka mein soup, it is amazing and cheap. A good time to go to the food booths are also during the big shows...most people are watching the bands at that time and you usually don't have to wait as long. Let me know if you need some more advice.

I don't know where you are staying so I'll give you suggestions all over town. The area around the fairgrounds is slowly coming back and there aren't that many places open in the area yet. Let's start with breakfast. For a wonderful cheap breakfast try Surrey's (on Magazine street). It is a funky little place that is cash only. For a higher end breakfast, I'd recommend Jackson (also on Magazine and will take reservations). Try the Oysters Sardou there. They also have a nice pre-fix breakfast menu where you can get an entree and dessert and 3 alcoholic drinks for $29. For dinner you have to go to Jacque-Imo's on Oak Street. Great funky causal place for great New Orleans food. They don't take reservations unless you have a party of 6 or more, but it is worth the wait. In the Jazzfest area, there is Luizza's. Great gumbo and po-boys. There is also Mandina's that just opened. This is a great New Orleans/Italian place (also cash only), I think they take reservations for larger parties. Okay, finally for a higher end dinner try Brigten's (uptown), they take and honor reservations. So, those are my recommendation, but you really cannot go wrong, I've been to few places here that I've been disappointed with and those are generally the higher end places that most people rave about (Commander's). Have a great time!!!