Red beans and rice, trad jazz, and second lines are the Big Easy's calling cards, but beyond where the carriage rides take you is a city brimming with genre-defying music, transnational cuisine, and pockets of wild, artistic locals that challenge preconceived notions of what it means to be New Orleans.

With a respectful nod to the traditional and a full embrace of the obscure, New Orleans: The Underground Guide is a resource for discovering the city as it really is -- as much brass bands and boas as it is bounce and bicycle tours. From a speakeasy in the Bywater neighborhood to the...