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Parkway
Bakery and Tavern, located in New Orleans'
mid-city neighborhood, is considered by some to
serve the best po' boys in the city.
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NEW ORLEANS — The
Crescent City is known as much for its cuisine as for its
carousing. It's easy to pay too much for both, such as $83
for a simple pasta lunch at the far edge of the French
Quarter.
Mitigate the pain by
following this strategy: Eat like the locals.
New Orleans is dotted with
favored must-do's, ranging from old-fashioned fancy to the
latest experiment from high-profile chefs.
Here are just some of the
hometown faves visited during a recent stay in the Big
Easy. Directions to each restaurant are for the carless
visitor staying in the central business district across
Canal Street from the French Quarter.
—Brigtsen's Restaurant
Located in a small,
unassuming house near the Mississippi River, this Garden
District restaurant draws people from throughout the city
who savor chef Frank Brigtsen's homey yet complexly
flavored take on Louisiana cooking.
His seafood is stellar.
Loved the clean-tasting catfish fried in mustard and
cornmeal. A simple flounder fillet takes on new dimensions
enrobed in a reddish-brown meuniere sauce.
Duck, slow-roasted until
all the fat is rendered, is sauced with a honey-pecan
gravy; it tasted like a festive holiday dinner. The
rabbit, available as a starter or entree, is terrific, a
lightly breaded tenderloin served on grits and encircled
with a creamy Creole mustard cream sauce.
Open since 1986, Brigtsen's
has a wonderful family feeling. The chef's wife or
sisters-in-law are likely to greet you and tend the tables
set up in what was once a parlor or a bedroom. The decor
is simple and old-fashioned; it's like visiting your
grandmother's house. The staff treats guests with great
courtesy.
Hours: 5:30-10 p.m.
Tuesday-Saturday. Credit cards: Yes. Dress code: Dress as
though going to Sunday dinner with family because, really,
you kinda are. Getting there: The St. Charles streetcar is
$1.25 each way; travel west through some of the city's
prettiest neighborhoods to the Maple Street stop (No. 44),
then a two-block walk toward the Mississippi; 723 Dante
St.; 504-861-7610; brigtsens.com
—Bayona
Step through the iron
garden gate at Bayona, and it's hard to believe noisy
Bourbon Street is just one block away. The feeling is one
of quiet elegance — and anticipation. That's because
co-owner and chef Susan Spicer is nationally renowned,
especially for her use of local and underused seafood,
such as the tripletail fish on the menu the night I
visited. Oddly named, but it's delicious sauteed until
golden.
A typical example of her
signature weave of flavors, colors and textures is a
gratin of local oysters paired with tasso, a Cajun-style
cured pork, and paper-thin slices of eggplant under a
shallow crusting of browned Parmesan cheese.
This French Quarter
restaurant opened in 1990 in a 200-year-old cottage. It's
still jam-packed, even on weeknights, with knowing locals
looking for a smart night out. The main dining room,
upholstered in a cinnabar-colored ottoman fabric, is alive
with the sounds of jovial diners.
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Wednesday-Saturday; 6-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 6-10:30
p.m. Friday-Saturday. Credit cards: Yes. Dress code:
Officially the word is "casually elegant or business
casual," but reflect the special setting by dressing
sharp. Getting there: Easy walk; use Dauphine to avoid
Bourbon Street crowds; 430 Rue Dauphine; 504-525-4455;
bayona.com
—Casamento's Restaurant
Four guys and a gal charge
in the door of this Uptown eatery and rush to the back of
the narrow front dining room.
There stands Mike Rogers
shucking muddy lumps of oysters pulled from a large mound
of ice. They line up across the counter from him,
impatiently slurping these big, limpid beauties, killing
time until a table opens up.
Their wait is short at
11:30 a.m. They order a dozen more oysters, a steal at $9,
and sit on down. Just 30 minutes later, 20 people are
patiently lined up inside, and who knows how many are out
on the sidewalk.
That's how things are at
Casamento's, a 90-year-old seafood institution that packs
'em in with super-fresh seafood, cheap prices and tons of
beautiful oysters. You can get 'em raw, fried or stewed.
All delicious. Check out the savory seafood gumbo too.
Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesday-Saturday; 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; closed
June, July and August. Credit cards: No, cash only. Dress
code: Very casual. Getting there: Four blocks from the St.
Charles street car; a round-trip cab ride is $40 with tip;
4330 Magazine St.; 504-895-9761; casamentosrestaurant.com
—Cochon Restaurant
Despite the wailing country
music, bare brick walls and casual wooden tables, this
Cajun restaurant in the Warehouse District is seriously
considered a shrine to all things porcine.
Cochon, which is the French
word for pig, celebrates that animal in all forms, from
ribs to fried ears to ham hock with sweet potato and
pickled greens. Fork-tender shreds of pork are shaped into
a patty and topped with wands of golden deep-fried
cracklings. Nubbins of roasted pork cheek are strewn with
pickled green tomatoes, apple cubes and beans on a creamy
grits base.
Open since 2006, Cochon is
owned by chefs Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski, who
also operate the neighboring Cochon Butcher, a
self-described "swine bar and deli."
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Monday-Friday; 5:30-10 p.m. Saturday. Credit cards: Yes.
Dress code: At lunch, employees from the nearby
Halliburton office prefer business casual accessorized by
loud company lanyards. Getting there: Moderate walk down
Tchoupitoulas Street; 930 Tchoupitoulas St.; 504-588-2123;
cochonrestaurant.com
—Galatoire's
Now 104 years old, this
venerable institution still draws the locals along with
knowing tourists to dine on the kind of French Creole
cooking that made New Orleans' reputation: Oysters
Rockefeller, crab Yvonne, shrimp Clemenceau, crawfish
etouffee.
Do try the signature
appetizer, a combo of "souffle potato,"
fingerlike puffs of tissue-thin potato and strips of
cooked eggplant. Both are served with warm bearnaise
sauce. Have the cafe brulot for dessert. The assembly of
this liqueur-soaked and flaming coffee is a spectacle.
Aim for the downstairs
dining room. It's crowded, noisy, fun and still strictly
"first-come, first-serve."
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Tuesday-Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday. Credit cards: Yes.
Dress code: Jackets required for men during dinner and all
day Sunday. Getting there: Short walk down Bourbon Street;
209 Bourbon St.; 504-525-2021; galatoires.com
—Parkway Bakery &
Tavern
This nondescript Mid-City
stretch of Toulouse Street and Hagan Avenue overlooking
Bayou St. John is sparked by a lively neighborhood joint
famed for its po' boy sandwiches.
Chow down on a fried
oyster-packed beauty dressed with slivered lettuce,
pickles and sliced tomatoes. The "golden
grilled" Reuben sandwich is a handsome thing, the rye
bread a toasty brown, the corned beef smoky and
caramelized on the edges, the sauerkraut zippy. The french
fries on the side are hot, golden and headily aromatic;
some of New Orleans' best. And this being New Orleans, you
know the place has a full and busy bar. Still, I'm happy
sitting on the patio sipping a Dr Pepper.
Built in 1911 by a German
baker, the Parkway closed in 1994. It was reopened by Jay
Nix in 2003, only to be drowned in the Katrina flooding of
2005. Nix reopened the place just 90 days after the
disaster.
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
daily. Credit cards: Yes. Dress code: Casual. Getting
there: $16 round-trip taxi ride, including tip; 538 Hagan
Ave.; 504-482-3047; parkwaybakeryandtavernnola.com
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