Mandeville

When the exodus from the South Shore to the North Shore became heavy in the 1980s, almost immediately the relocatees started looking for neighborhood restaurants like the ones they'd enjoyed for decades in and around New Orleans. They didn't find them. The closest approximations were the country-style diners on the major highways, which lacked both charm and good cooking. Eggs Sardou? Pasta with tasso and crawfish cream sauce? Forget about it! By the time of Katrina, the first New Orleans-style neighborhood eateries were finally there, beating the chains in the rish to serve this ballooning market. And so we have places like Liz's.

CBD

What would be your first thought a restaurant in a big hotel, connected with a seafood house in Destin called Stinky's Fish Camp? That was my reaction, too. Another: a scan of the menu revealed prices higher than I expected to find. Finally, the place seemed to be pushing the Cajun-Creole thing a little too hard. (That name is an obscure reference to life in the marshlands.) With all that mental baggage, I tried the place a few months ago. The evening was astonishing, getting off to a great start with some dozen different ways of serving oysters. I was also incredulous about the presence of four or finfish species. The few missteps involved the service, and they weren't bad enough to put a sour taste in my mouth. I was looking forward to the next time before I called for the check.

Harahan