Mid-City

Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd

One of the most important goals a restaurant must have is a good source of first-class raw materials. Even in the realm of seafood--which you'd think should be very abundant in our part of the world, but isn't--the person who buys food for a restaurant kitchen must either 1) pay top dollar; b) know somebody well-connected to the commercial fishermen; or iii) spend a lot of time on the phone tracking the every-changing seafood markets. Joe Impastato and his brother Sal do all three of those things. At Impastato's, for example, I often find soft-shell crabs when nobody else has them. Live soft-shells, at that. Can't fake that.

Uptown 2: Washington To Napoleon

It's a classic New Orleans casual menu that stops short of being a cliche. They take all of the cooking seriously, something best seen in the daily specials. Many customers know exactly which day to be there for what. Portions are almost grossly oversize, and if that's not enough, they have an all-you-can-eat catfish deal that runs every day. Despite that, seafood in general is a strong suit here.