Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor

The menus for lunch and dinner seem to come from two very different restaurants. The midday selection is riddled with Asian broth-and-noodles dishes. The evening menu breaks away from all of that. The six small plates and seven large ones could be served in any New Orleans gourmet bistro. You're more likely to figure out the Vietnamese heritage here by looking at the chefs and servers than by reading the menu.

Harvey

Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon

Every now and then, a New Orleans restaurant will open with a menu combining the food of our city with that of the Delta Country of northwestern Mississippi. Because they are connected by the Mississippi River's busiest segment, a cultural connection formed two centuries ago between our city and Natchez, Vicksburg, Greenville and Memphis--the main ports of the Delta Country. Eat in any of those places, you'll notice many dishes and flavors in common with New Orleans eats. High Hat was (and remains) like the neighborhood cafe you remember in a neighborhood you never visited before in some little Southern town you happened to drive through. Add a feeling that it's 1949, and you have an accurate image of High Hat and some--but not all--of its food.