Esplanade Ridge

Grab some chips and dig into the superb and offbeat salsa (it has a slightly smoky flavor). It's good enough that you will go for a second ration, for which you will have to pay extra--but probably without complaint. Margaritas and guacamole are excellent in their turns. After that, pretend you're in a gourmet bistro. Time for mussels, calamari, steaks, racks of lamb, big flanks of fish, and no small number of other specialties that might not remind you of anything Mexican. But so what? We let Italian and French restaurants get away with that. So why not Creole-Mexican?

CBD

New Orleans East

As a ratio of goodness of the food to obscurity, this may be the best restaurant in New Orleans. It's a throwback to another era. No web site, only open for lunch only on weekdays, nothing on the menu even slightly off the standard New Orleans neighborhood eatery beat. But what they cook they cook well, and serve in obscenely large portions at prices that almost make the many nearby Vietnamese restaurants seem expensive.