Uptown 2: Washington To Napoleon

Basin Seafood is your basic utilitarian seafood house in every regard except one. Although it plies the flow of Louisiana fish and shellfish to build its menu, this is not the place if you're hungry for a fried seafood platter. The techniques of cooking and the flavors that result from them are from a different cookbook, although not one that is likely to puzzle any eater for long. Sauces, even the ones that sound as if they make a strong statement, step aside to let the fish take over.

Mid-City

Some of the best restaurants took the longest to return after the hurricane, and their customers were among the happiest to finally see them return. That was a mixture of longing the the past followed by a well-planned bolt into the future. ¶ No restaurant proved that theory better than Katie's. Scott Craig and his partners made the resurrected Katie's into the best neighborhood restaurant ever, expanding its former specialties to embrace even more than its big old menu had. ¶ The seafood side of this energy is especially impressive. Here is the best fried seafood platter in town, and that's only the beginning of it.

Covington