Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd

French Quarter

In 1979, the Brennans revolutionized the the New Orleans dining scene around by opening Mr. B'sthis, the archetype of the casual, contemporary Creole bistro. Now restaurants like Mr. B's dominate the scene. Its kitchen creates innovative and excellent Creole dishes from top-rung fresh ingredients, but serves them in an easy, informal way. Hickory-grilled fish, now common, was pioneered here; so was pasta as a non-Italian main course. Although a scan of the menu suggests that red meats are the main specialty, the seafood dishes are almost without exception the best versions anywhere of numerous contemporary Creole classic dishes.

French Quarter

The least pretentious of the seven century-old New Orleans restaurants, the Acme acts its age in its signature activity. Their oysters have always been among the city's best, both in the raw bivalves and the grilled oysters--the latter a recent borrowing from Drago's. Most of the rest of the menu is standard New Orleans neighborhood eats, but in much of that the kitchen comes across as the small chain restaurant that it is, with less range in its offering, particularly the finfish.