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.

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.

Mandeville