At this season, NOMenu takes an appreciative look at the matchless seafood of New Orleans. We take a different angle each year. This year's perspective is a countdown of the thirty-three (one for each weekday in Lent) best restaurants for lovers of oysters, pompano, crawfish, speckled trout, and all the other delicacies that make living here anything but a penance.
Number Eleven
Muriel's
Contemporary Creole.
French Quarter: 801 Chartres. 504-568-1885. Map.
Lunch and dinner seven days
Nice Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website
In an environment that could be used for a movie set in New Orleans, Muriel's rings all the Creole bells, using fine local seafood and other classy product in fresh, bistro-style dishes. The pricing of the menu is remarkably attractive for such a key location: Jackson Square, the center of New Orleans since its earliest years. That keeps the private dining rooms busy with private parties all the time.
The chef is Gus Martin, who made the rounds for years with the Brennans and has a good fix on what constitutes real food. The fresh foodstuffs--particularly the shellfish and finfish--merge with convincing seasoning levels and Creole cooking techniques to make menu different enough to be distinctive, but unambiguously imbued with the flavor of the town.
BEST SEAFOOD DISHES
Seafood gumbo.
Turtle soup.
Barbecue oysters with pepper butter.
Shrimp with Herbsaint.
Goat cheese crepe with crawfish.
Sauteed crab cake remoulade.
Grilled redfish with crabmeat butter.
Muriel's runs frequent menu promotions motivated by seasons for local products. They also have frequent wine dinners. All these are unusually good. Sunday brunch is one of the better ones. The house-label wine is unexpectedly excellent.
For a more detailed review, click here.
