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 Sixteen
Charlie's Seafood
Seafood.
Harahan: 8311 Jefferson Hwy. 504-737-3700. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously MO TU WE TH FR SA (except no dinner MO)
Casual
AE DS MC V
Website
When Chef Frank Brigtsen--whose entire previous cooking career has been at the gourmet level--bought Charlie's not long after Katrina, he made it clear that it would remain a very casual seafood house. And so it is. Poor boys, boiled seafood, fried seafood, gumbo, and daily specials all show no sign of any pernicious upscale creep. Prices are in line with other comparable restaurants. The only complaint I ever hear about the place is from people whose criterion for a good seafood platter is measurable in the height of the pile.
While everything you'd want from a seafood house is here, a few unusually high standards have been applied. Everything is fresh, in season, and prepared to order. To the extent possible, it's all local. Most notable in that regard is the catfish. Most of the time it's wild-caught fish--a rarity. Only a few ideas have filtered over from Frank's flagship restaurant--notably the unfried seafood platter, which could be served in any four-star establishment without alteration. The daily specials are unusually good.
BEST SEAFOOD DISHES
Boiled crabs, crawfish, or shrimp in season
Shrimp bisque
Seafood okra gumbo
Shrimp calas
Shrimp remoulade
Oysters & artichoke au gratin
Poor boy sandwiches (fried catfish, shrimp, or oysters)
Catfish and grits with Creole sauce
Grilled fish with shrimp and oyster bordelaise
Fried seafood plates: catfish, oysters, or shrimp, or combinations
Un-fried seafood platter (grilled fish, baked oysters, shrimp cornbread)
Shrimp etouffée
Shrimp pasta bordelaise (WE special)
Seafood stuffed eggplant (FR special)
A more detailed review can be found here.
