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 Nineteen
Fury's
Neighborhood Cafe.
Metairie: 724 Martin Behrman Ave. 504-834-5646. Map.
Lunch MO TU WE TH FR Dinner MO TU WE TH FR SA
Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Metairie has few old-school neighborhood restaurants, and fewer West End-style seafood joints. This place serves both those functions, and does so with unusually high standards--especially considering what it charges. Serving terrific simple seafood dishes is a straightforward matter: the seafood has to be fresh, not frozen, and it must be cooked to order, not picked from under a heat lamp. In a time when most places fail on both counts, Fury's is scrupulous about both. They also have fine daily plate specials, some of the city's best onion rings, and even a smattering of excellent Italian dishes.
John Fury opened this place in 1983, after selling his share of The Bounty, a classic West End seafood restaurant. Before even that, he operated a neighborhood restaurant in Mid-City. The current Fury's has aspects of both styles. It's a very small restaurant with minimal decor. The L-shaped room is almost always full at standard mealtimes, but they remain open all afternoon, when it's less frantic. The restaurant is open all day, from 11 a.m. From about two until five in the afternoon is the best time. If the little parking lot in front is full, it's okay to park across the street in the large strip mall lot. If you happen to be there on Monday, get the red beans and rice with fried chicken drummettes.
best seafood dishes
»Shrimp or crabmeat remoulade
»Seafood gumbo
Crabmeat au gratin
»Crawfish etouffee
»Whole fried or broiled flounder
Fried or broiled seafood platters
»Trout amandine
Fried soft shell crab
»Stuffed crab or shrimp
Fried frog legs
A more detailed review can be referred to here.
