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 Two
Galatoire's
Classic Creole.
French Quarter: 209 Bourbon. 504-525-2021. Map.
Lunch and dinner all day TU WE TH FR SA SU
Very Dressy
AE DC DS MC V
Website
Galatoire's is the apotheosis of the traditional Creole-French restaurant, so tightly integrated into the city's culture that almost anything it does makes news. With a menu full of borrowings from classic French cuisine and other New Orleans restaurants, it reassures us that we stand on firm culinary ground. Just as important is the social side of Galatoire's. No place better shows off the style of the upper levels of New Orleans society--who have much more fun than their counterparts in other American cities.
The first generations of the Galatoire family had the knowledge and taste to set a standard that lives on today. The food and service are simple, relying on local ingredients of excellent quality (especially seafood) and recipes refined through decades of natural selection. Meanwhile, the waiters perform organically with the kitchen and the customers to deliver the best to those who know how to enjoy it. Truth be told, the food here is brilliant in only a small percentage of its long menu catalog. That doesn't matter, because if you understand Galatoire's--something not possible on a first visit--you also know what and how to order.
The main dining room downstairs is the most photographed restaurant interior in New Orleans. Tiled floors, mirrored walls, motionless fans of polished brass hanging from high ceilings, and bright naked light bulbs create half the scene. The rest is supplied by the jammed-in customers, all well-dressed (especially the women) and deeply engaged in sending a convivial energy back and forth, to the accompaniment of ambient noise that can make conversation impossible. The second floor dining rooms are pleasant but much less distinctive. However, the addition of a bar and waiting area in the 1990s was very welcome, all but eliminating the need to wait in line on the sidewalk for the unreservable downstairs tables.
BEST SEAFOOD DISHES
»Shrimp rémoulade
»Oysters en brochette
»Crabmeat maison
Shrimp maison
»Oysters Rockefeller
Escargots bordelaise
»Crabmeat canapé Lorenzo
Créole gumbo
»Fish meunière amandine
»Fish with crabmeat Yvonne
»Poached fish with hollandaise or Marguery sauce
»Crabmeat Sardou
»Crabmeat au gratin
»Fried or broiled soft shell crabs meunière
Bouillabaisse
Shrimp Clemenceau
»Shrimp Marguery
Shrimp or crawfish etouffée
For a more detailed review of this restaurant, click here. To see the entire seafood Restaurant countdown so far, click here.
