Dozen Best Really Small Restaurants.
JoAnn Clevenger,the owner of The Upperline, told me once that I should include in my reviews the number of seats each restaurant has. "That fact tells you a lot about a restaurant," she said. She's right, and one day I will collect that data and publish it. (It's harder than it sounds.) I suspect that those looking at the figure will be in search of little restaurants. There's something about a small cafe that makes you want to love it. Which is a good thing: it's hard to make a decent profit with a tiny establishment.
Here's a list of small restaurants with food as good as or better than much bigger ones. Another criterion for the dozen below is a certain charm that makes them romantic. They are ranked by a ratio of culinary excellence to size.
1. 
Brigtsen's. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 723 Dante. 504-861-7610. High ceilings, doors and windows make Frank and Marna's place look bigger than it is. It's the food that keeps the restaurant full all the time (although that eases a bit in the summer). But it's the abbreviated square footage that makes it intimate.
2. Rue 127. Mid-City: 127 N Carrollton Ave. 504-483-1571. This former cottage's tight spaces failed for a couple of previous restaurant tenants. With a brilliant renovation, Chef-owner Ray Gruezke made it work, somehow putting forty seats in there without having to crowd anyone in. It does help to have a few tables in the postage-stamp front yard. The artful bar has three stools. Three.
3. Vincent's. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 7839 St Charles Ave. 504-866-9313. The original Vincent's in Metairie was a small-tucked away trattoria that nevertheless attracted a cult-level crowd. When Vincent Catalanotto bought the former Compagno's on St. Charles Avenue, he knew how to serve first-class food in a crammed-full space. I have a closet larger than one of the dining rooms at the Uptown Vincent's. But who cares when the food is this lusty?
4. 
Ristorante Filippo. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 1917 Ridgelake. 504-835-4008. With the upstairs dining room considered, Filippo isn't all that small. But who would want to go up there, except lunchers? Both the main dining room and the few tables in the bar find barely enough room. And that tingly, we're-the-only-ones-who-know-about-this-place feeling.
5. Louisiana Bistro. French Quarter: 337 Dauphine. 504-525-3335. The exterior is so understated that it's easy to walk right past without seeing it. Were it not for the mirrors inside, the place would be claustrophobic. The place is either empty or packed--sometimes with people lined up on the sidewalk benches. Chef Mars splits the difference between Creole and original dishes.
6. Cypress. Metairie 3: Houma Blvd To Kenner Line: 4426 Transcontinental. 504-885-6885. The rooms are small and reached through a mini-maze of hallways. The service staff and the chef's wife (who runs the dining room) could not be more hospitable. There's enough community among the locals that first-timers stick out a little. The chef's repertoire is original and enjoyable.
7. Royal China. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 600 Veterans Blvd. 504-831-9633. The main room--formerly a fast-fried-chicken franchise-- is made to look much bigger than it actually is through the use of mirrors. Its decor is nicer than the exterior. A classic Chinese menu blends with a collection of dim sum selected from a photograph album.
8. Mikimoto. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 3301 S Carrollton Ave. 504-488-1881. The dining room is small, yet manages to be somewhat maze-like. When a crush of customers arrives, there's often no room to stack them up. If you see people standing on the sidewalk, the house is full. Despite all this, the cooking is brilliant throughout an unusually varied menu.
9. Kin. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 4600 Washington Ave. 504-304-8557. Kin's building is tiny as restaurants go. Only twenty-something seats, half of them at counters. One can see the great outdoors every time one of the kitchen staff opened the kitchen's back door. You would never know this to look at, smell, and taste the food, which is not only good but varied and polished.
10. Little Tokyo. Mandeville: 590 Asbury Dr. 504-727-1532. Long the best sushi bar in St. Tammany Parish, this franchise of Little Tokyo is almost always very close to being full, with even the bad seat at the corner of the sushi bar usually occupied.
11. Baru Bistro & Tapas. Uptown 2: Washington To Napoleon: 3700 Magazine. 504-895-2225. Sidewalk seating came along just in time for this little specialist in the food of Columbia and the Caribbean. The dining room is small and a little dense, but at this season everybody wants to eat outside. They finally have wine.
12. Ciro's Cote Sud. Uptown 4: Riverbend, Carrollton & Broadmoor: 7918 Maple. 504-866-9551. For decades, this was a pizzeria, period. Not much was needed of the dining room. The current French bistro in there is no bigger. But that works for the concept, and results in a narrow room with comfy little tables.
