The pace of new restaurant openings slowed a little in 2013. The good news is that a large percentage of the 2013 crop were more ambitious and interesting than their equivalents in the other years since Katrina. That is true not only of the gourmet bistros and better restaurants, but also of the less expensive, limited-menu places.
This list addresses the latter category. Look down the list and you'll pick up a clear emphasis on sandwiches, pizza, barbecue and fried seafood. But look a little closer and you see new approaches to all those familiar foods. As always, our city's restaurants are delicious across the whole price spectrum. Check the gourmet list if you don't see a place you think should be on this one.
1. Brisbi's. West End & Bucktown: 7400 Lakeshore Dr. 504-555-5555. The worst loss to Katrina in our restaurant world was the destruction of all the seafood houses at West End Park. That will never come back, but the opening of the Blue Crab and its competitor Brisbi's was exciting news indeed. Here again is an elevated view of the lake, fried and boiled seafood, and a casual air. The jury's still out as to which will prove the better, and it may be that way permanently. We're just happy to have places like this again. (See Blue Crab, below.)
1. Blue Crab. West End & Bucktown: 7900 Lakeshore Dr. 504-284-2898. I've put Brisbi's and the Blue Crab in a tie for first place among new casual restaurants. And listed them in alphabetical order. Both front on the New Basin Canal, just off Lake Pontchartrain. Both are on Lakeshore Drive, south of the terrible chain restaurant Landry's. Both are locally owned, and are managed by guys with have family connections to famous New Orleans restaurants (Pascal's Manale and Sid-Mar's). (See Brisbi's, above.)
3. Lucky Rooster. CBD: 515 Baronne. 504-529-5825. The creative minds behind Juan's Flying Burrito and Slice Pizzeria put everything they had into this pan-Asian collection of street food. Even the location--in the 400 block of Baronne, long a hotspot for everyday-eating cafes--is perfect. Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean--all here, usually in hybrid form. The flavors are big.
4. Mizado Cocina. Mid-City: 5080 Pontchartrain Blvd.. 504-885-5555. The latest concept from the Taste Buds, whose past record includes Zea and Semolina. This one is Mexican. But as the Buds have always done, all the dishes are takes on the Mexican flavor--not attempts to achieve authenticity (which is impossible anyway). It's where Semolina used to be on Metairie Road at I-10.
5. Morning Call Coffee Stand. City Park Area: 56 Dreyfous Drive . 504-300-1157. Given that the Metairie Morning Call has become as beat-up and grubby as it possibly could, it's an extraordinarily pleasant surprise that a second location opened in the middle of City Park. It's in the historic Casino (which has never been a casino), in the handsomely renovated, extensively tiled, antique space that used to be the snack and souvenir shop. With a reproduction of the old French market arch, marble counters, and naked light bulbs. Table service! Great beignets and Cafe au Lait! Be still, my heart!
6. Bistro Orleans. Metairie 3: Houma Blvd To Kenner Line: 3431 Houma Blvd. 504-304-1469 . The few blocks of Houma Boulevard north of Veterans to the hospital hold an improbably large number of restaurants, there to serve the hospital's staff. Their record has been spotty, which may give you pause to try Bistro Orleans. So does its large bar. But the young owner knows how to cook, and they put out a fine menu of sandwiches, salads, and platters. Among the latter is a rarity: fried wild-caught catfish.
7. Liberty Cheesesteaks. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 5301 Freret Street. 504-875-4447. Yet another specialized but low-to-the-ground cafe on Freret Street, this one makes the poor boy equivalent of Pennsylvania. With a lot of copy about how this is the authentic original. That's not worth getting into, but the cheesesteak sandwiches and others definitely are.
8. Noodle & Pie. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 741 State St. 504-252-9431. The name says almost everything you need to know, but here are two other data: it's in the former Reginelli's on Magazine at State, and the owners are chefs Eman Loubier and Brian Armour of Dante's Kitchen. The noodles are Asian and the pie is filled with meat and/or vegetables.
9. Wayfare. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 4510 Freret St. 504-309-0069. It looks like a full-fledged bar ran into the back of the diner. It works like that, too. You get a well-made cocktail, then an offbeat but very fine sandwich or platter. The latter often have Sicilian touches. Another cool-looking place for the very-hip Freret Street dining row.
10. Barcadia. Warehouse District & Center City: 601 Tchoupitoulas St. 504-335-1740. Bar, mostly. Burgers, largely--and large, and good--second only to Luke in the CBD. Deli sandwiches. A few platters. Ancient arcade machines. Another, much quieter bar in the rear. All at the entrance to the Warehouse District.
11. Blue Hickory Barbecue. Covington: 70380 Hwy 21. 985-871-4216. After years working in the top hotels around the country, Chef Ben Doolittle became enamored of the many barbecue places he encountered. So he opened one of his own. The meat smoking is subtle and elegant, and six regional-style sauces are on the table.
12. RocketFire Pizza Co. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 612 Veterans Memorial Blvd.. 504-828-8161. This is strange: RocketFire, after taking months to pull its act together at its first restaurant in Covington (which the Fitzes had come to rely on), opened a second location across the parking lot from Dorignac's in Metairie, then it closed the original place (it was way too big). Coal-burning oven for the pizza. (That lasted less than a year as a unique touch. Two other places now have it.)
Written by Tom Fitzmorris December 26, 2013 22:54 in
