From A Past Issue Of The New Orleans Menu Daily Originally published December 16, 2007 Ten Best Bouillabaisses Also included on this list are variations on the bouillabaisse theme, since each country along the Mediterranean seems to have its own version. 1. Bouillabaisse, Broussard's. 819 Conti. 581-3866. Chef Gunter has the same lady making the bouillabaisse that he did years ago at the old Versailles, and it's a classic version. 2. Zarzuela, Rio Mar. 800 S. Peters, 525-3474. This is the Spanish take on the dish. Spicy, intensely seafoody, and full of unusual items. 3. Bouillabaisse, GW Fins. 808 Bienville, 581-3467. They use all the usual seafoods in this, plus exotica like lobster and scallops. The stock is made from the lobster. Good stuff. 4. Various dishes, Pelican Club. 615 Bienville, 523-1504. Chef Richard Hughes always seems to have something like a bouillabaisse on the menu. Big shrimp and lobster usually figure into it. When they make cioppino, it's perfect, coming out with a plate of garlicky pasta to pour the broth over from the copper pot. 5. Bouillabaisse, Café Minh. 4139 Canal, 482-6266. A modest bowlful of mussels, crabmeat, oysters, shrimp, and fish, in a fish stock-based broth that's reduced so much and contains so much saffron that it may be the most elegant version of this I've ever tasted. 6. Cajun Bouillabaisse, Jacques-Imo's. 8324 Oak, 861-0886. What makes this exceptional is the large slabs and chunks of seafood used, and the spice level. 7. Bouillabaise, La Provence. Lacombe, 25020 US 190, 985-626-7662. Chef Rene Bajeux always made a great bouillabaisse at his past restaurants here, and that tradition continues in an eminently appropriate place for the dish. Big, select seafood almost overwhelms the broth. 8. Cioppino, Del Porto. Covington, 205 N. New Hampshire, 985-875-1006. This little trattoria in downtown Covington works closer to local Italian flavors than any other place around gere, and that goes especially for the cioippino. It's heavy with fish and shellfish, spicy, and tastes great. 9. Bouillabaisse, Hookah Café. 500 Frenchmen, 943-1101. In what looks like the unlikeliest place to find any cooking as ambitious as bouillabaisse, here is indeed an excellent one, served as a soup. (It can be had as an entree, however.) Everything about it is perfect except the uncomfortable premises. 10. Cacciuco Livornese, Andrea's. 3100 19th, Metairie. 834-8583. The Italian version of bouillabaisse, served with pasta and generous amounts of fresh seafood and saffron. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com