From A Past Issue Of The New Orleans Menu Daily Originally published October 24, 2007 Twenty Best Restaurants Left Out Of The T-P's Fall Dining Guide Every year, going all the way back to the days of Richard Collin in the early 197os, the Times-Picayune has published what they call a restaurant guide. It's much better than it used to be; for a long time, the list of advertisers and article subjects were the same. But one oddity remains. It's not really a guide to the city's restaurants, but a guide to the restaurants their critic of the moment saw fit to review in the preceding year. Even though they admit this in the introduction, the thing is still interpreted by many readers (logically enough) as a best-restaurants list. And every year many people are on the phone with me the next day asking how the newspaper could possibly have left out certain restaurants. Or it could be a problem I came to realize many years ago: a list of a hundred restaurants cannot possibly cover the scene. I will say Brett Anderson has improved the T-P's piece. In past years, the annual round-up strategy resulted in glaring omissions like Commander's Palace and Galatoire's, and there was nothing quite as egregious as that. Here is this year's list of the restaurants that the critic didn't get around to writing about in the past year, and so were absent from the "guide." I have them listed in order of my own ratings (which is not to say that his should be the same as mine, of course). 1. Pelican Club. 615 Bienville. 523-1504. Copntemporary Creole. 2. Arnaud’s. 813  Bienville. 523-5433. Classic Creole. 3. Brennan’s. 417 Royal. 525-9711. Classic Creole. 4. Cafe East. 4628 Rye. 888-0078. Chinese. 5. Cafe Giovanni. 117 Decatur. 529-2154. Italian. 6. Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse. 716 Iberville. 522-2467. Steak. 7. La Crepe Nanou. 1410 Robert. 899-2670. French Bistro. 8. Le Parvenu. Kenner: 509 Williams Blvd.. 504-471-0534. Contemporary Creole. 9. Muriel's. 801 Chartres. 568-1885. Contemporary Creole. 10. Michael's. Slidell: 4820 Pontchartrain Dr. 985-649-8055. Creole. 11. Ninja. 8433 Oak. 866-1119. Japanese. 12. Nola. 534 St. Louis. 522-6652. Contemporary Creole. 13. Anatole. 600 St. Charles Ave. 274-0105. Contemporary Creole. 14. Rib Room. 621 St. Louis. 529-7045. Contemporary Creole. 15. Ruth’s Chris Steak House. 3633 Veterans Blvd. 888-3600. Steak. 16. Sal & Judy’s. Lacombe: U.S. 190. 985-882-9443. Creole Italian. 17. Juniper. Mandeville: 301 Lafitte. 985-624-5330. Creole. Eclectic. 18. Andrea's. 3100 19th Street, Metairie. 834-8583. Italian. 19. Eleven 79. 1179 Annunciation. 569-0001. Contemporary Creole-Italian. 20. Horinoya. 920 Poydras. 504-561-8914. Japanese. Some categories were oddly unrepresented. No Middle Eastern restaurants were included. Only one Japanese place and one Chinese. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com