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Shrimp remoulade.

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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

starstarstarstarstar
Among the best locally.

starstarstarstar
Excellent and ambitious.

starstarstar
Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

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New Orleans Food & Spirits

Seafood.
Bucktown: 210 Hammond Hwy.. 504-828-2220. Map.
 Harvey: 2330 Lapalco Blvd., 504-362-0800. Map.
Covington: 208 Lee Lane, 985-875-0432. Map.
Lunch Monday-Friday. Dinner Wednesday-Saturday.
Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The generic name disguises the fact this is is primarily a seafood restaurant, with the traditional overloaded platters of fried oysters, shrimp, catfish, soft-shell crabs, and stuffed crabs. One of the three locations (it's a local chain) is in Bucktown, where the demand for seafood is high. Also here: one of the best rabbit dishes in the city, a special on Thursdays that always sells out.

WHY IT'S GOOD
The corny menu makes one suspicious of the intent of the kitchen, but it's a false alarm. They really know how to cook here. They follow the two most important rules of frying seafood: using fresh product and doing it all to order. The grilled and stuffed fish is also good. Some of the specialties are overwhelming with thick, blanketing sauces, but even those are edible. Good daily specials.

BACKSTORY
The restaurant is the successor to a little neighborhood place in Houma. The Bergeron family, which has enough members to run three restaurants, opened its first New Orleans Food and Spirits on the West Bank in the early 1990s. Practically since the first day it's been a packed house. The Bucktown location came next, occupying the building where R&O used to be. The Covington restaurant is the former Mescaleros.

DINING ROOM
The Harvey restaurant is a pleasant but busy dining room in a suburban style. The Bucktown location of this three-unit seafood specialist is a big, somewhat crowded room whose windows gaze onto the levee. The lake is on the other side of that for postprandial walks. The Covington place is a long building that extended from the Lee Lane shopping district and out into the bed of the Bogue Falaya River. It has a small outdoor deck, too.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Hush puppies.
Shrimp remoulade salad.
Crawfish and corn soup.
Seafood gumbo.
Pecan catfish.
Seafood platters.
Blackened chicken with pasta.
Daily specials, especially. . .
Stewed rabbit with white beans, Thursdays.
Panneed chicken with pasta, Wednesdays.
Bread pudding.

FOR BEST RESULTS
To get the stewed rabbit, show up early for lunch on Thursday. They always run out.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The coatings on the seafood taste and look exactly the same, giving a lack of contrast to the platter. Except for the soup, there's nothing with crawfish that I've liked.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

  • Dining Environment
  • Consistency +1
  • Service +1
  • Value +1
  • Attitude +1
  • Wine and Bar -1
  • Hipness -1
  • Local Color +1

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

  • Open all afternoon
  • Unusually large servings
  • Quick, good meal
  • Good for children
  • Easy, nearby parking

This review was updated with new information on 12/29/2009.

A list of all 300 full, current reviews is here.