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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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Remoulade

Creole.
French Quarter: 309 Bourbon. 504-523-0377. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously till midnight seven days.
Nice Casual
AE DC DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
With a few exceptions (most of them on the Canal Street end), Bourbon Street's restaurants are touristy, tawdry, and embarrassing to locals, with food that would be more appropriate for a carnival. Much of the problem is that this actually addresses the tastes of the typical person strolling Bourbon Street. Remoulade addresses this challenge unusually and well. It's a retro (circa 1900) cafe with a menu that goes from the classy appetizers and soups from Arnaud's kitchen all the way down to hot dogs and nachos.

WHY IT'S GOOD
Local people might not think to enter Remoulade, but if they did they'd find much better food than they might expect. A lot of it is the same as what they'd find in Arnaud's main dining room. And the place looks so good one wonders how it would do Uptown. I'd say very well. Also helpful: it's open until midnight.

BACKSTORY
In 1994, the venerable dining institution Arnaud's bought the old jazz club adjacent to its front dining room, and turned it into Remoulade. The name is a reference to Arnaud's most popular appetizer, which is not only simple and good but the best of its kind.

DINING ROOM
Remoulade copies the tiled floors, mirrored walls, and light-bulb rows of the mother restaurant, but with a completely casual style.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters:
Oysters on the half shell
Boiled fresh shrimp
Shrimp Arnaud (remoulade)
Oysters Arnaud (baked, five varieties).
Smoked boudin
N'awlins nachos (with red beans, sausage, and the other usual nacho topping)
Cajun egg rolls
Tchoupitoulas buffalo wings
Wacko tacos (beef)
Seafood gumbo
File gumbo
Shrimp bisque
Turtle soup
Entrees:
Jambalaya
Red beans and rice with smoked sausage
Natchitoches meat pies
Crawfish pies
Crawfish etouffee
Stuffed crabs
Barbecue shrimp
Shrimp Creole
Fried seafood baskets
Blackened catfish
Grilled lemon chicken breast
Barbecue baby back pork ribs
Rib-eye steak, sauteed mushrooms
Sandwiches:
Fried shrimp, oyster, soft-shell crab, or catfish poor boy
Cajun hot sausage poor boy
Honey-cured ham and Swiss cheese poor boy
Hot roast beef poor boy
Smoked turkey breast poor boy
Muffuletta
Hamburgers
Hot dogs
Pizzas
Desserts:
Brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce
Pecan pie
Angelo Brocato's ice cream cones

FOR BEST RESULTS
Tell them you're a local. That will make them take special care of you, because the staff doesn't get enough fellow Orleanians.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
I'm not kidding when I say that another location of Remoulade could be a big hit Uptown or in Lakeview.

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

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 9/2/2010.

A list of over 350 full, current reviews is here.