NEW ORLEANS FEATURES - Acquired Tastes

Acquired Tastes

If one has to label food in New Orleans, "Creole" is the best word. But it isn't easy to say just what that means. So many cultures have contributed to the city's cuisine since it's founding that it is truly a melting pot cuisine.

This also makes the dining scene in New Orleans a great place to taste the city's history. It's based on the combined techniques of the early colonial mix of European, African and Native American residents of Louisiana. Even Cajun cooking, which was once distinct, has traded recipes and ideas with Creole cooking to the point where many chefs speak about the region's cuisine as that of South Louisiana, rather than Cajun or Creole. Later, Creole cooking incorporated influences from other migrations as well including Italian and Sicilians throughout the 19th century and up to the most recent influx of Asian culture and cuisine.

In New Orleans, everyone has their own version of Creole cooking. It can be high or low brow, so you'll find sublime gumbos both in fine restaurants and in greasy spoons. Some Creole cooking follows the European vein with more cream sauces and pretty presentations. Others follow the African-American vein using more tomatoes and brown gravies. But both embrace the city's unpretentious love of food.

Brennan's Restaurant (417 Royal St., 504-525-9711) is one of the city's legendary Creole restaurants and is the creator of such signature New Orleans dishes as Bananas Foster. Located in the heart of the French Quarter it is a longtime favorite for its extravagant "Breakfast at Brennan's." But no matter when one goes, there are Creole classics on the menu like their oyster soup, New Orleans-style turtle soup and seafood gumbo. For entrees, they offer Trout Amandine, Shrimp Creole and several different redfish dishes, many enhanced by succulent mounds of crabmeat, like the Redfish Perez.

Down Royal Street, the Court of Two Sisters (613 Royal St., 504-522-7261) is a slightly more senior Creole establishment named for the founders Emma and Bertha Camors. The Court offers a buffet style brunch everyday. Everything on the extensive spread is homemade, from the biscuits to the ice cream and omelets, and Eggs Benedict are made to order. In the evenings, the dining rooms offer a la carte dining from a menu of traditional Creole dishes from baked oyster dishes, such as Rockefeller or Bienville, Trout Meuniere, their version of Pompano en Papillote (pompano cooked in parchment paper) and veal and beef dishes.

Also in the Quarter, Broussard's (812 Conti St., 504-581-3866) offers a more contemporary touch on Creole. Local staples like chicken and andouille gumbo, crabmeat or crawfish cakes and shrimp remoulade are offered as starters. For entrees the Louisiana Bouillabaisse with Gulf fish and shellfish is their twist on a traditional Creole dish often called Court Bouillon. The rest of the menu incorporates local ingredients in more continental dishes. And as a sort of wild card, chef/proprietor Gunther Preuss prepares a Hunter's Game Grill in his native German style.

Creative Creole cuisine is the driving force behind Palace Cafe (605 Canal St., 504-523-1661). Crabmeat cheesecake leads the way for Chef Gus Martin's innovations. Some dishes have lightened up the Creole tradition, like the Gulf fish served with a court bouillon sauce, which is more like a broth.

For Creole cooking with a heavy dose of character there's Jacques Imo's (8324 Oak St., 504-861-0886) in Uptown. The menu runs from Creole soul food like their fried chicken done to order to the more creative dishes like shrimp and andouille cheesecake or the gumbo served in a hollowed out loaf of bread. The entrees include blackened redfish the way Paul Prudhomme did it and more rustic dishes like paneed rabbit. The neighborhood restaurant has an earthy, casual charm and almost diner-style approach of letting guests choose sides like corn maque choux or greens with alligator sausage to accompany the entrees of creative Creole cuisine.

But New Orleans is by no means limited to Creole restaurants. Bacco's (310 Chartres St., 504-522-2426) approaches Italian cuisine with the same zest. They make their own flat pastas but they import all of their cured meats from Italy. They offer Italian specialties like beef carpaccio, raw, paper thin beef served with a kiss of truffle oil and shaved parmesan. And they offer some Creole specials as well.

Keeping with the city's Spanish heritage. RioMar (800 South Peters St., 504-525-3474) focuses on Spanish and Latin American dishes. Their Zarzuela de Mariscos is a seafood stew in a tomato saffron broth that shouldn't look unfamiliar at all to local diners. But many dishes are more uncommon in New Orleans, like their selection of ceviches, fish and shellfish cooked only by the juices of a citrus marinade. There is also a garlic soup, a salted white fish called Bacalao and some richly sweet Latin American desserts.

When it's all said and done, New Orleans is a city in love with its traditions. Like red beans and rice. So to check out the more home style cooking of Creole soul food, there's the Praline Connection (542 Frenchmen St., 504-943-3934). They start with a base of beans or greens and build up with everything from chicken fried to order, to turkey necks, to smothered pork chops. They also serve two gumbos, crawfish etouffee and stuffed crabs. And to top it off, they serve their own pralines, the super sweet sugar treats made with pecans instead of the French recipe's favored almonds. Like every dish that emigrated to the city, it's got a unique local flavor.