Red Fish Grill
Ralph Brennan owns many great New Orleans restaurants, including this surprisingly affordable offering on famous Bourbon Street. The Red Fish Grill led the way in bringing the city back to life after Hurricane Katrina and remains as popular as ever. The restaurant is open daily for lunch before closing from 3-5 p.m. so it can reopen for dinner. The menu offers an array of choices from BBQ oysters and alligator sausage to enormous shrimp po'boy sandwiches and the specialty, blackened redfish. Be sure to try the restaurant's signature dessert, double chocolate bread pudding, on a night when you won't need your energy for hiking the next day.
Red Fish Grill
115 Bourbon St
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
(504) 598-1200
redfishgrill.com
Acme Oyster House
An expensive renovation brought the Acme Oyster House back up following the hurricane, but you would never notice anything had knocked it down in the first place. This is a great New Orleans seafood joint if you like it hot, crowded and jubilant. You can dine on standard New Orleans fare like crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo and fried stuffed crab, but the real draw here is the oyster bar and sucking them down right after they've been shucked.
Acme Oyster House
724 Iberville St
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130-2324
(504) 522-5973
acmeoyster.com
Casamento's
Another great place to get fresh oysters, this family-owned restaurants is one of the oldest in the city. Their signature oyster loaves have been popular for nearly a century. The menu is simple and to the point and serves up easily recognizable items like gumbo, oyster stew, crab claws and fried calamari.
Casemento's
4330 Magazine St
New Orleans, Louisiana 70115-2764
(504) 895-9761
casamentosrestaurant.com/main/main.html
Bourbon House Seafood
No matter what kind of seafood you are looking for, you can probably find it at the Bourbon House. Take advantage of a raw bar featuring oysters, caviar and mussels. If you want to go the more sophisticated route, get the Oysters Rockefeller or crab fingers bordelaise. To really test your love of bayou country, get the fried alligator or alligator soup. Those with a more conservative palate will be sated by BBQ shrimp or stuffed lobster.
Bourbon House Seafood
144 Bourbon St.
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
(504) 522-0111
bourbonhouse.com
