Mosquito Supper Club in New Orleans is Melissa Martin's Uptown communal-table Cajun room in an 1898 cottage on Dryades Street, with a single fixed Cajun menu and a Bayou Lafourche cookbook lineage.
Signature dishes: Communal Cajun set menu, Crab stew
Must order: The crab stew and shrimp boulettes; the menu is fixed and arrives in courses.
Tip: Reservations open the first of the month for the next month. Book the moment they appear.
Address: 3824 Dryades St, New Orleans, LA 70115
Peche in New Orleans is Ryan Prewitt, Stephen Stryjewski and Donald Link's James Beard winning Gulf seafood room on Magazine and Julia, with a wood-fired grill and a daily whole fish.
Signature: Whole grilled fish, Smoked tuna dip
Order: The smoked tuna dip to start, then a whole grilled fish to share for the table.
Tip: The bar walks in best at 17:30; the kitchen sends the same menu and the oyster service is tighter.
Brigtsen's in New Orleans is Frank and Marna Brigtsen's 1986 Victorian-cottage Creole Acadian room near the streetcar terminus, a Paul Prudhomme alumnus with shell-bean stews still on the menu.
Signature: Shell-bean and crawfish stew, Filé gumbo
Order: The shell-bean and crawfish stew, on the menu since 1986. Then the file gumbo.
Tip: Dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday from 17:00. The whole restaurant is one cottage; book ahead.
Boucherie in New Orleans is Nathanial Zimet's Carrollton tasting-menu room, a former food truck turned Southern-modern five-course degustation with the Krispy Kreme bread pudding still on the list.
Signature: Five-course tasting, Krispy Kreme bread pudding
Order: There is no choice; the five-course tasting changes with the produce. End with the Krispy Kreme bread pudding.
Tip: Bourree next door is the daiquiri and wings spinoff; sit there first for a cocktail before dinner.
Atchafalaya in New Orleans is the Louisiana Avenue Creole room on the edge of the Garden District, known for a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar and the duck hash that draws the weekend brunch queue.
Signature: Duck hash, Shrimp and grits
Order: The duck hash with sunny eggs, then build a Bloody Mary at the bar.
Tip: Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday with live music; arrive at 09:30 or hold for the 13:00 turn.
Maypop in New Orleans is Michael Gulotta's Southern Asian room in the Paramount Building at O'Keefe and Lafayette, a 2017 spinoff of MoPho with hand-cut noodles and Vietnamese-Creole crossover.
Signature: Hand-cut noodles, Lemongrass-stuffed quail
Order: The hand-pulled noodles with crawfish; then the lemongrass quail.
Tip: Sit at the open kitchen for the noodle show; the bar pairs natural wines with the heat.
GW Fins in New Orleans is Tenney Flynn's Bienville Street fine-dining seafood room, with a daily-changing menu sourced from the Gulf and the docks of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Signature: Scalibut, Sizzling oysters
Order: Whatever runs as the daily catch. Then the warm biscuits, which arrive without prompting.
Tip: Reservations are easier on weeknights; bar dining serves the same menu with shorter waits.
