Best Seafood in New Orleans

Mr. B's is a New Orleans seafood hot spot located on the celebrated food corner of Royal and Iberville in the French Quarter. So well thought of they were able to publish their own cookbook, Mr. B's has served signature dishes like gumbo ya ya and barbecue shrimp plates to New Orleans customers for decades. This bistro's atmosphere is a mix of casual and chic, and Food & Wine magazine pronounced it the best for business lunch. Whether you are here for business or pleasure, Mr. B's and excellent staff are ready to impress. Sunday brunch is an especially festive occasion.

Grand Isle is the strip of land off mainland Louisiana known for its amazing fishing. Grand Isle Restaurant, with its menu of fresh local seafood and vintage photos channeling the same gulf goodness as its namesake. Situated on busy Fulton Street, Grand Isle spotlights the talent of chef Ryan Haigler, a South Carolina native who's come light years from his Waffle House beginnings. With a resume that includes working with Sean Brock in Charleston, Tom Colicchio in New York and Emeril in New Orleans, Haigler lassos a lot of flavor in gulf specialties like smoked fried oysters with garlic aioli and a version of grilled oysters with Havarti and tasso that is completely off the hook. The smoked drum chowder with roasted corn is another treat, and you can't miss with anything seafood. But Haigler handled the butcher program for Delmonico for two years, so don't overlook steak specials or the winning combo of confit pork cheek and baby clams served with crunchy popcorn rice pilaf. This is a relaxed yet surprisingly sophisticated option just steps from Canal Street and the Convention Center.

Fish is literally the big picture at this Bucktown charmer, from husband and wife chef team Alison Vega Knoll and Drew Knoll. Huge family photos of fishing escapades adorn the restaurant's walls, with another collage of fish stories on one side of the menu. It's a friendly sort of place, with warm and informed service in a setting that feels familiar to anybody who's ever dropped a hook in nearby Lake Pontchartrain. Outfitted with burnished wooden tables, leather banquettes and a fetching oyster bar, Station 6 also has an inviting covered front porch, all of it casual and family friendly. Sample creative dishes like sizzling garlic shrimp, char-grilled oyster pasta, pearls of yellowfin tuna served with a side of jicama slaw and a dusting of spicy Cajun caviar. Meat lovers will appreciate an excellent grilled pork chop with bbq gravy and an aptly named sloppy Drew made with braised beef, provolone, onion jam and tangy horseradish sauce.

This Ralph Brennan restaurant, run by his daughter Kathryn, can handle crowds of visitors, but don't let that fool you. THe quality of both cuisine and service sets a high bar, with seafood always in the spotlight. serves seafood specialties in a casual setting. Raw and char-grilled oysters are the way to start, then move onto the wood-grilled redfish served with crawfish, tasso ham and roasted mushrooms bathed in a sprightly lemon butter sauce. Specials are yum - like the current two course, one pound of Dungeness crab special for $53, served Wednesday through Sunday evenings. The restaurant can handle a group of 250 people for full-service dining and up to 500 for cocktail galas.

Chef Michael Nelson at GW Fin's creates a daily menu driven by one thing, and one thing along - the most pristine and susatainable seafood he can find. The French Quarter restaurant impresses with quality and variety, including fish caught in waters around the world as well as right here in the Gulf. You might feast on chicken cracklin-crusted local drum, John Dory from New Zealand with crabmeat and the house special, the Scalibut —" halibut, sea scallops, Royal Red shrimp risotto, snow peas, pea shoot butter, a spectacular combo. The philosophy is simple at this upscale establishment: let the seafood's natural flavors shine. The wine list shimmers with crisp whites guaranteed to enhance your catch of the day.

The Bourbon House is an authentic New Orleans seafood restaurant, with its dining room windows looking out onto the riotous Bourbon Street. Inside, the atmosphere is classy and quieter, with the menu including only in-season Gulf of Mexico offerings. The wait staff is over-the-top attentive and caring, able to guide you through the various oyster options and small batch/single barrel bourbon choices. The Bourbon House is home to the New Orleans Bourbon Society which is a club dedicated to the appreciation of fine bourbons. If you're into seafood with or without shell and enjoy darker libations, this is your spot.

Polished elegance isn't a bellwether of most restaurants in the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods in New Orleans. Which is why the Franklin really stands out in the crowd. Intimate and inviting, this restaurant lives in New Orleans but would be at home in any big city. Executive Chef Dane Harris prepares seasonally inspired dishes that might include beef tartare with pho garnishes and crispy rainbow trout with citrus salsa verde, from amenu that is both modern and French-inspired. Don't miss the stupendous burger with farmhouse cheddar and frites. The steamed PEI mussels with Nduja are stellar. Then there's the elevated cocktail program, which includes martinis as they were meant to be sipped. The former corner store is filled with natural light and spectacular art from the owner's private collection.

Chef Seth Temple is onstage, front and center, at Le Chat Noir, the former cabaret theater at 715 St. Charles Ave. Temple's artful food commands the spotlight, the star of the show that went curtains up in early December 2021. Temple drives a veg-forward menu with big flavors and farm-fresh ingredients. Take what he does with hakurei turnips, for example. A sauté of the small, crunchy vegetable, greens attached, in a miso-fueled umami sauce studded with candied Meyerquats and fronds of bronze fennel is hauntingly simple. Then there's the daily fresh fish served with an oniony soubise, mushroom and capers. And that crab fat agnolotti is to die for. Sommelier Kevin Wardell, who moved to New Orleans from Healdsburg, California, curates an affordable wine list with small, boutique producers and lesser-known grape varietals.

The giant fish hanging in Donald Link's industrial-chic Warehouse District eatery says it all. This place is all about local and line-caught seafood, most of it cooked on an epic coal-fired grill. James Beard Award-winning chef/partner Ryan Prewitt delivers intriguing dishes like baked drum with mushroom broth, shrimp with purple rice pilaf and one of the best grilled whole redfish you'll ever eat, a beauty that might be treated to a lemony, herbaceous salsa verde. Steak lovers will swoon over the 22 ounce Brasstown rib eye for two, out of North Carolina. Reserve early and often, Peche accepts reservations by phone and online.

This oyster palace in the upper French Quarter, a mainstay of briny bivalves since 1910, is a favorite seafood eatery for both visitors and locals. Acme regularly shucks more than three million oysters per year, best appreciated from a seat at the scarred marble oyster bar. Slurp down as many as you are able, but save room for an order or two of the chargrilled oysters, smoky and hot off the fire. An expanded dining area keeps the line moving outside, but you can usually expect to wait for the chance to tuck into specialties like oyster Rockefeller soup, jambalaya and fried softshell crab.