CRAB

At his namesake Brigtsen's Restaurant, Chef Frank Brigtsen often offers the appetizer Gratin of Louisiana Stone Crab Thermidor, which features crabmeat topped with a crust of Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs and a variation of the classic sauce flavored with Dijon mustard and tarragon. Ninth Ward institution Jack Dempsey's prepares broiled plates with both King crab legs and Dungeness crab. In the CBD on Fridays, The Apple Seed Shoppe features a house special in which lump crabmeat is piled onto wilted lettuce, radishes, mushrooms and green onions with a choice of dressing. The crab salad at Alberta combines a julienne of Romaine lettuce with fresh tomatoes, avocado, applewood-smoked bacon, boiled egg, Roquefort cheese, jumbo lump crabmeat and a special dressing. Crab cakes with a seafood cream sauce over angel hair pasta, served with a garden salad and bread, are one of the chef's specialties at Seither's Seafood in Harahan.

The stuffed crab shells at Besh Steakhouse at Harrah's finds pasta shells stuffed with jumbo lump crabmeat in a garlic lemon fondue. Cross the street at Restaurant August, Besh's signature gnocchi appetizer is elegantly dressed in a crabmeat and truffle cream. The chefs of Café Adelaide go to Des Allemands for their Fleur de Lis Blue Crab Tart, which features blue crab, leeks and oyster mushrooms in homage to renowned Cajun chef John Folse's Bittersweet Plantation fleur de lis cheese. On the West Bank, Café DiBlasi's crab cake DiChristy tops pan-fried crabmeat with a shrimp and Creole cream cheese sauce. MedUSA Café's Mediterranean Crabmeat Pie is an entree dish of lump crabmeat rolled in phyllo dough, baked and then topped with creamy crabmeat and served with an organic, mixed salad. The Creole crab cakes at Pontchartrain Point Café place crabmeat, battered and fried in breadcrumbs, on a bed of penne pasta tossed in a spicy cream sauce and garnished with a remoulade sauce. Fury's offers crabmeat au gratin everyday.

Impastato's appetizer choices include Mickey Jackson's Crab Fingers: tender crab fingers sautéed in a sauce of lemon, butter, Italian breadcrumbs and parsley. Orleans Grapevine in the French Quarter offers a half-pound of hot Stone crab in a champagne dill sauce. A signature dish at Palace Café is the Crabmeat Cheesecake appetizer, in which crabmeat is baked in a pecan crust with wild mushrooms and served with a Creole meuniere sauce. Chad's Bistro provides a crab salad with smoked gouda, sun-dried cranberries, pecans and a citrus vinaigrette. When they are in season, you can order a half-dozen boiled crabs at Morton's Seafood. Fisherman's Cove offers crabs by the dozen, be they small, medium, large or jumbo. Surrey's Café and Juice Bar uses fresh lump crabmeat from Lafitte. The Deckbar and Grille offers crab balls, which are deep fried clusters of crabmeat stuffing.