RAVIOLI

Don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge ravioli until you've taken a bite. The lobster and shrimp ravioli are a don't-miss entree at Ralph Brennan's Bacco, where the seafood stuffed pasta is tossed in a champagne butter sauce garnished with caviar. Begue's Restaurant at the Royal Sonesta Hotel offers its own rendition of lobster ravioli, this time with a porcini mushroom sauce, truffles and fried leeks. The Bank Café in the Marigny stuffs its ravioli with eggplant, house-made ricotta cheese and a light marinara. Ravioli con granchio — or crabmeat ravioli, tossed in Asiago cream sauce — is one of the new Italian choices in the recently revamped menu at Mr. John's Ristorante on St. Charles Avenue. And proving that ravioli need not always be Italian, the French country kitchen at La Provence in Lacombe prepares its own ravioli with green olives and cheese in a sage velouté. Verona Restaurant in Harahan makes its own statement by frying its ravioli for an offbeat appetizer. The housemade crabmeat ravioli at Nuvolari's Ristorante is sauteed in an herbed olive oil.