RED BEANS AND RICE

No dish in New Orleans is quite so common or demanded as red beans and rice. It's a specialty at Paul's Café in Pontchatoula, served daily with a mild pork sausage, and also in the heart of the French Quarter at Café Maspero, seasoned with ham and smoked sausage hot from the grill. Monday is the day to catch the traditional, home-cooked red beans at Petunia's Place in Mandeville and Monday is also the day red beans appear as the special at Café Reconcile, the nonprofit lunch spot in Central City. The French Market Restaurant prepares its red beans with both deeply smoky ham hocks and slices of andouille sausage. The Saltwater Grill introduces a little green to its red beans with a side salad. The late-night, any-time diner Rosey's (formerly Huey's 24/7) offers its red beans with a choice of grilled smoked sausage or fried chicken tenders. The Palm Court Café prepares its red beans with its special garlic chicken while Zeke's in Metairie offers a choice of sausage, grilled pork chop or grilled chicken breast as the meat for its version. Galley Seafood fries catfish to accompany its red beans, along with a salad and garlic bread. New in the Uptown area, the Urban Cup Café prepares its red beans and rice as a salad — combining red beans, cucumber, celery and red onion with three types of rice and dressing it all with red wine vinegar, olive oil and spices. On daytime cruises, the Steamboat Natchez offers red beans and rice with smoked sausage. At Ted's Frostop, the red beans come with hot or smoked sausage. The Monday red beans at Acquistapace's Supermarket come with pork sausage and cornbread