REDFISH

Blackened redfish became a dining sensation in the 1980s and since then local chefs have come up with many different preparations for this popular Gulf fish. The Riverbend café Dante's Kitchen serves its redfish "on the half shell" — that is, a filet cooked with the skin on to lock in moistness — and adds crabmeat and soft herbs. Redfish is sautéed and topped with a crawfish cream sauce at Oceana Grill in the French Quarter. The seasoned Bywater fry masters at Jack Dempsey's put their redfish through the paces for towering fried seafood platters. The Restaurant at the Treasure Chest offers redfish with a Creole seafood sauce. The Italian Fausto's Bistro on Veterans Memorial Boulevard prepares redfish limone with a garlicky penne bordelaise. Redfish is grilled at Pontchartrain Point Café and paired with a buttery beurre blanc sauce and vegetables. Crescent City Brewhouse pan-sears its redfish St. Louis and plates it with fried oysters before smothering both with a New Orleans-style barbecue sauce of butter, pepper and Worcestershire. Andouille-crusted redfish with shoestring potatoes and Creole meuniere sauce is a staple on Emeril's menu in the Warehouse District. The Ruby is Ralph and Kacoo's broiled redfish filet with crabmeat stuffing, lump crabmeat and hollandaise sauce. At Ralph's on the Park, redfish gets a traditional treatment with a classic meuniere sauce, toasted almonds and lump crabmeat, all garnished with steamed carrot ribbons. Café Pontchartrain's redfish entree comes with a Creole sauce and includes a side vegetable. The redfish at Café Atchafalaya is topped with a crawfish cream sauce.