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Start a Top 5 for CajunEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Washingtonian. Updated August 2026.
Dauphine’s · Downtown
A New Orleans dining room downtown on 15th Street with chef Kristen Essig, of Emeril's and Coquette, in the kitchen and New Orleans bar veteran Neal Bodenheimer behind the drinks. Blackened soft-shell crab Creole, trout amandine, paneed rabbit, and raw-bar shellfish plateaus anchor the menu.
Pearl Dive Oyster Palace · Logan Circle
A 14th Street seafood room built on Louisiana cooking: three styles of gumbo, crawfish etouffee over buttered rice, an oyster po boy, and a fried-chicken plate that starts in a chicken-stock braise before hitting the fryer. The room stays lively and the checks stay reasonable.
RT's Restaurant · Del Ray
A plain-looking neighborhood spot in Del Ray, Alexandria that has served serious Louisiana cooking since 1985. Oysters come raw, fried, or dressed as Oysters Bienville, and Cajun grilled lamb chops and a fish-and-veal Atchafalaya with lobster and shrimp show the kitchen's range beyond the po boy circuit.