CAJUN & CREOLE

Marcela’s Creole Cookery

Chef Anthony McDonald, a New Orleans transplant, cooks up an assortment of hometown classics, from po’boys to the traditional muffuletta, crawfish etouffee, shrimp Creole, and an array of expertly fried items like alligator, oysters, catfish, and crawfish. McDonald and his wife, Marcela Fuenzalida, host crawfish-boil parties on Sundays in April, May, and June at the Pioneer Square restaurant. Leave room for the bread pudding, rich with whiskey sauce, or the bananas flambeau, a version of a Foster that is set aflame tableside. 106 James St., 223-0042,

marcelascreolecookery.com MEGAN HILL

The New Orleans Creole Restaurant

This Pioneer Square joint rocks with live jazz, zydeco, and blues bands almost every night of the week. The music accompanies food like fried oysters, jambalaya, and stuffed flounder. The New Orleans has managed to come up with vegetarian versions of super-meaty jambalaya and gumbo—both surprisingly flavorful and holding true to the complexities of the originals. Wash them down with a drink or two from a massive menu that includes New Orleans favorites like the hurricane, fruity and full of rum, and a classic mint julep. 114 First Ave. S., 622-2563, neworleanscreolerestaurant.com MEGAN HILL

Roux

Following the success of his food truck Where Ya At Matt, New Orleanian Matt Lewis opened brick-and-mortar Roux in the fall. Authentic beignets piled with powdered sugar and coffee are available all day, and lunch mimics the truck’s fare, with fat po’boy sandwiches, a salty muffuletta, and steaming bowls of gumbo and jambalaya. Dinner gets sexy with gussied-up versions of the stuff you’d find rural Cajuns cooking in their backyards: crispy pig ear, fried chicken gizzards, frog legs, and fried rabbit saddle. Wash it all down with a pint of smooth chicory amber, made in a partnership at Elysian Brewing. 4201 Fremont Ave. N., 547-5420,

restaurantroux.com MEGAN HILL

Toulouse Petit

This gift to Lower Queen Anne has found the perfect marriage between the Deep South and the Pacific Northwest, with dishes like Dungeness crab over fried green tomatoes. At lunch, an impressive list of salads, sandwiches, and entrees includes highlights like po’boys with Mama Lil’s peppers and housemade andouille sausage with red beans and rice. The restaurant’s interior, with its plaster walls, ironwork, and ceramic and glass mosaic tiles, contribute to a pretty darn accurate impression of New Orleans’ French Quarter. 601 Queen Anne Ave. N., 432-9069,

toulousepetit.com MEGAN HILL