Charles Sea Foods

Go for: Oysters on the half shell, daily specials, bountiful plates

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Charles Sea Foods (not Charlie’s) is located in Harahan, and it’s been a reliable mainstay and a Jefferson Highway landmark since 1951.

While it has gone through several ownership changes, not much else has changed through the years. The dining room features new art, and a fresh look, but everything else seems to be just the same.

Charles Sea Foods run daily specials, and they still do an excellent job with the fried and boiled seafood they’ve always been known for — staples like gumbo, fried catfish and chargrilled oysters along with po-boys and other sandwiches. The house specialty is “jambalaya grits,” grits with andouille, shrimp and roasted red peppers.

For those who don’t fancy seafood, Charles even does a classic American burger.

Other specialties include: Voodoo shrimp (pan sautéed BBQ shrimp), Creole Oyster Blue (fried gulf oysters tossed in wing sauce and blue cheese), and the Charles Acadiana (penne or capellini pasta topped with crawfish, lump crab or shrimp and tossed with a creole cream sauce).

Fresh salads make for a nice starter, but why not splurge? Get the alligator bites or try the fried green beans. Seafood platters are big enough to share, and so, too is the delicious spinach and artichoke dip.

They serve draft beer by the glass or by the pitcher, boiled seafood year round, traditional fried seafood, and seafood gumbo.

Charles Sea Foods is a great place for date night, midday lunch, or a family meal — and it’s the kind of place you want to take out-of-town guests to because it reflects the time and tradition of New Orleans’ best casual neighborhood restaurants. – Scott McCrossen