Willie Mae's NOLA

Central City, New Orleans · Southern · $$

Willie Mae Seaton opened a bar in Treme in 1957 and turned it into a restaurant whose fried chicken won a James Beard America's Classic award in 2005, weeks before Katrina put water through the building. Volunteers and cooks from around the country rebuilt it, and her great-granddaughter Kerry Seaton Stewart now runs the kitchen and this larger downtown room. The chicken comes out of a wet batter with a crust that shatters; get the butter beans, which regulars quietly argue is the better dish.