Critics’ choice: New adventures in seafood

Connie and Ted’s Los Angeles

One of the toughest reservations to get in L.A. these days is at a place that’s “pretty much a Rhode Island restaurant,” said Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times. Michael Cimarusti doesn’t do the modernist French-Asian thing here that established him as one of the city’s great chefs. At Connie and Ted’s, his mildly postmodern clam shack, he’s showing off his traditionalist muscles, as well as some “hard-won connections with the better New England seafood suppliers.” Lobster rolls come with French fries but no notes of chervil. But “Cimarusti knows how to buy a lobster, how to cook a lobster, and how to serve a lobster,” and “no restaurant in Los Angeles treats its oysters with more reverence.” If you handle your dinner order right, you’ll have “vast mountains of clams” arriving too, including “stuffies”—chopped quahogs mixed with bread crumbs, sausage, and sautéed sweet peppers, all baked in the shells. Now picture yourself with a cold beer and a plate of stuffies served at the bar: “It’s hard to think of a better place to stop in after a movie.” 8171 Santa Monica Blvd., (323) 848-2722

Peche New Orleans

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The great seafood produced in the kitchen of Peche each night “isn’t the stuff of a normal Saturday night fish fry,” said Ian McNulty in the New Orleans Gambit. Chef Donald Link and his team have built up credibility among diners with other ventures, and they’re leveraging some of it now at this “fascinating” new fish house. Fish arrive whole to the kitchen, and no morsel goes wasted. Like a Cajun charcuterie that gets the best of every part of a pig, Peche transforms its daily haul into fillets, steaks, crudos, salads—even grouper neck, served fried with fins attached. Most dramatic, though, are the whole fish cooked over an open wood fire that’s visible from the dining room. They’re served family style with grilled vegetables, and can run to $50 apiece, but they’re worth the expense. The hog snapper, broiled in its own juices, with skin “charred a pinkish red,” yields a dining experience akin to “unpacking a picnic basket.” The fish keeps giving up surprises—each forkful unfurling a marvelously complex flavor all its own. 800 Magazine St., (504) 522-1744

ZZ’s Clam Bar New York

“When I think of a clam bar, I think of a lot of clams, a lot of ocean, a lot of Italians,” said Alan Richman in GQ.com. I also think cheap. Turns out, I was wrong on all counts regarding the latest venture from the acclaimed team behind downtown Manhattan’s throwback Italian joints Carbone and Torrisi Italian Specialties. ZZ’s Clam Bar has only four small tables and the demeanor of an exclusive club, complete with bouncer. Drinks, served by a white-tuxedoed bartender, are $20, and the food is exotic. A plate of shimaagi, with ricotta and caviar, runs $95. When you step into the tiny space—if you get in—you’re surrounded by over-the-top decor that feels “a little Caribbean, a little British, a little Marrakech.” For as long as the spell held, I didn’t care what the food cost. Then a loud guy wearing a backpack walked in. Turns out, “fantasy is a fragile state.” 169 Thompson St., (212) 254-3000