Bywater American Bistro

Nina Compton brings her generous spirit and natural warmth to every plate of inventive island meets New Orleans and Mediterranean cuisine at Bywater American Bistro, the second restaurant she and her husband Larry Miller opened after settling in Nola to open Compere Lapin in the CBD. This neighborhood spot - which like all New Orleans restaurants pivoted every which way in the past difficult year, feels personal to Compton, and it is. She lives upstairs and is invested in making Bywater her home. She has a loyal following, with good reason. Comfort dishes like crawfish pot pie, puffing up fetchingly in a cast iron skillet, olive-rich antipasto salad and semolina gnocchi resonate with flavor, same goes for specialties like curried rabbit with coconut rice and peas, which speaks to her Saint Lucian roots, same for a half jerk chicken with semolina dumplings. Crispy pork belly is wonderfully matched with a ginger-spiked carrot puree and nips of pickled mustard seed. A fab bar program and a stylish setting makes this restaurant beyond inviting.