Zasu

Chef Sue Zemanick is no stranger to the New Orleans dining scene, having spent time in the kitchens of some of the city's famed restaurants before opening Zasu in 2019. Set in an easy-to-miss cottage in Mid-City, it's an elegant oasis with a sleek dining room marked by wood floors, dark green walls and gold tones. The menu is tightly edited, featuring a dozen or so dishes focused on seafood and blending local flavors with French techniques. A scallop shell holds two perfectly seared scallops in a Thai chile-lime butter with watermelon radish for a refreshing opener, while tilefish on a bed of Swiss chard, sweet potatoes and beech mushrooms in a beurre blanc is a satisfying main course. End with something sweet like the warm peach cake with vanilla yogurt sauce.

Distinctive Details

• Seafood-forward tasting of New Orleans, with French technique and a light hand
• Left turn combinations, sweetbreads with sushi rice and sesame soy glaze, scallops over cacio e pepe butter beans
• Pierogies show up as an entree, pimento cheese and potato with charred scallion creme fraiche

Signature Ingredients

• Gulf and market seafood, baby octopus, scallops, yellowfin tuna, red snapper, ora king salmon
• Preserved lemon, black garlic, miso, tamarind
• Oyster mushrooms, beech mushrooms, butter beans, sunchokes
• Southern accents, pimento cheese, turnip greens

Menu Summary

Seasonal New Orleans cooking with a seafood-leaning centre of gravity and tight, edited choices. Starters run from grilled baby octopus with salsa brava to yellowfin tuna crudo with Castelvetrano olives and fried capers. Mains move through fish and comfort, American red snapper with gnocchi and truffle beurre blanc, ora king salmon with black garlic miso vinaigrette, plus braised short rib with tamarind demi-glace.