Restaurant Guide 2006

This onetime NoPo drapery factory is now a Creole-inspired restaurant that invokes both the seriousness and the fun with which eating is approached in New Orleans. Chef Josh Blythe looks to the Big Easy for inspiration, but isn't chained to its conventions. A classic muffaletta sandwich is reinvented as a satisfying salad with mortadella, olives and salami, crisp hush puppies are moistened with a piquant green tomato dip, and an entree dubbed "pork and beans" arrives as a meaty pork shoulder steak atop sweet, savory white beans with just a hint of bite. The desserts echo the creativity-meets-precision preparation model, from heavenly fried-to-order beignets with chicory-infused caramel to a seasonal blackberry trifle layered with champagne and cr�me anglaise. The final course at Roux is something to marvel at and save room for. (IM)