Craving fall comfort food? 8 dishes to try in New Orleans at cozy restaurants to match

Red sauce and brown gravy, thick cuts of meat, deep stews. This is the food of fall in New Orleans. We wait for it all year.

I know it's not exactly sweater weather yet (much less gumbo weather). But with Halloween behind us, my appetites is telling me now is the time to dig in, no matter the ups and downs of the actual weather.

Here’s a foliage tour of flavors I’m craving now in settings that can feel cozy too in different ways.

Vincent’s Italian Cuisine

4411 Chastant St., (504) 885-2984 and 7839 St. Charles Ave., 504-866-9313

Both the Metairie original and the better-known Riverbend expansion of this household name for Creole Italian cooking feel cozy, in their own ways. Metairie is more like visiting your grandmother’s house; on St. Charles Avenue is more of a bustling cozy of closely-packed tables in dining rooms that evoke Billy Joel lyrics.

At either address, get the cannelloni. The blend of veal and spinach in the fat pasta tubes mixes a bit with the Alfredo sauce around it, with a baked, creamy texture that invites a hunk of bread or maybe even a spoon.

Gendusa’s Italian Market

325 Williams Blvd., (504) 305-5305

Genduas’s rolls monumental meatballs that feed you twice. It’s one of the best casual Italian restaurants around, found in this Rivertown cottage behind a cute front porch.

The size of a softball, it weighs a pound after cooking. It’s all beef, though the fine-ground texture is so soft, you’d swear it was blended with veal. It’s draped with a smooth, gentle, slightly sweet sauce closer in color to burgundy than tomato.

Roast duck at Brigtsen’s Restaurant

723 Dante St., (504)-861-7610

Brown is the color of flavor. That’s a Frank Brigtsen maxim that is verified many times over on his menus. This particular dish is a tapestry of evidence. Smoky and meaty, succulent with the contrast of textures across the crisp skin and tender meat, with pepper jelly glaze and dirty rice to bring it all on home.

The small connecting dining rooms within this sidehall shotgun tell you it was once a house. The hospitality and good feelings that fill them show you why many still consider it a home away from home.

Tagine of lamb at Jamila’s Café

7808 Maple St., (504) 866-4366

The mere sight of the clay pots (the tagines themselves) can ignite cravings for their traditional contents any time of year. This is when it starts to feel closer to the true season for it. Start with a scoop of saffron rice, then spoon out a portion of lamb and its stew, with that complex mix of sweet and spice and savory.

The dining room feels like a country cabin with Tunisian accents, cute window curtains, the heartfelt hospitality of your host Moncef Sbaa and the occasional beaming appearance from the kitchen door of his better half, chef Jamila herself.

Steamed mussels with frites at La Crepe Nanou

1410 Robert St., (504) 899-2670

A film set-worthy composition of the classic French bistro, Crepe Nanou hits somewhere between comforting coziness and seductive romance, and maybe is a reminder those two feelings aren’t mutually exclusive.

Whatever muse you’re chasing, a pot of mussels at the center of the table to share (or just to ravage on a solo dinner) is best start. The shells steep in cream sluiced by wine, dotted with garlic and finished with herbs, all of it inviting swipes of baguette and dunks of frites.

Sauteed vegetable at Lebanon’s Café

1500 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 862-6200

Sometimes comfort comes from knowing you’re getting a great value in a neighborhood fixture where you’ve passed a lot of good times through the years. That’s Lebanon’s Café, which has a sleeper vegetarian hit hidden on its usurpingly deep Middle Eastern menu.

Perhaps the name on the menu disguises it. What you get is a mountain of vegetables, anchored by eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash and mushrooms (among others), bound by a golden-brown cap of cheese with the tag of feta and stretch of mozzarella, over a bed of basmati rice. Like everything at this ultra-casual BYOB café, it’s a screaming deal ($18) in a portion big enough for two.

Rabbit fricassee at Saint John

715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 381-0385

Saint John just opened in its new location in September but already feels like it’s been home here for a while. That might be a testament to the style of cooking with foundational Louisiana flavors with a chef’s eye.

You don’t see too many modern restaurants serving fricassee anything, and I can’t think of a better example than this rabbit rendition over tender gnocchi with brown edges, enriched with bacon, cut by fennel. It’s listed as an appetizer but feeds you like a home cooked supper.

The new location is a winner, with a great bar (and generous happy hour) In the dining room, you can see the flames from the open kitchen playing against the walls, amping up the comfort food feelings.

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