Bayona   

Nationally acclaimed chef Susan Spicer says she used to walk by the building that now houses Bayona and fantasize about how she would make it look if it she could open a restaurant there. Dreams really do come true, since for the past decade the 200-year-old building has been Spicer's culinary hideaway. You can run, but you can't hide from international media organizations that have run out of superlatives to describe your cuisine. Everybody from the New York Times to Conde Nast Traveler has sung Spicer's praises. Here's why: starters like eggplant caviar and tapenade with herbed croutons; sauteed sweetbreads with potatoes, mushrooms and sherry mustard butter; pecan crusted rabbit with Creole mustard tasso cream, and lamb loin with goat cheese and Zinfandel sauce. The talented Ms. Spicer doesn't know how to be ordinary -- even the desserts are unheard of and artfully executed. Consider the toasted pecan roulade with caramel mousse and praline syrup. Does it get any more New Orleans than that? Let yourself have a little glass of sherry with it. You deserve it. -- Paul A. Greenberg