Best Cajun-Creole Restaurant


Important: This article was last updated on September 21, 2005. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.

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Creolina's
209 S.W. Second St., Fort Lauderdale, 954/524-2003

 The idiosyncratic cuisine of New Orleans is re-created in all its caloric glory at the intimate and personable Creolina's. Chef-owner Mark Sulzinski outfits the mustard-colored 52-seater with bright Haitian paintings and timeless jazz memorabilia, and his food is no less distinctive. For lunch on weekdays, when Rosamary O'Neal (see Best Waitress) is working the floor, Sulzinski provides downtown workers with a great midday escape with, among other items, oversize servings of jambalaya, crawfish, red beans and rice and a daily special. Wash it down with pitchers of homemade sweet tea and fresh lemonade. The menu reaches further into the Louisiana recipe book at dinner with authentic renderings of creamy crawfish bisque, pecan catfish doused in brown sauce, alligator sausage, blackened filet mignon and spicy soft-shell crabs. The wine list is well-chosen and inexpensive, the service is professional, and the bread pudding and bananas Foster are ideal closers. Creolina's stays open until the wee hours Friday and Saturday nights, serving the best sandwiches in the neighborhood at the front window.