"At Lowerline, in Prospect Heights, John Verlander—standing every night behind his elegant, polished-wood bar wearing a Mets cap—offers oysters from the West and East Coasts, supremely fresh, on ice, or battered and deep-fried till craggy, as filling for a po’boy. The latter is made not with New Orleans-style French bread but with a sharply crusty hero roll from the beloved Brooklyn bakery Caputo’s. The muffuletta, made with prosciutto, capicola, shaved Parmesan, and olive salad, could easily be mistaken for an extra-spicy Italian combo. (Although, if you want chips with that, there is only one kind: iconic, Louisiana-made Zapp’s, Spicy Cajun Crawtator flavor.) The seafood-and-okra gumbo, its rich, dark roux infused with the distinct mineral tang of the blue-crab shell that lurks in each bowl, is pure New Orleans, a dome of steamed rice clearing the stew’s surface like a volcano in the ocean, sinking slowly as you eat. A refreshing salad of “petite lettuces,” on the other hand, tossed with fresh herbs, radishes, pecans, and a touch of mustard vinaigrette, feels radically light." - Hannah Goldfield
