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Certain cuisines resist gentrification: Jack up the price of fish tacos, stuff foie gras in your fried dumplings, and you're likely to ruin whatever made them toothsome in the first place. At Ida Mae, the food getting gussied up is Southern, or perhaps Pan-Southern, as it stretches all the way from collard greens and grits to gumbo to tostaditos. The fancy dress comes in the form of, say, goat cheese (accompanying the pickled beets), or the mango-cucumber slaw (a counterpart to crab cakes), and extends to the dining room itself, a dark space with remarkably comfortable chairs and a plush, enclosed lounge. But despite all these attempts to go upscale, the flavors remain stubbornly�and, often, tastily�familiar. A deconstructed lamb gumbo is, Derrida aside, just lamb chops with okra; the braised short ribs with a sweet glaze taste just like barbecued ribs�minus the bones. Even the self-consciously stylish atmosphere managed one night to attract a single celebrity: Dawnn Lewis, former star of "A Different World". A reasonably priced wine list�most bottles are under $40�lets these fumbles go down a bit easier, but even so, y'all might be happier with a bucket of Popeye's and a magnum of Cristal. — Matt Gross

Pickled beet salad, $11; Louisiana crab cake, $15; roulade of redfish, $27

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (8/25/03)