Fried catfish seems like a simple dish to put on a summer restaurant menu. But Palm & Pine does things a little differently for its Hanoi-style catfish.

They made a nuoc mau, a Vietnamese-style caramel with fish sauce, and a flavorful, deep yellow remoulade with turmeric. They made a salad of rice noodles (some boiled, some fried) and finished it off with fresh herbs. And then they listed it as an option on a Coolinary menu, which immediately got me circling Palm & Pine as a place to visit in the height of summer.

A well-known aspect of August in New Orleans is Coolinary, a program in which participating restaurants offer special fixed-price menus to attract people during the quieter time of year.

This year, Coolinary is longer than usual, running until September 15th, meaning we’re only about halfway through, so there’s plenty of time to get into it.

This year, nearly 150 restaurants are serving Coolinary menus, many of them trying Coolinary for the first time. They represent a growing range of culinary styles, formats and price points, and are more represented when it comes to minority-owned restaurants.

This year, Coolinary restaurants are offering two-course lunches for $28 or less and three-course dinners and brunches for $58 or less. You can see the full list and their special menus at neworleans.com.

But while Coolinary can be a lifeline in the summer doldrums, restaurants still need to do things to get back on their feet. How the offer is implemented can vary greatly from restaurant to restaurant.

Some cuisine is simple or just plain boring, with predictable, cheap and unexciting dishes. The best restaurants in Coolinary go all out, combining popular house dishes with different courses or getting creative with new dishes that can be compelling but still be served within price constraints.

Here are four Coolinary restaurants I’ve tried so far this season, each with a completely different take on the format. Two are making their Coolinary debut, and two are reliably Coolinary award-winning.

Island Soul Bargains at Queen Trini Lisa

4200 D’Hemecourt St., (504) 345-2058

I was delighted to see this hidden back street gem on the Coolinary list for the first time for a number of reasons. Firstly, it shows how even very basic restaurants can participate in the program, and secondly, it gives a new perspective to my constant plea for people to try Chef Lisa Nelson’s “Trinbagonian Island Soul” cuisine.

Choose the Coolinary menu (lunch only, two courses, $26) and you’ll get a greatest hits version of the menu.

It starts with a “double,” a light, fluffy flatbread “doubled” around curried chickpeas and chutney and wrapped tightly in wax paper (try it with the spicy, thick tamarind chutney or the fiery mango-habanero sauce).

Then comes a huge combo plate of Queen Trini’s two chicken dishes (normally served separately), with a pile of curried chicken next to BBQ jerk chicken, with a sauce that’s dark like molasses, a little sweet, a little smoky and delicious. Choose spinach and rice and peas as sides and you’ve got a taste of the house specialties and a hearty lunch that you can turn the leftovers into a second meal.

From Texas to Hanoi at Palm & Pine

308 N. Rampart St., (504) 814-6200

If you’re dining alone, the kitchen counter at Palm & Pine is the best place to sit, as it offers an insightful look into the workings of this creative kitchen (motto: “the South and south of it”). But I was glad there were two of us this time, as it meant we got to try most of the options on the Coolinary dinner menu (three courses, $50).

The Hanoi catfish described above was clearly the highlight. The other main course is also impressive: whole quail, with a texture so tender I thought it was cooked sous vide, but with an earthy, peppery jerk flavor reminiscent of barbecue. A coconut curry succotash and rings of spicy pickapeppa-style blackberry sauce complete the meal.

This menu is a hit parade from start (crab claws with pickled peaches for a fresh seafood cocktail or marinated shishito peppers in a spicy, crisp vinaigrette) to finish (caramel flan with fried pumpkin seeds for salty crunch and the curry banana ice cream with a beguiling, tropical resemblance to creamy, rich chocolate).

If the Coolinary menus are your first time visiting a particular restaurant in a while, you may want to consider adding a course that is a real specialty to the set menu.

Palm & Pine is the only place locally to find Parisa, the hyper-regional Southeast Texas steak tartare made (improbably but deliciously) with Havarti cheese. I couldn’t let this visit to Coolinary go by without trying one more sample to start.

Thai feast for two at Good Catch

828 Gravier St., (504) 581-2205

This new Thai seafood restaurant (from the folks behind Pomelo, Uptown) has structured its first Coolinary dinner menu as a package of four different multi-course tasting tours from different regions of Thailand.

These are called “sets” and are each portioned for two people. They include three dishes plus dessert and cost $38 per person (which equates to $76 for dinner for two).

When I ordered the Central Thai menu, the table quickly filled up with fish cakes with a springy texture and a sour fish sauce; a hollowed-out pineapple filled with fried rice and topped with fried shrimp in the shell; and a mild green curry filled with fried scallops and pumpkin. For dessert, there was pumpkin pudding.

This format works because it’s fun and turns a dinner for two into a communal feast, and because the lighter Thai flavors pair well with the hot weather.

Another non-Coolinary extra to consider: Thai-style salmon sashimi with spicy chili peppers and sizzling green seaweed wrappers to roll your own sushi bites. Coolinary can serve as an introduction to new places, and this is a dish I would return for alone.

Salmon and schnitzel at The Bower

1320 Magazine St., (504) 582-9738

The Bower’s special menus are always elegant and appealing, and this year’s Coolinary dinner features a mix of small details and big dishes that make it special (three courses, $49).

Ora King salmon and trout roe aren’t the ingredients you’d normally find on dinner deal menus, but they’re combined into a crudo to start this delicious fresh seafood dish. Collard greens around smoked beef with yoghurt and chilli and a bowl of whipped feta with baguette are the other starters to choose from.

The main course, corn-crusted pork, sounds mysterious. Order it anyway, and you’ll get a plate-filling schnitzel, thin, crispy and dressed for summer, piled high with a salad of corn, coriander, pickled watermelon and radish slices, and topped with a cool, crispy pop.

Pesto, burrata and candied lemon round off the vegetarian pasta variant, which consists of fresh, homemade spaghetti with basil flavor.

For dessert, you’ll want the Bushwhacker Budino, an alcoholic cold finish in a chocolate-dipped whiskey glass.