Chef Gérald Passedat’s family founded this hotel-restaurant on a craggy stone point sticking out into the Mediterranean in 1917, and since he took over in 1985, he’s made it into one of the world’s best seafood restaurants. The dining room with white tablecloths has sweeping views over the sea, and the menu changes according to what the fishermen bring in every day. Passedat’s minimalist cooking style showcases the fresh fish and shellfish in dishes like carpaccio of sea bream with caviar and bottarga, sea anemone beignets with seaweed sauce, and sea bass in an herb bouillon with chopped tomatoes. [$$$$]

The menu at this stylish restaurant with spectacular views over the Mediterranean in a renovated art deco hotel is the work of chefs Tatiana and Katia Levha, the sisters behind Le Servan, one of the best modern bistros in Paris. They prioritize local seasonal produce to create inventive southern French dishes like ravioli filled with sauteed Cevennes onions with saffron butter, lemon, and sage; grilled duck breast with carrots in a sweet-and-sour sauce; and a financier with citrus, clementine sorbet, and pepper. [$$ - $$$]

Bouillabaisse, the fish stew made with locally caught rockfish, potatoes, tomatoes, saffron, and other ingredients, is arguably the dish that Marseille is most famous for. You’ll find it on menus all over town, but this family-run restaurant in business since 1946 is where the locals come. Here it’s served as a two-course meal — first the rich brick-colored fish soup with croutons and garnishes of aioli and rouille, and then a platter of the fish and shellfish that have been cooked in the soup. Service can be a bit stiff, but the bouillabaisse always delivers. [$$$]

Tucked away in Le Panier not far from Marseille’s striking Mucem, or museum of Mediterranean cultures, Scottish chef Malcolm Gardner serves up a daily chalkboard menu from the open kitchen overlooking his easygoing restaurant. Gardner, who grew up in a Scottish fishing village and followed a girlfriend to Marseille, is a shrewdly creative chef whose inventive cooking never overpowers the natural flavors of the impeccably fresh fish and shellfish he cooks with. Expect dishes like sea bream carpaccio with mango, avocado, and ginger; monkfish-filled cappelletti with pork sauce, Chinese cabbage, and chanterelles; and grilled turbot with smoked celeriac and veal stock. [$$]

After cooking at several Alain Ducasse restaurants in Paris, chef Paul Langlère moved to Marseille and set up shop in a charming bungalow surrounded by a garden with great views over the city. His brief lunch menu changes daily, and his dinner menu every three weeks, so that he can follow the seasons and cook with the best local produce. Dishes from a recent menu include oysters from the nearby Camargue with apple, mint, and ginger; gravlax with passionfruit and citrus; duck with Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted salsify, hazelnuts, and dates; and roasted lamb shoulder with oyster mushrooms en persillade.  [$$ - $$$]

Marseille fell in love with pizza when a wave of Italian immigrants arrived in toward the end of the 19th century. Locals all have their own favorite pizzeria, but the one almost everyone agrees on is this simple Panier district place plastered with photographs of famous customers who’ve long flocked for pizzas from the wood-burning oven. There are other dishes to order, too, like  steaks and succulent fried baby squid with a lot of garlic, but the main draw is the pizza. Come early or late to avoid a long wait for a table. [$$]

After creating one of the best cocktail bars in Paris, the same talented team opened a branch in Marseille just a few minutes from Le Vieux Port, the city’s historic harbor. In a nod to the city’s favorite spirit, they pour a variety of pastises as well as a number of inventive craft cocktails. Try a Tahini Sour, which is made with tahini and pisco, a perfect reflection of the diversity of this city. There are bar snacks, too, including pickled mussels, duck rillettes, and burrata. [$]

After cooking at Semilla, a popular modern bistro in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, chef Matthieu Roche moved to Marseille and opened this intimate bistro with co-owner Camille Fromont near Le Vieux Port in the heart of the city. A native of Aix-en-Provence, Roche says he returned to the south because he missed the high quality of the produce available there and also the energy of Provence’s largest city. A low-key dining room with cement floors is the backdrop for dishes like carpaccio of black mullet smoked over fennel stalks with a salad of cucumbers marinated in turmeric and horseradish; gnocchi with a sauce of ramps and baby broccoli; and a passionfruit tart with a lime-meringue topping and lemon sorbet. [$$]

This excellent new coffee shop was opened by former Brooklyn and Venice Beach resident Tony Collins, who had the idea of bringing great coffee to Marseilles. The shop roasts its own beans in a big black Probat roaster that dominates the small space. You can also come by for pastries in the morning, and a hot dish or two — maybe fusilli with leeks and Gorgonzola, or fresh pea soup — every day at lunchtime. [$]

Before opening his snug bistro with a back garden terrace, chef Éric Maillet was sous-chef to Gérald Passedat, the dean of Marseille cooking, at his excellent seafood restaurant Le Petit Nice. The pedigree shows up in the precise creative bistro dishes on Maillet’s regularly changing chalkboard menu. Seafood and vegetables are the stars, including a recent starter salad of string beans, peas, snow peas, cherries, and pine nuts in an earthy vinaigrette; and sea bream and grilled baby potatoes with a sauce vierge (chopped tomatoes and basil in olive oil). [$$]

British chef Harry Cummins and Quebecois sommelier Laura Vidal met while working together at Frenchie in Paris, and opened this market-menu bistro with an open kitchen in an old sewing shop in the Noailles district last spring. It’s been playing to a full house ever since. Book a seat at the long repurposed wood bar to watch the chefs at work, or grab a table and dig into dishes like a saute of razor clams with shallots and ham; gnocchi with lamb and black olive ragout; grilled line-caught turbot with artichokes, spinach, and young garlic; and rice pudding flavored with fig leaves and strawberries. The menu evolves constantly, and the wine list includes great selection by the glass. In nice weather, the small terrace outside is the place to be. [$$]

Former food writer Julia Sammut — whose mother and sister run the respected La Fenière restaurant in the tiny nearby village of Cadenet — opened her “ideal grocery store” (as the name translates) in the Noailles quarter. Here she sells a personally curated selection of the foods she loves best, including cheese, charcuterie, condiments, olives, pasta, and other high-quality goods. At noon, these foodstuffs star in a short, regularly changing menu that’s served at a wooden tables in the shop and on the sidewalk outside. Recent preparations included lamb shoulder baked with pomegranate molasses, chickpeas with braised octopus, a zucchini tart with smoked Sardinian ricotta, and almond and orange blossom ice cream. [$ - $$]

In the language of Provence, bubo means “to remember,” and this is what chef Fabien Torrente does with his contemporary tasting menus that recall the traditional flavors of this sunny stretch of France but reinterpret them in a modern way. For lunch, he serves bento boxes that include a starter, a main course, and a dessert, and then offers a more elaborate menu at dinner. The dishes change often but tend toward umami, like a deconstructed vitello tonnato (chopped veal with capers and creamy tuna sauce) or roast lamb with zucchini stuffed with braised beef cheeks. For dessert, there’s a creamy chocolate mousse with orange and rhubarb ice cream. [$$]

Before you head into this very popular fish house for a meal, do what the regulars do and eyeball the catch of the day at the adjacent fish market that’s owned by the restaurant. Owner Fabien Rugi’s nautically themed decor of ropes, fishnets, and buoys is amusingly tongue-in-cheek but the cooking here is seriously good, including a regularly changing roster of dishes like fresh sea urchins in season, razor clams from Sète with fresh cilantro and lemon, grilled rouget (red mullet), and fried baby squid. Finish up with a slice of fiadone, a Corsican cheesecake. Reservations are essential. [$$]

Alexandre Mazzia might be the most innovative chef working in Marseille today. The former professional basketball player opened this simply decorated, modern tasting-menu bistro in a residential district in 2014. Mazzia works in the open kitchen, where his cooking is informed by his childhood in Pointe-Noire in the Congo, where his father was a merchant dealing in exotic wood, and also the flavors of Provence. Cameos of Mazzia’s increasingly acclaimed cooking include a tiny cocoa-cream-filled tartlet topped with smoked eel, beet juice, and fresh black pepper; semolina with orange blossom water, horseradish, and shellfish jus; and grilled red mullet with a duck jus, green satay sauce, and a condiment of raspberries and harissa. [$$$ - $$$$]

Tucked away in Marseille’s Egyptian Cultural Center, this casual restaurant with brightly colored cushions and painted wood furniture serves dishes like kochari, a traditional street food made from rice, pasta, lentils, and chickpeas, garnished with tomato sauce and fried onions. There’s also ful, falafel sandwiches, and Egyptian flan, in addition to two different daily main-course specials. The non-alcoholic drinks list includes helba, an infusion of fenugreek, and mint tea. [$ - $$]