Restaurant Meme

OK, I've been tagged by both NOLADawn and Sadie for the restaurant meme that's going around.

These are the rules:

1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country you’re in.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

I am in New Orleans, LA, USA.

My five favorite restaurants are...

1. Upperline, Uptown. This is one of those great New Orleans restaurants that's sort of hidden. Well, not really. It's only two blocks off St. Charles, but it's not in the Quarter or in a tourist area. It's still worth finding, if you're visiting. The owner collects art, and the interior is funky and eclectic. You might as well drop the $50 and get the sampler that includes six or seven mini-portions of the fabulous, fabulous Creole food. It is worth it.

2. K-Paul's, French Quarter. We had one of our best meals of 2006 here, and therefore I am including it even though it's the sort of place we can't afford to go to a lot. It's just good Cajun, and while we were there some drunk old people just got up out of their chairs and started second lining around the dining room and we all shrugged and said, "Whatever" and clapped along, because stuff like that happens in New Orleans on a regular basis.

3. Bacco, French Quarter. I had the Most Amazing Appetizer Thing I've Ever Had here. Next time I'm just going to skip the entree and just get three of it. It involved oysters and artichokes and... oh I don't know, just trust me. It's one of the Brennan's restaurants, and it's a New Orleans twist on Italian.

4. Jacques-Imo's Cafe, Oak Street. I haven't had a bad meal at Jacques-Imo's, but it's really the sort of place you take your friends from out of town because it's super cool and weird and has crazy decor, rather than because of the food.

5. Nacho Mama's, Magazine Street. I think if you live Uptown you are either a Nacho Mama's person or a Juan's Flying Burrito person. OK, so it's not "New Orleans food" (although you can get a crawfish enchilada), but it is the only place we could accurately be said to frequent. Oh boy, do we frequent Nacho Mama's. We can split a pitcher of top shelf margaritas with the best of 'em.

5. a) Basil Leaf Thai
5. b) Sukho Thai

I didn't include them in my five because I can't decide which one I like best. But I think I have sampled all the Thai food places in New Orleans, and these are the best. Basil Leaf is on Carrollton and Sukho Thai is in the Marigny. I do love Thai food, except that I always seem to just get pad thai whenever I go out. Which is lame.

As an addendum, we are believers in Reginelli's for pizza and Five Happiness for Chinese. But I didn't count these either because we get delivery.

If you haven't done this one yet (I say this because I've seen like 4 of it today), consider yourself tagged!