3 Best Restaurants in New Orleans, Louisiana

Chef-owned restaurants are common in New Orleans, but this one builds on owner Donald Link's family heritage as he, working with co-owner Stephen Stryjewski (who received a James Beard Award for his work here), prepares Cajun dishes he learned to cook at his grandfather's knee. The fried boudin with pickled peppers is a must—trust us on this one—as well as the wood-fired oysters with chili garlic butter. Then move on to the rabbit and dumplings, and a hearty Louisiana cochon (pork) with turnips, cracklings, and cabbage. Despite the pork-centric reputation, all the vegetable sides, especially the braised collard greens, are excellent.

As the restaurant's name might hint, on the menu here you'll find meat, meat, and more meat, from chicken liver mousse and charcuterie to a lamb neck with black-eyed-pea salad and a double-cut pork chop with a local cane syrup gastrique. Chef Isaac Toups, a Top Chef contestant and crowd favorite, is hardly the only young American chef obsessed with animal flesh, but at this intimate spot with DIY elegance, he adds a Louisiana edge with items like boudin, cracklings, and sides of dirty rice. But don't worry, not everything coming out of the kitchen is meat: they make their own pickles, too.

Despite its white tablecloths and refined menu, this small, family-run bistro in its cornflower-blue cottage setting has a wonderful neighborhood feel to it. The Cajun-Creole kitchen originally opened in 1992 and after a brief closing due to Hurricane Katrina, its elevated Cajun fare and friendly service has quickly made its way back into the heart of local diners.