Phillip Koo: So Oliver, the AUA is coming to town in less than two months. I think what the audience really wants to know are, what are your top favorite, five favorite restaurants in New Orleans?

Oliver Sartor: Oh gosh. That's a very, very important question.

Phillip Koo: True.

Oliver Sartor: And you know, it's a highly debatable question, but I'm going to come up with a list of five that I personally really enjoy, and I'm going to start ticking them off. We're going to talk about Commander's Palace. I mean, oh my goodness, what fabulous food. We're going to talk about Clancy's. We're going to talk about Gautreau's. We're going to talk about Galatoire's. We're going to about Cafe Degas.

These are restaurants that sort of define New Orleans cuisine. Each one of them have an element that is fabulous for how we approach eating in New Orleans. I mean, I remember way back when, when my parents would come to town, I was a Tulane medical student and my parents would say, "Let's go to Commander's Palace." Or Galatoire's was one of the favorites of everybody in New Orleans and it's so quintessential New Orleans. It's so good. And goodness gracious, I mean, I could go down and give you selections of each of the restaurants, but I hate to say the bread pudding soufflé at Commander's, that might just be the best dessert I've ever had in my entire life.

Phillip Koo: I had that a month ago and I agree 100%.

Oliver Sartor: You know, one thing is that, when you're eating in New Orleans, I think you ought to go with seafood. And of course we have crabs, we have oysters, we have shrimp. You can go get your steaks in Chicago. If you're going to come to New Orleans, eat something from the Gulf of Mexico, because that's going to be fresh and it's going to be good. And there's so many choices you can have, almost all the restaurants will have a Gulf shrimp. And by the way, why don't you just put a little lump crab meat on top, because you put the lump crab meat on top, it just makes it even better.

Phillip Koo: So, all right. The takeaways are, get the seafood and always get the crab meat lump.

Oliver Sartor: Absolutely.

Phillip Koo: All right.

Oliver Sartor: I don't see how you can go wrong with that.

Phillip Koo: So you gave your top five kind of more full service restaurants. What about your top five quintessential New Orleans foodie experiences?

Oliver Sartor: Okay. Now that's a little bit of a different question. The ones that I listed are Commander's and Galatoire's. They're all fine dining. And now if you want to sow into a place where it's a little bit distinct, right, let's just start off with oysters, okay? So oysters, the one that everybody knows about is say, Acme and Felix's also at the Quarter, great oysters. I happen to like Casamento oysters uptown on Magazine Street. Tiny little dive, fabulous oysters. And Pascal's Manale also has some great oysters. Now, if you want them charbroiled, you need to go to Drago's, and the best Drago's is the one out in Metairie. But we can't just stop at oysters. What about Po'boys?

Phillip Koo: Po'boys?

Oliver Sartor: Yeah, Po'boys. I mean, that's another quintessential New Orleans restaurant food. And gosh, there's some that I really like, Domilise's and Parasol's, that are just so fabulous. A lot of people like Parkway. I have a tendency to go to Domilise's and Parasol's, just to name my top two. Oh, and what about Guy's? You want a shrimp po'boy, Guy's is so good. So, those are the ones. And then you have the neighborhood restaurants. And neighborhood restaurants have this own characteristic feel like Mandina's. It's an old school New Orleans restaurant. One of the favorites that I really enjoy, that's not in New Orleans. You got to take a little drive, it's called Mosca's. It's Italian with a New Orleans mix. And, oh my goodness gracious, the Oysters Mosca, unbelievable. Now you got to drive a little bit to get there, but it is so, so, so good.

Oh gosh. I can go on and on. I can mention Camellia Grill for your 2:00 AM hamburger and hash Browns, and every now and then at 2:00 AM, you really need to get something.

Phillip Koo: Yes.

Oliver Sartor: And Camellia Grill can help accommodate that late night snack. I just simply say, when you come to New Orleans, just get out and about, because there's so many good places to eat, that you almost can't go wrong, but those are some of my favorites.

Phillip Koo: Well, Oliver, you're making me hungry. For all the people who just watched this, go ahead, make your itinerary, make your reservations and enjoy your time in New Orleans. Thank you, Oliver.

Oliver Sartor: Thank you. Everybody's going to be a great time at AUA. It's going to be a good time.

Phillip Koo: That sounds good.