New Orleans, LAMexican

Chef-owner Juan Contreras cooks the family recipes of his native Michoacan at this Lakeview restaurant, including a roast chicken draped in a deep, layered mole poblano. The kitchen makes its own tortillas and salsas, and the bar mixes margaritas from fresh-squeezed juice. A neighborhood Mexican spot rooted in one family's regional cooking rather than the standard combo plate.

Chef Ana Castro's seafood-forward Mexican restaurant in Bywater, holder of a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The menu runs through chochoyotes masa dumplings, squid-ink arroz negro, and a bright aguachile verde, drawing on Castro's Mexico City roots. Castro was named a 2026 James Beard semifinalist, and the room has become one of the city's most talked-about newer kitchens.

Chef Lindsay McLellan builds an Oaxacan-style mole poblano at this Broadmoor restaurant, coaxing chilies, cinnamon, clove, and chocolate into a slow-simmered sauce spooned over roasted chicken. The cooking reaches past taqueria staples into the layered regional dishes that take a kitchen days to prep, served in a casual neighborhood setting on South Broad.

A converted gas station on Freret Street turned into an open-air patio taqueria, with a menu split plainly into Tacos and Not Tacos. The tacos cover the range from carne asada to vegetable fillings, the Not Tacos section adds larger plates and sides, and the bar turns out well-crafted margaritas for the courtyard crowd.

A fast-casual local mini-chain whose French Quarter flagship builds tacos, burritos, and nachos to order from a line of fillings. The Baja-style fish taco is the draw, battered and fried with slaw and crema, and the counter format keeps things quick for a French Quarter lunch. Additional locations serve Uptown and Mid-City.