top fives topping out

Over the weekend Mr. lbotp and I enjoyed an adult dinner on the town. I wanted to go to the new Cafe Luna since I had not yet had an opportunity to visit the new location. Mr. lbotp had never been to the old Cafe Luna so he had no idea what he was in for whatsoever.

I won’t try to top Lisa’s recent post about the restaurant’s newest incarnation, but I will say that the place is beautiful and everything we ate was scrumptious. We sat at the bar as every table was filled or spoken for, but our service did not suffer. We even were offered a free taste of some yummy sparkling rose since we were gawking at it.

Well while I was oohing and ahhing and gooing and gahing over the place Mr. lbotp came up with an idea. He was willing to bet me that if both of us came up with five favorite restaurants in Champaign-Urbana, that none of them would match. I thought there was the potential for one, but when it came down to it, he was right. These places are our *favorite* restaurants in C-U, the places we go back to again and again — often for the same dish — not necessarily the places we might say are the “best” for this and that.  The poor thing couldn’t even come up with five, while for me it was a struggle to limit it.

His List (in no particular order):

Mezzaluna — A newbie. His vote for best pizza in C-U.
Alexander’s — A classic. He’s a meat and potatoes guy.
Farren’s — A downtown treasure. Burgers and fries for everyone.
The Beef House — OK, this isn’t in C-U, or even in our state, but I allowed it. See Alexander’s.

My List (in no particular order):

Milo’s — I could eat that chicken salad everyday.
Thara Thai — Pass the Panang Curry. And the spring rolls, is it lunch time yet?
Dos Reales — Loving the new black beans on the menu.
Cafe Luna — Best soups and quiches in town; see above.
LePeep — All LePeeps are not created equally, and ours is unparalleled in quality.

The fact that our lists don’t match (although Farren’s was close up there on mine) is pretty emblematic of the divisions that exist in our marriage regarding food. He is a meat and potatoes guy who doesn’t care for ethnic food. I don’t eat red meat and was a longtime vegetarian who enjoys trying new things. Who knows where Peanut will fall in that spectrum.

Don’t be afraid to try this exercise with your significant other, and post the results.