Where's North County's Best Restaurant? Patch Launching Tournament to Find Out

It's back!

You may be champing at the bit to fill out that all-elusive perfect bracket for the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament, but do you have what it takes to pick the the top restaurant in St. Charles County? 

We're willing to bet it's more difficult than it sounds.

Beginning March 19, both North County Patch sites—Florissant and Hazelwood Patches—will run Patch Pick'em. The bracket runs along the same lines as the much-hyped basketball tournament—except it uses local restaurants instead of college basketball teams. 

How do they advance? That's where you come in.

We're not egotistical enough to tell you what restaurants you do and don't like. So we're letting you decide which eateries take home Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and North County Champion honors.

Restaurants will be randomly selected and placed in the bracket—there's no seeding or rankings when the tournament begins.

And what type of bracket mania would this be without the fun of filling out a bracket!

Print out the bracket and fill it out to your specifications and local expertise to see how your taste stacks up to the rest of your community.

Want to know more?

Here's how it works:

• The tournament begins March 19 with the championship matchup set for April 8.
• Restaurants will advance based on the number of votes they get on Florissant or Hazelwood Patch's website and its Facebook and Twitter accounts. The restaurant with the most votes at the end of the matchup will advance.
• Readers can vote by leaving a comment on the posted article for a given matchup; Twitter followers can vote by tagging a Patch's Twitter handle and adding their vote; and Facebook fans can vote by leaving a comment on the Facebook status that coordinates with the given matchup. 
• One vote per user, Twitter follower and Facebook fan. If you follow us on all three platforms like you should, that's three votes!
• Voting periods will be as long as the round in which you are voting.
• Round 1 begins March 19 and ends March 26.
• Round 2 begins March 27 and ends March 31.
• The Sweet 16 round begins April 1 and ends April 2.
• The Elite Eight round begins April 3 and ends April 4.
• The Final Four round begins on April 5 and ends on April 6.
• The North County Championship game will be on April 8.
• Matchups will be posted each day throughout each voting period.
• Ties in any matchups will be decided based on the last official vote recorded on the Patch website.
• Not all area restaurants made the cut, and where possible, local establishments were given preference. Feel free to tell us if you think a certain restaurant got snubbed.

In the meantime, here's a sample of what you will see when asked to vote:

FIRST ROUND Patch PICK'EM MATCHUPS

Restaurant 1 vs. Restaurant 2

Restaurant 1: A brief bio and explanation of what the establishment offers.

Restaurant 2: A brief bio and explanation of what the establishment offers.

Vote in the comments section below now!

So let the comments begin—and tell your friends. 

Without seeing the bracket, which local restaurant is your odds-on favorite to win the title?