Clinical Laboratory Scientist. Louisiana State University. Taiwanese. American. Footbiker. Dreamer. Food Blogger; Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and some other places too.
Manning’s Jambalaya with Braised Short Rib. Also had brussels sprouts w/ onions. I think the jambalaya had salted pork, instead of sausage, and chicken. It was full of Southern spices and packed solid heat. The braised short rib was cooked just long enough so it was full of flavor and fell apart with the tug of the fork. The brussels sprouts were crunchy and the onions were sweet and tasty.
The feeling I got from the restaurant was… weird. Sports bar TVs and noise mixed with elegant and fancy food. I guess if you order like the table next to us did— rare steaks and french fries —then it would have felt more fitting. It was difficult to have a conversation without yelling, which detracted from the experience. Service was fine and fast, though.
Anyway, thanks to Ms. Cindy for bringing me along!
Drago’s in the Hilton in downtown NOLA specializes in charbroiled oysters and other seafood. Were these dishes hits?
Good to try, but not going to return. In my slow, slow journey through New Orleans’ many, many restaurants I won’t be venturing back here. The crab au gratin was creamy and crabby tasting, but any lumps of crab meat that may have been in there were disintegrated. The crust on top was easily broken by the provided tortilla chips. They chips were thicker than what I’m used to, which is restaurant style tortilla chips and… Doritos chips.
The Charbroiled Oysters, which are highly recommended by many, were quite good. But the taste of the oyster was really covered up by the toppings. I’m not sure what all was on there, but I feel that it was predominantly cheese and herb butter. The flavor of being charred was there, and the shells show it too. That was a nice touch. I guess I’m just a purist, or a minimalist. Whatever the word is, when I’m going to eat oysters I want to taste oyster. Instead, I got a mouthful of cheese and butter.
On that note, the butter herb was amazing. That french bread served on top? It’s made to absorb all of butter that’s sitting at the bottom of the plate. It’s the vector that the butter will use to wind up in your stomach. The star of the show: Bread and butter!
Yet another San Dong dish, but in HQ this time. Instead of the noodles I got the rice dish this time. Steamed white rice, fried chicken, braised egg, steamed broccoli, and a meat sauce (rou zhao that happens to have a lot of do ban jian and/or zhajiang… hard to describe, but very delicious). I think the fried chicken uses a sweet potato flour, which gives it a unique flavor. I also believe it’s a deboned thigh in there, marinated, giving it a slightly sweet taste. If you don’t like sweet meat… what a shame. This is a very filling dish. So full after eating this. If you know anything about the way I eat, that’s quite a statement. If I lived near this place I’d go everyday.
The second picture is shaved ice from a place called Juice Box. In the complex that Juice Box is in, there are actually a number of shaved ice spots. We just went with the one that was recommended. For around 7 dollars you get a shaved ice dessert that any normal person will need to share. A scoop of strawberry ice cream, balls of melon, pineapple, strawberry, mango, and a generous squirt of condensed milk covers the shaved ice on this one. I think it’s called the “mixed fruit” or something like that. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if these fruits were sweet or not. But the flavor of them came through the condensed milk. I have a feeling that the milk just made the flavors a lot stronger than they were. Condensed milk to the rescue!
Just hitting these two places up in Chinatown was worth it.
Hole in the wall style places win my heart. In this case, it was with a half of a chicken, 4 slices of white bread, and a lot of sweet, sticky BBQ sauce. Taking a bite of this seasoned and smoky chicken was a bit underwhelming at first, but the more I ate the more I enjoyed it. Moist white meat, smoky leg, great sauce, great portions! I think the part I enjoyed most was using the bread to sop up the sauce. Next time, I’ll definitely be trying the pulled pork sandwich. They don’t sell it by meat only. The only thing I wish they had was beef brisket. I’m sure they would do it seriously right.
When you walk in, it feels like a New Orleans house. And even though they don’t seem to have a liquor license, the bar takes up most of the front. But if you walk in the back, there are a few large tables set up. We chose to sit at the tables in the back, where we enjoyed a bit more privacy since we were the only ones there. Because this place closes at 7, it feels more like a lunch sort of place. And you can put in your order if you want. I hope to be returning to this restaurant to try their other food!
A geometric meal.
At the intersection S. Claiborne and Louisiana Ave sits Little Korea, a Korean restaurant built into the skeleton of a former Taco Bell. It opened up pretty recently, and it’s one of the few places in Louisiana that serves Korean cuisine. The interior is nicely decorated. Wood tables, booths, a nice painting of a tree on the wall. It looks nice inside.
I got the Bibimbap ($10.99) that came with ‘banchan’ or sides that consisted of miso soup, japchae, kimchi, and this marinated/braised potato thing. I liked the kimchi because it tasted fresh and spicy. This is in contrast with the more sour stuff that I’m used to, which I also really enjoy. The soup and the potato were normal tasting. The japchae however was kinda bland. It had a hint of sesame oil in it. And the texture was great. I hope that if you order japchae as an entree that it has more taste.
I was pretty satisfied with the beef Bibimbap. I added all of that spicy, fermented soybean paste stuff that they gave me and then asked for some more. I wish it had a bit of a stronger flavor. The beef was well marinated but the portion was small. The veggies were great, but it was kinda hard to break up with shredded carrots.. I wound up eating it in one or two large chunks. The biggest disappointment was that the egg wasn’t raw. It was sunny side up..! It was served in a hot stone bowl too! Oh well.
I’d like to go back and try the other stuff, like the table grill/Korean bbq!
Mother’s on Poydras..
Something missing from Adam Richman’s plate is the sloppy watery gravy sitting at the bottom of it. While the show says, “Shove me down your gullet cause I’m so good!” My “Ferdi Special” was falling apart and somewhat.. tasteless. The “debris” was mushy. The gravy was watery. The roast beef and ham? Pretty average. The bread was listless and without personality. I remember other po boys bread.. but not this one. The bottom bun was soaked through, providing no support for the sandwich. And that’s all you need to ruin a sandwich eating experience. Half of my sandwich fell out on the plate. So I smothered it with a great house hot sauce they had on the table and finished it off that way.
A disappointment because Adam seems to like it so much.
I sampled their etoufee though. And that was delicious! Avoid the debris. Get something else.
Lakeview Harbor! as per Artie’s request.
I got the bacon burger and it was pretty good. This place is often compared to Port of Call and it’s pretty much the same thing. Same owner? I mean, they had a drink called the Typhoon.
But let’s talk about this burger, which is better than Port of Call btw.
More flavorful, thick patty, super dense. Delicious crispy to hard bacon. The onion was a bit strange.. I got the full slice. So I broke it up in rings and just put 2 in my sandwich.
But then this baked potato… It had half a stick of butter in it. So I thought.. YOLO and I mixed it all in. Everyone else at the table took at least half of it out. I came out with this yellowish soupy potato slop. But jesus, it was delicious.
I could feel atherosclerosis set in.
Straight from Banh Mi Sao Mai, a combo meatball and shredded pork banh mi. Also called a Viet po boy. French bread, pickled shredded carrots, cucumber, bbq pork (which I recognize as cha shao), meatballs that are red on the outside too (prepared in a similar way as the pork I guess). Very tasty and at a great price point.
Upon reading the wiki article, it seems that the red could come from red food coloring. It is traditionally from red fermented bean curd. I thought it was from being smoked as in American BBQ. Guess I was wrong!
Thanks to Vi for bringing them to class for us!
8 hours sitting in the same place, listening to the LSUHSC CLS Class of 2012 give case studies, yielded this plate of food. Fried chicken (forgot from where), this amazing salad that Ms. Foley made, baked beans, bread, and white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie. Okok, I had more than just that one plate.
I emphasize that that salad was delicious. Coleslaw base, almonds, scallion, and some nutty oil dressing.
A Parasol’s Roast Beef Po Boy. It was absolutely gorgeous to eat. Yes, the adjective doesn’t match up.
That’s the best way to describe this though!
Tap the bread and it’s hard. But don’t think it’s like that all the way through. A crispy, crunch exterior yields a fluffy, white interior. Ah yes. French bread.
Your teeth sink through the bread and you hit the fillings on either side. But if your bite isn’t as clean as you think… a whole bunch of stuff falls out. Mayo slathered lettuce, slices of tomatoes, pickles, gravy, roast beef. It’s ok. It’ll still wind up in my mouth.
But there’s a nice combination of roast beef slices and gravy that made me want to wipe down the drippings with the bread so that none of the bread I ate was white anymore.
When Wen and I walked in, we stumbled into a cramped bar. And then the bartender asked if we wanted to sit in the dining area, which seemed like a better idea! Cause I can’t legally by alcohol yet.
So the dining room is in two rooms, the tables are sorta sticky in that old diner grease kind of way, and your order at the window. The whole place was plopped right in the middle of the neighborhood. If I lived in that hood.. I’d hang out there all the time.
Nom nom nom
