Shellfish Extravaganza

Living in South Louisiana gives me many opportunities to have delicious shellfish caught right off the Gulf of Mexico. With all the fresh seafood many restaurants in the area have incredible dishes for very low prices. Tons of different Asian cuisine joints create traditional dishes with a local flair.

Pho Danh 4 (the best Pho place in the city in my humble opinion) has a special called #24 which is served with pork, chicken and shrimp. You can get a huge bowl of it for less than 6 dollars and then do your shopping next door at Hong Kong Market. Definitely a winner.

But the best Asian seafood soup in the city is Hoshun's Seafood Udon Noodle Soup. It has octopus, squid, shrimp, and an awesome fish broth (not to mention the soft, thick udon noodles). It's a great midnight snack after I get off work. Hoshun is open till 2am so my coworkers and I are big fans.

Then of course there's Sushi. Aside from traditional rolls, Ninja Sushi has a selection of creative crawfish rolls. I recently tried the "Swamp Roll," a roll filled with crawfish and topped with seaweed salad. The name was very fitting, but I think I liked the name better than the roll itself.

And of course you can never go wrong with thai flat noodles, especially when they're paired with fresh caught scallops. This lovely dish is actually not a New Orleans creation, I had the pleasure of eating these scrumptious noodles in Gulf Shores, Alabama (where I went on Spring break). But I highly recommend the combo if you ever see this dish on a menu.

Of course we also have our own seafood cuisine. Gumbo is definitely our most famous, and one of my favorites. And I'm convinced Hank's has the best gumbo I've ever had. Hank's is a pretty sketchy joint in the Bywater on St. Claude. They sell two pieces of fried chicken for 99 cents, enough said. The chicken is a little on the greasy side for me but their gumbo is spot on. They have crab, shrimp, turkey neck and pigs feet cooked right in, shells and all and it is awesome! I highly recommend it.

Then there's always good old raw oysters. I was a little skeptical at first but they are actually really good! I got a dozen at Luke recently and it was absolutely love at first bite (or slurp). I don't really know about the whole aphrodisiac thing but they definitely got me in the mood for some horse radish and cocktail sauce. Now I have to try Drago's famous chargrilled oysters, which are supposed to be phenomenal.

Finally, in honor of the recent Italian American parade I'll highlight one of their best creations: creole shrimp pasta. This particular dish came from Restaurant De Famille, a beautiful restaurant that sits right on the bayou, just 45 minutes from the city. The best part of dining there is the alligator view, but the food is also very tasty. This spaghetti dish came with a crab and shrimp cream sauce. It was definitely on the heavy side, but not bad if you skip dessert! 

And the view was just spectacular. I had never seen an alligator up close and personal before, especially not during dinner. Definitely worth the drive.