LIttle Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

Tonight I had no idea what I wanted for dinner.  I had tried to make a reservation at a seafood restaurant in La Jolla, but couldn't get anything before 8:45 pm.  I was definitely not going to wait that long, so I did a little surfing and came across Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot.  I'd heard of hot pot before, and seen it in t.v. food shows, but I'd never actually had it.  I'm always up for trying authentic ethnic cuisine so I decided that's where we were going to go.

First off, for a place I'd never heard of before the place was huge and packed.  My roommate and I seemed to be the only caucasians there who weren't with Asian friends or relatives, (Always a good sign!) and the smell coming out the door was amazing.  It smelled spicy and woodsy and meaty.

 There was a short wait.  The front entry of the restaurant is very chilly, but I imagine that's because the dining room is full of steam from the pots on the tables.  When we were seated, we were given a menu on which one is to mark off the items that they want.  First is the broth.  You have a choice of their original, spicy original, half & half or vegetarian broth.  Then choose your meats.  There are too many choices to list here but include various kinds of beef, lamb, chicken, pork, seafood, tofu, meat and fish balls, blood cake and on and on.  Next the vegetables, then the noodles and accompaniments.  Many of the choices are available in half orders, which was good for us since we were only 2 people.  Their online menu only shows a fraction of the items that are available, and features the items that would be most palatable to the average American diner.

I like spicy foods, my roommate, not so much, so we got the half & half broth.  We both like beef, and if you've read my blog before you probably know I love lamb, so we got the lamb and beef combo.  We had considered getting chicken, but the only option was breast meat which I don't care for.  I also ordered a 1/2 order of tripe.  I'm not sure if that was more because I wanted it, or just to annoy my roommate.  Because the majority of the vegetables were ones I wasn't very familiar with, I decided to play it safe on our first time out.  We got Napa cabbage, spinach, corn, enoke mushrooms, seaweed knots, wide fresh noodles and lamb won ton.  We also ordered the sesame pancake, which was not a pancake at all but a fairly dense bread that was crisp on the outside and covered with sesame seeds, Mongolian kimchi and street style lamb skewers.

Many cultures have their own version of a hot pot.  I have had other culture's versions of hot pot before which usually have a fairly bland broth, I was not expecting the strong aroma of the broth.  It smelled spicy and delicious with an overpowering woodsiness.  I'm not sure what it was flavored with, but it did take a moment to get used to, it had a very strong umami flavor.  Besides green onions and garlic there were various pods in it including goji berries and dragon fruit pods.  I wasn't able to identify the others.  The lamb skewers also had that same distinctive woodsy flavor.  The kimchi was totally unlike other kinds of kimchi I've had before.  It was spicy but it was also sweet and crunchier than others.  It was probably my favorite item of the whole meal.

The staff were very helpful and patient.  At first we had marked many other items on the menu, but the waiter looked at it, suggested it was too much for the two of us and helped us decide what to take off.  When we were done, one of the waitresses packed up our leftovers for us as I'm sure we would have made a mess of it.  At the end of the meal they brought orange slices to the table.  The oranges were a perfect way to end the meal, cleansing and cooling the pallet.

The only problem I had with this restaurant was that the wall we were seated next to probably could have been wiped down a little better after the previous diners had finished.

I'm sure next time we go it will be an even better experience as we will have a better idea of what to order.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Review - Crab Hut

Kind of disappointing…Crab Hut

I was really looking forward to going to Crab Hut. A friend of mine who usually has similar tastes to mine recommended it enthusiastically. Even though the name of the restaurant is Crab Hut, they describe themselves as a Louisiana crawfish kitchen. Seems weird to me but that’s not important. What’s important is when I read that description I was immediately craving Cajun crawfish with all the fixings. Unfortunately that's not really what I got.

So, having said that, the place is cute and the wait staff is friendly. It’s decorated to feel like a casual seaside eatery. There are nautical signs and decorations and the cash register area was covered by the façade of a grass roof. The acoustics of the dining room make it quite loud which is fine considering the fun and casual feel. Surprisingly there wasn't a wait for a table when we showed up even though it's not a very large restaurant. Tables are covered with paper and there’s a roll of paper towels and a little table sign which shows the prices for the day. One of the waiters comes around with a bowl of lime wedges and plunks some down on the table. Another came around with a pail full of little plastic containers with salt and pepper in them and he gave us plastic seafood bibs with a picture of a lobster (odd since lobster's not on the menu) holding a slice of lemon in one of the claws and it reads “Let’s get cracking”. Very cute. Your entrée is brought to the table in a plastic bag which holds in the flavor of the sauce and shells are left on the table. Another thing I thought was cute is the t-shirt our waiter was wearing. It had a picture of a crab with a halo and said “Holy crab”.

What did I get?

We started with the Cajun fries which are basically crinkle cut fries sprinkled with hot chili powder. Not bad but not as spicy as I was expecting and they needed salt. Next we tried a bowl of clam chowder. It was fine but not anything special other than the bowl it was served in which was square and black. For our entrees I ordered the crawfish with the Cajun sauce, medium spice and my roommate ordered clams with garlic butter, mild. This is where the disappointment comes in. The menu says the crawfish comes with corn and sausages. I was expecting crawfish boil like I’ve had many times before at other restaurants with a whole cob of corn and a whole piece of sausage. Most places also include potatoes. There was a small cobbette of corn and 2 thin slices of smoked sausage, it wasn’t even andouie. Expecting to see an actual sausage, when I got my food I didn’t think there was any sausage in it so the waiter brought me some. He said he gave me 4 instead of 2 because of the mistake. Once I got close to the bottom of my pile of crawfish I realized there was sausage in it. Oops. The sauce was spicy enough but it really needed salt. Adding both containers of salt and pepper that they gave us helped a little but it would have been better if it had been incorporated in the sauce. Other than the quality of the crawfish itself I didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as the Louisiana steam pot at Joe's Crab Shack, even though I usually don’t tend to eat at chain restaurants.

My roommate’s clams were pretty good. The sauce was definitely garlicky. My biggest complaint here is it seemed there were too many empty shells considering you’re paying by the pound.

What's cool?

The atmosphere is definitely fun. I’m always up for eating seafood with my fingers and leaving the shells on the table. They also offer sweetened or unsweetend iced tea which isn't common around here. Their sweet tea must not be as sweet as you would usually get in a Southern restaurant because I ordered it half sweet & half unsweetened and there was just a very light sweetness to it. That works for me. Most places that offer sweet tea make it way too sweet for my taste.

Rating...I’d give it a pass and go somewhere else.