Little Chinatown

3800 Williams Blvd.
Kenner, LA
(504) 305-0580

Little Chinatown

I should probably explain that while I hope my articles will be of interest to as many readers as possible, my choice of restaurants to visit is ultimately based on my own interests, including what I wish to discover about dining in various cities. Probably my number one passion is Chinese food, and when I heard from the people at Bao & Noodle that there was another Chinese restaurant in the New Orleans area that I should visit (at least that they told me about), I thought I should check it out (although at the expense of some of the local cuisines due to my time limitations).

In Oklahoma City I found that the best seafood was at Chinese restaurants, and the same proved to be true on my New Orleans visit. Little Chinatown in Kenner (near the New Orleans Airport) had some of the best and definitely some of the freshest seafood I have ever experienced, and with the bonus of being prepared Chinese style this was really hard to beat.

The dish I ordered (a seafood hot pot) was the most expensive item I saw on the menu, but was recommended by the waitress as one of the ones she personally liked to eat. My standard practice is to ask employees at a restaurant which dishes are their favorites, and when one of them turns out to be as outstanding as this one I think it is perfectly justified to give the restaurant one of the highest ratings possible. I recognize that many other dishes are probably not going to be this good, but I assume that some probably will (thus I feel fairly confident in the rating I have given).

In any case, seafood is one of the local specialties of New Orleans, and Little Chinatown for me did a better job of presenting it than any other restaurant I visited.

Seafood Clay Pot

Seafood bean noodle clay pot

The Seafood Bean Noodle Clay Pot was a typical Chinese dish in that I did not really understand what would be in it until it was set on the table (although I took their word that it would be very good). The seafood consisted of some items that I believe were local and some that may not have been, but all were extremely fresh (or I will at least say that enough of them were that this was an outstanding dish). The bean noodle was a glass colored vermicelli style noodle that although having a good flavor, mostly served to highlight the main ingredients of the dish.

This was a spicy dish (about four chiles on my “5 chile” scale), so they were obviously not trying to make it so spicy it was hard to taste the seafood. I did enjoy the balance of flavors, however (and would recommended it spicy to anyone who does not have a problem with spicy food).

This is a Hong Kong style restaurant, but they do serve spicy dishes such as this one.

The Restaurant
In contrast to Bao & Noodle, Little Chinatown is larger, has a more varied and extensive menu, and I would say more reasonably priced (although both restaurants are a good value for what you receive). Bao & Noodle is exclusively spicy food (except for the bao) and the spicy dishes Little Chinatown has do not seem to have the full-blown type of heat I found at Bao & Noodle. In any case, these are two very different types of Chinese restaurants, but I thought both of them were excellent.

Little Chinatown said they do not use MSG, and this seemed to be the case with my dish.

Although the menu at Little Chinatown is limited compared to the the high end Chinese restaurants on the west coast, and the setting is definitely not the same, I thought the food here was of a comparable quality.

RATING: 26

Asian Food Details

Tea:	Jasmine (bags)
MSG:	No
Buffet:	No

 

Special Ratings

Seafood Bean Noodle Clay Pot