The Gumbo Pot

Just part of the menu...

A few weeks ago, my artist friend, Tanya Bjork, and I paid a visit to the Farmers Market at The Grove.  We decided to have lunch at one of the many eateries there.  Since we had been talking on and off for a while now about how long overdue we were for a trip to NOLA and how much we missed The Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter, The Gumbo Pot called to us.

Located in a back corner of the Market, The Gumbo Pot boasts a menu featuring Creole and Cajun specialties like gumbo (of course), jambalaya and red beans & rice.  There’s blackened catfish, po’boys, muffelatas and even alligator!

Muffelata

Cornbread Muffin

I opted to get a muffelata and a side of the cornbread.  The Gumbo Shop’s version of this sandwich consists of a thick sesame crusted bread, ham, salami, some other meat that I forgot the name of, provolone and an olive tapenade.  The bread was a little dry and the olive tapenade was quite strong and a little salty.  The bread to filling ratio was leaning towards a little too much bread.  While the flavors were good, it wasn’t quite up to what I had when I was in the French Quarter.  The cornbread was good though – moist and speckled with bits of pepper for a little bit of kick though for my tolerance, there wasn’t much heat.

Tanya went with a blackened catfish sandwich.  It was massive.  She decided to take the filling from one half and double up the other half so she wouldn’t fill up too much on the bread.  I didn’t get a taste but she seemed to like it. Looking around at other customers, I could hear chatter about how good the gumbo and jambalaya were.  Those, along with alligator, will have to be ordered on my next visit…

Beignets

The Gumbo Shop also serves up beignets and cafe au lait.  We couldn’t resist and got an order of those yummy fried dough bits.  The beignets here were a little denser and oiler than what we got at Cafe du Monde but our memories could be a little biased since we were, um, intoxicated when we were there.  We noticed that the chicory coffee was courtesy of cans from Cafe du Monde, though!  Maybe the beignet mix was from there as well…

Over all, I wasn’t blown away by my meal.  I guess the muffaleta isn’t their specialty.  But there were many other things on the menu that I would come back for sure to try them.  I’ve never had alligator and my curiosity is piqued…

The Gumbo Pot gets 3 NOMs for the Catty Critic’s first visit.

The Gumbo Pot
6333 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90036-3190
(323) 933-0358
http://www.thegumbopotla.com

Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen

It used to be Blue Bayou for lunch during Bat’s Day. But as their food quality went down and their prices went up + the lack of alcohol options for those who wanted to drink, it just wasn’t worth it anymore. So Jazz Kitchen became the next viable option. However, it seems like the quality and service of this restaurant is taking a hit as well.

The lunch menu seems pretty limited, especially when it comes to pescatarian/vegetarian options (read: NONE). And the service…meh. This year, our waitress, though really nice and accommodating, seemed to not quite know what was going on. And somewhere along the chain, there were order mix-ups and mistakes. And really, it shouldn’t take over 3 hrs to do lunch, even with a group of 12 people and when some of those people arrive a little late.  Also, they squished our party of 12 at a table that was really meant for 8-10.

The food is okay and the prices not horribly gouging given we were on Disney property ($10-14 for a lunch entreé). You’d probably spend about the same for food in the park at one of their places. And Blue Bayou would definitely cost a lot more…

Our resident pescatarian (the talented Miss Tanya Bjork) had a special-order catfish po-boy with avocado mayo and I decided to jump on the bandwagon as nothing on the menu was really calling to me. This consisted of some chunks of breaded n’ fried catfish in a sandwich roll. The fish itself was nice – not oily, not fishy-tasting and still moist. But it seemed…wimpy. Maybe it was the amount of catfish…or lack there of? Shredded lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and pickles were served on the side in a bowl. I ordered fries as my side and they were cold n’ limp. Some of them were coated in a yummy Creole seasoning while others were left out of the spice party. My friend ordered steamed veggies (green beans and carrots, completely unseasoned) but ended up with the jalapeno and bacon potato salad. That quickly got transferred to my place. It was not all that great of a potato salad. Very heavy on the mayo, absolutely no kick and while I’m sure I saw pieces of bacon, I couldn’t taste them. The steamed veggies (2 bowls worth for each of us even though I hadn’t ordered any) came out after everyone had pretty much finished their meals.

They still have the best mojitos, in my opinion, though. And mmmm…banana foster done the right way.  Really, the only reason why you’d come here to eat is because you want to drink and you want a good dessert.

They seem to do better with smaller groups or when it’s not prime restaurant hours. Perhaps next year, instead of doing a lunch thing at 1pm like usual, I’ll do a happy hour/early dinner thing around 4:30pm.  That way, the dinner menu is accessible.  There seems to be more appealing entreés and variety on that one.  I think the times that I’ve gone that I have really enjoyed my food was the evenings.  Only downside is that we’ll be spending more money on food.

I have heard that Blue Bayou is in the process of acquiring a liquor license.  If that’s the case, it may be worth going back just to see.  Though their prices are still a lot higher than Jazz Kitchen…

P.S. I also tried the jalapeño cream(?) cheese filled pretzels in the park and they weren’t bad but there was a strange under-taste to it that bugged me. But there was a definite jalapeño kick, unlike the sad potato salad at Jazz Kitchen.

I give Jazz Kitchen 3 NOMs.  This particular experience warranted 2 NOMs at best, but because I have had good food and service there before, I’m giving them an extra NOM.

Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
1590 S Disneyland Dr
Disneyland Resort
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 776-5200
http://www.rbjazzkitchen.com