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
Filed under: 3 NOMs, cajun/creole, farmer's market, Los Angeles, restaurant review | Tagged: 3 NOMs, alligator, appetizer, beignets, blackened, brunch, Cajun, catfish, comfort food, Creole, dinner, farmer's market, French Quarter, gumbo, jambalaya, Los Angeles, lunch, New Orleans, po'boys, restaurant review, The Grove, The Gumbo Pot | 1 Comment »
