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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

starstarstarstarstar
Among the best locally.

starstarstarstar
Excellent and ambitious.

starstarstar
Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

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Little Tokyo

Japanese. Sushi.
Mid-City: 310 N Carrollton Ave. 504-485-5658. Map.
Lunch and dinner continuously seven days.
Casual.
AE DS MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
All the Little Tokyo restaurants are different. This one is the most atmospheric and largest. It's also the only Little Tokyo offering teppanyaki (hibachi) grills, although as usual this amounts to ordinary grilled food being served at premium prices with a show you've probably already seen. The sushi bar is good enough, but is less consistent than the Little Tokyos in Metairie and Mandeville.

WHY IT'S GOOD
A knowledgeable and insistent sushi lover can press the chefs into revealing which selections are of particular interest. They do indeed bring in a great deal of beautiful fish here, but that may not be what you get in a routine combo order. On several occasions I've had items that were new to me. On the other hand, I've seen more deftness in the cutting of the fish.

BACKSTORY
Little Tokyo is a loose, local chain of Japanese restaurants, was created in 1986 by Yusuke Kawara in his Causeway Boulevard location. This one took over the former Chateaubriand Steakhouse following the hurricane. (A long time ago, it was a Shoney's, but you'd never know that now.)

DINING ROOM
The dining rooms are large to begin with, and the wall of windows adds to the spaciousness. One of them is largely devoted to teppanyaki tables, where the chefs play their usual games with what winds up being ordinary grilled food. A large sushi bar dominates another room, and the bar--windows on two sides--is pleasant for a cocktail or light dining.

Scallops at Little Tokyo.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Baked salmon or scallops (photo above; not recommended, as good as it looks).
Dynamite scallops.
Yellowtail neck.
Salmon neck.
Beef negimaki with asparagus or green onions.
Salmon, tuna, or beef tataki.
Sunomono salad with seafood.
Steamed monkfish pate.
Shu-mai or gyoza (steamed dumplings filled with a variety of meats or seafoods).
Sushi and sashimi, particularly specials.
Burning Man roll.
Black Jack roll.
Bye-Bye Katrina roll.
Tuna and tuna roll.
Tiger roll.
Chocolate City roll.
Rice paper roll (photo below).
Hibachi: steak, chicklen, shrimp, lobster, calamari.
Sukiyaki.

Rice paper roll.

FOR BEST RESULTS
If you let the sushi chefs know that you're open to trying the unusual, they'll start pulling out some extraordinary fish.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Not all the sushi chefs are adept. I found a bone in a piece of toro once.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 2/23/2010.

A list of over 320 full, current reviews is here.