1535 Vine St
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 462-2155
First time to Hungry Cat, specifically for the once a year Crabfest. Several courses with the star of the meal billed was the Maryland Blue Crabs. They had 15 bushels flown in for this event. That's about 900 pounds of them little critters. First course a delicious crab and corn soup with a large corn bread crouton. Next was a bowl of grilled corn with garlic, paprika, chives and butter. Again delicious, a bit over charred and dry, but still tasty. Along with the corn came several plates of amazing heirloom tomatoes with provolone in a olive oil vinaigrette with ribbons of fresh basil and herbs again delicious. Next was a soft shelled crab po' boy sandwich. The bread was over cooked and hard as a rock. No one was able to eat the bread, but the soft shelled crab and salad fixin's sans bread were tasty.
Next was what were were all waiting for... the Maryland Blue Crabs. They flew in 15 bushels at 60 pounds per bushel is like 900 pounds of crab! They were heavily Cajun spiced with a dry spice blend. I found a couple were slightly undercooked and those little critters simply don't have much meat on them and they are a lot of work for so little nourishment. Even artichokes have a lot more meat for the work to eat them. Sorry to say, I was way unimpressed with the crabs. Sorry Maryland, Pacific Dungeness Crabs RULE!!! So do our Pacific Lobsters! I prefer our Pacific Lobsters over Maine Lobsters... however, both are delicious. I kept eating those crabs until I was tired of working so hard to get the tiny bits of meat from them, not because I was too full. Sad, but true. Our party of seven were ready to move onto desserts which was a strawberry with fresh whipped cream on a corn bread crust. The berries were badly bruised, the whipped cream could have been sweeter as the berries were not very sweet and the crust was rather hard.
Unfortunately, the execution of the meal was... well poorly done. The service was quite slow and while the place was full, there was enough wait staff that the service should have been better. My favs of the meal was the grilled corn and the heirloom tomatoes. For $65 including tax and tip, sorry but I'll not be returning next year for this event. For that money, 4 of us could be eating fresh Dungeness crab, Maine lobster and 3 other dishes in Chinatown that would be better tasting.
My two star rating was solely for this special event, I hear the oyster bar is amazing and raw bar is excellent, so I cannot rate those items as I didn't try any of that stuff.
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