When we ventured to La Belle Creole for lunch on Friday, I had visions of etouffee and such dancing in my head. But silly me, it turns out this modest little place located in a dodgy La Brea Ave. motel is Caribbean creole, a different animal entirely. And they did have different animals alright -- goat and oxtails, griot (fried pork), stewed chicken, jerk chicken and stewed fish. We ordered the goat and the griot because, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, I felt like some fried pork skin. Both plates were large meaty chunks with no sauce or adornment -- pretty good meat, but a little too plain for us. The black rice that came with it was excellent, with cowpeas strewn through dark savory rice. There was a choice of sweet or green plantains, and the sweet weren't too exciting. The waiter wasn't very forthcoming, so it was hard to choice a good selection of food, but I'm glad I found out more about Caribbean food. And each plate is enough for about three meals. La Belle Creole is deserted at lunch, but it might be fun at dinner with some wine and a group of people ordering a wider selection of the menu.
La Belle Creole
1271 S. La Brea
(323) 965-7700
1 comment:
oh, no, no, no...you should NEVER be embarassed about craving fried pork skin!
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