Unplanned and quite random, we ended up at Preux and Proper (840 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90014, tel : +213 896 0090). Contemporary southern/New Orleans inspired food they claimed.
These were Dungeness crab hush puppies. The menu mentioned "house bourbon barrel aged green hot sauce, boil spice" but none of those really came through. It was the charred poblano butter that got these through for me. The fried balls were doughy and honestly, not memorable.
There was an ogo Caesar salad. I was initially excited that there was so much anchovies but oddly I couldn't quite taste them. Ogo if you didn't know is a type of seaweed. It was okay I guess.
Thing started picking up with their smoked beef heart pastrami. These made very good munching, perked by the lemon in them and some smokiness from the thinly sliced hearts. And then, the holy trinity of onions, celery and bell peppers for a fresh breath of crunchy textures. This was delicious.
We were pretty impressed by their chicken fried pork belly. The pan was topped with a whole lot of ingredients which resulted in a confusion riot of flavours but that pork belly came through it all. The meat and fat was tender and pretty much dissolved in the mouth.
What was even more kickass was their cast iron gumbo that was loaded with Louisiana crawfish, tiger prawns, Willapa Bay oysters and Prince Edward Island mussels. I know - with all those names, one would probably wonder what they were about. Did it all matter? I honestly don't know but the seafood was of good quality and were not overcooked. The spices that flavoured the gumbo were just delicious. If there was one item out of what we had tried I would come back for, it'll be this.
Dessert was beignets with what was described as "banana foster" dulce de leche. I think that was the sauce at the bottom. These were okay, not spectacular.
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