INDEPENDENT FOOD FESTIVAL 2006. When Hillel at TasteEverything asked this blog to take part in the Independent Food Festival again, I definitely wanted to honor something here in New Orleans. But didn't know where to begin finding a worthy honoree. For the past six months, I've been picking restaurants based on factors I used to take for granted. As in, are they open? Past 8 p.m.? Can I sit down in less than an hour and a half?
     Fortunately, there's a cluster of decent restaurants on Prytania Street near Robert and Upperline streets. And while it wasn't a regular spot for me before the storm, I've been eating at one of them -- a Japanese place called KYOTO -- a couple times a month. Through friends I became aware of their off-the-menu "SARA ROLL," and I've ordered it every time I've been there since.
     Named after the restaurant's owner, Sara Molony, it's basically a shrimp and avocado roll. But it's topped with a bright red chili sauce an a "crunchy sauce," which would seem to be an oxymoron. (I gather that it's made with stray bits of tempura.) A simple recipe, really. But it's tasty and pretty and raises one's spirits. And it's a hell of a lot better than beef jerky and MREs.
     All of which is to say that this particular roll at Kyoto is the BEST POST-APOCALYPTIC COMFORT FOOD that I've come across.
     Since the storm, I've had some great meals at a number of restaurants. In fact, one gets the impression that at least some celebrity chefs (or celebrity-for-New-Orleans chefs) are actually running things in their own kitchens again. But insofar as a dish can embody the struggle to eat out, feel better and get back to normal, it's the humble Sara roll at Kyoto.
 :: posted by Dante at 1:42 AM
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