Horinoya

CBD: 920 Poydras. 504-561-8914. Map.
Casual
AE DC MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
With terrific cooking from one of the widest-ranging Japanese menus in town, plus a first-class sushi bar, Horinoya is in a place few local people think about for such eats: the CBD. People who work downtown know about it, as do some savvy eaters attending events at the Superdome and the Arena. Japanese visitors staying in hotels downtown also turn up and find happiness.

WHAT'S GOOD
Chef Komei is unusually choosy about the provenance of his raw materials, even by the exacting standards of Japanese chefs. The fish in the sushi bar is beautiful to behold, cut with precision, served at the perfect cool temperature, and vivid in flavor. You will almost certainly find fish here you've never had before, or only rarely.

BACKSTORY
In 2002 the Horimotos--a couple who formerly ran the excellent Little Tokyo franchise on St. Charles Avenue--took over a little cafe across from Le Pavillon Hotel. They gave the narrow space a bright, comfortable renovation and picked up where they left off.

DINING ROOM
It's a smaller restaurant than it at first appears, courtesy of an ingenious design--and mirrors. The first tables you encounter are barely inside the door. An archway in the rear leads to the sushi bar. The chef's wife is all over the room, making people comfortable and keeping the service snappy.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters
Cold
»Sashimi to order
»Sushi to order
»Ankimo (steamed monkfish liver)
»Tuna tataki (peppered, seared tuna)
»Sunomono (cucumbers, seaweed, shrimp, crabstick, octopus, and whitefish, sweet vinegar sauce)
Hijiki salad (boiled black seaweed, sesame oil)
»Seaweed salad
Squid salad
Cucumber salad
House salad (greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, miso dressing)
Broccoli salad
»Nuta ae (salad of tuna, whitefish, squid, octopus, shrimp, seaweed)
Whitefish salad, cucumber, radishes, ponzu sauce, sesame seeds
Edamame (boiled soybeans, mild or Cajun-style)
Hot
»Miso soup
Clear soup
Shrimp tempura (fried, mild or spicy)
Fried oysters, tonkatsu sauce
»Shrimp gyoza (dumplings, with dipping sauce)
Wasabi shumai (pork dumplings with wasabi)
Shrimp shumai
Yakitori (grilled, skewered chicken)
»Beef negimaki (grilled slices, rolled around green onions, teriyaki sauce)
Ikasugata yaki (broiled squid)
Salmon shioyaki (grilled)
»Smoked salmon kama (grilled)
»Saba shioyaki (broiled mackerel)
»»Taraka suzuki (grilled black cod)
»Managatsuo miso yaki (grilled pompano)
»Hamachi kama (grilled yellowtail neck)
Chicken karaage (fried tidbits)
Beef kushiage (fried beef skewers)
Entrees
Tempura udon or soba (Japanese noodles or buckwheat noodles, broth, fried shrimp and vegetables)
Kistune udon or soba (as above, with fried bean curd)
Zaru udon or soba (cold noodles with dipping sauce)
Assorted sushi or sashimi, or to order
»Chirashi sushi (assorted raw fish over sushi rice)
Chicken or beef teriyaki
Shrimp and vegetable tempura assortment
Lobster tempura
Oyako don (chicken sauteed with onions over rice, egg)
»Katsu don (fried pork, as above)
Ten don (fried shrimp, as above)
»Una don (baked eel, over rice)
Curry rice, carrots, onions, beef
Katsu curry (fried pork over curry rice)

FOR BEST RESULTS
At the sushi bar, ask questions about what may be available, insisting that you'll try anything. Lengthy kaiseki dinners of many small courses are available for alarmingly high prices ($60-100), but the experience is well worth the investment.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The restaurant could stand a few repairs here and there. They have a beautiful website, but it contains exactly zero information.

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

Dining Environment

Consistency +2

Service+1

Value +1

Attitude +1

Wine & Bar

Hipness +1

Local Color

 

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

• Good for business meetings
• 25-75
• Open Sunday dinner
• Open Monday lunch and dinner
• Open some holidays
• Quick, good meal
• Reservations accepted

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