Shrimp lovers, this is for you. Introducing "full-body" shrimp-flavored soup.
There are many restaurants that claim they specialize in shrimp or lobster dishes. A lot of times, though, I get disappointed. Their shrimps are fresh alright. But they just don't seem to know how to bring the goodness of shrimps on the plate. What's the goodness I'm talking about? The flavor.
Shrimps have distinct flavor from their shells, yeah, that red shells (when they're cooked). There are many seafood restaurants that over-cook shrimps adding too much seasonings, killing the very flavor of the shrimp. Or, they don't do anything to shrimps and let them dipped in hot butter. That tastes good, but anyone can do that even at home. Besides, you're not really tasting the shrimp, you're merely chewing on the meat. Not in this restaurant, Killer Shrimp.
Killer Shrimp have 2 locations as far as I know, one in Studio City and other in Marina Del Rey. I went to the latter. Inside the small restaurant there are about 10 tables (patio seats available). There are two sheets of paper sitting on the table. One for the shrimp soup, the other for wine. Shrimp soup menu is quite simple; they only 3 items. The main dish is one-and-only Cajun style spicy shrimp broth with 13-15 shrimps with shells. 3 options: bread, pasta or rice. My friend told me the bread would be the best option since you can dip a piece of bread in the soup and fully enjoy the flavor of the broth. Pasta is kinda flabby (apparently they suck at cooking the pasta right) and I didn't see anyone with rice. So I went with the bread. They have about 6 selections of wine for white and red each.
The soup is bright red, but not as spicy as it appears. When you put your head right above the bowl, you feel that you're submerged into a shrimp paradise. You do notice the shrimp flavor right away. The shrimp broth is accompanied with basil, oregano (not sure), chili pepper and lots of butter and garlic. These seasonings do not kill the shrimp flavor; they multiply it. You take a piece of French roll, dip it in the soup... and throw it in your mouth. Hmmmmmmmmmm shrimp... garlic... butter... herbal flavor... I want more, and more and more.
By the way, shrimps cooked thoroughly, you can actually eat shells. Shrimp shell is full of vitamin A, good for your eyes. But I guess it's not easy to chew and swallow unless it's deep-fried like some Chinese dishes. Anyways I just wanted to throw it in here.
As mentioned earlier, there are about 13-15 good size shrimps in the soup. I took out the shells and hold the tail, dip it in the soup and then put it in my mouth... hmmm... shrimp again... it's all about shrimp, shrimp, shrimp!
Cons:
Some people may think the place is kinda ghettoish because the interior setting is very casual, more like a fast food restaurant, though it's not. Besides the lighting being very dark, there's nothing romantic about it. They had a candle holder on each table but they didn't have a candle (I asked). You won't get a spoon for the soup if you choose the bread option since you are eating the soup only with bread. So your hands will get wet and your fingers will taste like a shrimp (I like it though). Some wines on the wine menu are out of stock (well, Sunday night, what do you expect...). For those of you who don't enjoy all these things above, this is not the place for you. But if you're all about shrimp and don't care, you'll have to try Killer Shrimp!
Killer Shrimp
Venice
523 Washington Blvd
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-5420
Phone: (310) 578-2293
Hours: Sun-Thu 11:30am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11:30-11pm
Studio City
4000 Colfax Ave
Studio City, CA 91604, USA
I went there Sunday night around 8pm. Plenty of seats were available.
3 comments:
I HAVE BEEN THERE IT IS AWESOME! The one in encino isnt ghetto at all its very cute. the trick is to not order the bread....get the shrimp with rice or pasta because you can always ask for bread later ;)
Good tip, thanks stinky!
oh i wana go next in town
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