Grub Crawl - SOBT & Sand Lake: Little New Orleans and Thai City

I supplemented my dinner on Thursday night with some food at these two restaurants. One is on OBT south of the Florida Mall. The other is on Sand Lake aside the Florida Mall.

Little New Orleans - One of those Asian run crab and crayfish places in an urban area of town. I'm not sure if they were once black owned, but, they aren't anymore. This phenomenon occurs on Mills and W. Colonial and here (evidently). The crowd (five people) was about half black and white. Although it looked like the former was there because of the latter. The place looks like it might have been a Caribbean bar. It's not very Cajun. It has a narrow foot print that follows the bar. The bar takes up half the space. I had one pound of crawfish for $9. It was an extra $2 or $3 for fresh crawfish. I think they snuck a few frozen ones in there. It's not bright to attempt that because you can't help but notice the discrepancy. I believe the pricing was about they charge in the other areas (without the fresh designation and commensurate price inflation). They were ok. The service was good. It looks like one family (of 3 or 4) runs the place. I wouldn't be in a rush to find it, but, if you are in the neighborhood. They had oysters and fish and crabs. Most things were between $10 and $20.

Thai City - This place used to be across from a Mexican place up the street. Now it is in the old Sushi House (now on OBT) location. I had a Thai Beef Salad (saw them making it on America's Test Kitchen recently) for $12.50. They made it with celery and no mint or that crunchy topping. It was ok. I must confess that I stored it away until the next night. It was a little colder than it should be, so, I will be generous in the analysis. It wasn't the best I've ever had and it wasn't the worst. The place seats about eighty. It looks new. They carve out a second room with an open wall. The decor is appropriate to the culture. It was dead empty when I was there. I did think it was smart that they have a happy hour in between the lunch pricing and the dinner pricing. It runs from 3-6pm and costs $13. Lunch is $9.55 (for specials). They also claim to serve grouper and snapper. If they don't pull a bait and switch on those items, then I would go for that. They also serve duck. The menu has all the usual suspects plus more. I wouldn't go to far out of my way for it, but, it deserves better than to be empty at nine pm. I would go often if I lived in the neighborhood.