Lilli and Loo: Manhattan, NY

This past Friday night I went out to Lilli and Loo in the city for my college roommate's birthday.  My roommate has Celiac disease, so we chose Lilli and Loo based on the fact that it had an extensive gluten-free menu.  We were able to easily pick out an appetizer that all of us would enjoy.  We opted for the pan-friend pork dumplings.  Eight dumplings were included in the dish, perfect as there were four of us.  I would say the dumplings were pretty standard, nothing too special, but were guaranteed to be gluten-free, which can be hard to find at restaurants.

Three of us split the Spicy Maki Combo as part of an Entree, and I ordered the Sushi Taco for myself.  The Spicy Maki Combo consisted of Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon and Spicy California rolls.  This, however, was not part of the gluten-free menu. The Sushi Taco turned out not to be a Sushi Roll, but rather an actual taco.  I was a little surprised by this, only because I've had sushi burritos several times before, and they are essentially bigger hand rolls so I expected the same from a sushi taco. The dish came with three "tacos" which consisted of a compacted block of white rice topped with spicy yellowtail, spicy tuna, spicy salmon, cilantro onion and wasabi creame fraiche surrounded by two taco shells, which I believe were made with wontons.  It was rather difficult to eat as a taco and I ended up having to pull it apart and eat it in pieces.  The whole process ended up being rather messy and it was difficult to dip the pieces of it into soy sauce.  The Spicy Maki Combo rolls were also quite standard as far as rolls go, nothing too special.

While Lilli and Loo was a great location from someone with special dietary needs, it was an overall average experience for myself and my other two friends.  If I had my pick of Sushi restaurants in the city, Lilli and Loo would definitely not top my list.  I'm not sure I'll be headed back to their restaurant anytime soon.  Additionally, the restaurant was rather empty for 8 pm on a Friday night, so perhaps we should have taken this as a sign that it is not a very popular location.

Sorry there are no pictures to accompany this entry.  My phone was out of battery by the time we reached the restaurant so I was unable to take any pictures.