Eat at Omi if you want good Chinese food in Baton Rouge

I ate at Omi tonight in Baton Rouge. Yes, it is a pain in the arse to get to because of the location (One Calais off of Essen), but do yourself a favor and try it. If you're thinking of a typical Chinese joint where you point at a picture that consists of some random animal protein with some nondescript mixed vegetables in a brown sauce, that is definitely NOT what this place is.

The food is GOOD. I had the Chong Qing spicy chicken and I got a dish of nicely crisped chicken in a sauce that was pretty much just the oil it was cooked in with a bunch of chilis. Not extremely hot, but with notes of flavor that stood out on their own. The cumin spicy pork we had was different. The pork was well cooked with just enough spice to flavor the dish, and it was presented simply. Pork, spice, shoots, and a bit of the oils it was cooked in.

The only thing that wasn't great was the hot and sour soup. It was neither hot nor sour, but the two entrees we had more than made up for it. This is one of those restaurants that Baton Rouge should support. Try it. Its location is terrible, but what they're doing there is not. This is definitely one of Baton Rouge's good restaurants.