Cajun Throwdown at Queen's Louisiana Po-Boy Cafe
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| T. Palmer |
| Fried Gulf shrimp po-boy: Worthy of devouring. |
"I'm really passionate about this," said Danielle Reese, giant ladle in hand. "A lot of people try to represent New Orleans food here, and they don't do it right. I took a lot of time with this."
One example of Reese's dedication to authenticity -- besides her family's recipes and lessons learned in her grandfather's Louisiana restaurant -- are the items that she has flown in from Louisiana: Crawfish, Community Coffee, Abita root beer, Zapp's potato chips, and the softly crumbly pistolettes.
In the name of "research," and of great hunger, we ordered a lot of
food, not quite realizing that the portions were going to be
substantial (but the leftovers were great). After being offered samples
of the seafood gumbo, we succumbed to the rich roux and ordered a cup
($4.95). Four of us then went for the seafood po-boy combo ($13), two choices of 6-inch sandwiches (which individually range from $6.50
to $9). We tried the fried catfish, fried
crawfish, and fried Gulf shrimp (along with fried chicken and BBQ beef), all lightly dressed with
mayo, pickles, tomato slices, and shredded lettuce. Reese has a way with the fryer, with crunchy, crispy, and not-at-all greasy results.One example of Reese's dedication to authenticity -- besides her family's recipes and lessons learned in her grandfather's Louisiana restaurant -- are the items that she has flown in from Louisiana: Crawfish, Community Coffee, Abita root beer, Zapp's potato chips, and the softly crumbly pistolettes.
"It took me a year to convince them to trust me and sell it to me, because I have to buy it by the pallet," she revealed of the characteristic po-boy French rolls.
The loaves come partially baked, and are finished off in-house. They're already flying out the door faster than she predicted, said Reese, who smiled at our suggestion that this might be what they call a good problem to have.
The loaves come partially baked, and are finished off in-house. They're already flying out the door faster than she predicted, said Reese, who smiled at our suggestion that this might be what they call a good problem to have.
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| T. Palmer |
| Queen's inspires overindulgence. |
At that point, we thought, what the hell, and ordered beignets for dessert ($4.50, also available with cafe au lait for $6.50). This was our only misstep -- we thought they tasted slightly of the fish that was probably fried in the same oil, a bummer because the texture and taste would have otherwise been on point.*
Still, we're already dreaming of our next visit and another taste of New Orleans in the south of our own city.
*Update: We returned a week later and the beignets were properly done and very tasty.
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