The Reluctant Chef's secret addiction is Creole food. He would happily exist on shrimp po'boys, gumbo and fried chicken - hold the side of okra, please. So it was with the utmost pleasure that he announced one day last week, that he had found a little piece of heaven north of the 49th parallel. That place is Cajun Corner on Queen Street East, between Logan and Carlaw.
Now, I've walked by this little heavenly outpost many a time, but its storefront didn't pull me in. It looked like a somewhat disorganized pile of packaged products decorated by reams of Mardi Gras beads. Of course, had I known they sold Cafe du Monde coffee, I would not have had to make convoluted arrangements to have it shipped in bulk to a friend in Manhattan, who would then sneak it across the border once or twice a year! So now I've got a piece of heaven and a silver lining.
As soon as we walk into Cajun Corner, we are bowled over by the smell of blackened catfish. Never mind that it actually smells carcinogenic, we're hooked by the shelves of products on our left: Scorned Woman BBQ sauce and floor-to-shelf-top hot sauces. In fact, I have a good story about the hot sauce, which reminds me that I had heard of this place before the Reluctant Chef discovered it. A friend of mine - let's just call her Bohemian Babe - liked to grab a snack or an occasional lunch at the take-out counter. One day, she decided to be bold and tried a particular hot sauce. The label said: Use at your own risk. We cannot take responsibility. She disregarded the label and hasn't been able to stomach creole food since. Lesson learned.
The catfish po'boy is delicious. It's crisply fried in a cornmeal batter and completely tender on the inside. Rice and beans are reliable, but the sweet potato frites are a bit on the oily, soggy side. What's more amazing is that this dinner costs about $6. We take our meals to go, but there are a few small tables if your gullet can't wait.
Items are made on a daily specials basis: gumbos, both chicken and seafood; crab cakes; crawfish pistoles; peppered or blackened catfish; pecan-roasted pork, and more. Let's put it this way: from our humble little meal last week, I am pretty confident that these guys are creole pros. So I'm going to keep eating their food and if I don't like something, I'll let y'all know.
Culinary treat: Every weekend they serve chicory coffee (Cafe du Monde) and fresh beignets. A little piece of heaven indeed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment