The Gumbo House Cajun Restaurant in Jomtien

[Evil Penevil]

 

 

The Gumbo House Cajun Seafood Restaurant & Bar is a small restaurant towards the south end of Jomtien Beach Road.

I'll post a map at the end of the review. 

 

 

It's been open since May and is operated by an American man from Louisiana and his Thai wife.

 

 

 According to the Gumbo House Website:  "We're from Louisiana and we brought our love of Louisiana's Cajun food and our Cajun recipes with us to Thailand. We're also Thai, so, we serve Thai food for those of us who can't go a day without our famous local delicacies."

 

 

 

As the name proclaims, it is focused on Cajun cuisine and seafood, but also has an extensive menu of Thai dishes. It's open from 11.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.

 

 

I'm not going into too much background in this review, but Cajun is a regional style of cooking that originated among French settlers called Acadians who had been kicked out of Canada in the mid-1700s. 

 

 

For at least 150 years they lived an isolated existence in Louisiana's swamps and bayous, eking out a living under tough circumstances.  They spoke a dialect of French and kept very much to themselves, developing their own cuisine, music and folkways. Except for some parishes (counties) in Louisiana, Cajun cooking was largely unknown in the U.S. before the 1980s.  I'll give more background in a separate post.

 

The Gumbo House does seem a good place to enjoy a cocktail and watch the sun go down.

 

 

From the GH Website:

 

 

The cocktails at GH aren't expensive.

 

 

I noticed the list feature the Hurricane, a sweet, fruity cocktail that's almost become a symbol for New Orleans but is seldom served elsewhere.  It consists of equal portions of light rum,  dark rum and passion fruit syrup, plus orange juice and a splash of lime for extra flavor.  In the Big Easy, it's often served in special glasses shaped like hurricane lamps.  However, New Orleans city law allows the consumption of alcohol in public and for drinks to be carried from bars, but not in glasses.  Many Hurricane cocktails are therefore sold in plastic cups, especially during Mardi Gras.

 

 

 

I had lunch Tuesday with a friend at the Gumbo House (many thanks for picking me up!   ).    We were both eager to see what such a rarity as a Cajun restaurant in Pattaya would have to offer. There's a two-fold problem with Cajun cooking:  1) much of what is called Cajun cooking really isn't; and 2) "authentic" doesn't necessarily mean "delicious" or even "good."   Plenty of authentic regional dishes in all cuisines taste horrible to outsiders.  

 

So to cut to the chase:  Was the cuisine at Gumbo House authentic?  Yes, it was.  Was it good?  Well,  I won't be rushing back to try it again.  I wanted to like the Gumbo House, I really did,  as it's always a positive thing to support small, family-run businesses that try something new. I would rather be writing a rave review, but I can't. The best that can be said about the food we had is that it was average. It didn't taste bad; it just didn't taste much at all. And there were a couple of misses in the service that didn't make things better.

 

Here's an excerpt from the Gumbo House menu:

 

 

 

 

The appetizers are smaller servings of main courses- and that's a good idea when it comes to an unfamiliar cuisine like Cajun.  The diner can try more of it that way.  My friend ordered the chicken and sausage gumbo as his starter and I chose the seafood gumbo. He went for the shrimp étouffée as his main and I asked for the jambalaya.  Gumbo and jambalaya are the two dishes most closely associated with Cajun cooking and étouffée would come a close third.  After a few minutes, the young waiter came back to say the jambalaya was "finished."

 

That's unlikely, since we there at 1.30 p.m. and the restaurant had opened at 11.00 a.m.  It probably would have been more accurate to say it hadn't finished cooking, or even that it hadn't started cooking.   Anyway, I ordered the étouffée instead.

 

 

Gumbo is a thick soup and Cajun gumbo should be close to the consistency of a stew.  It was.     A Cajun gumbo has a base of roux, a flour and oil mixture that cooked together and gives the gumbo its dark brown color.  It's also supposed to impart a nutty flavor, but I couldn't detect that. I could taste the shrimp, some shreds of crab, a bit of heat and not much else.

 

In a sense, that's how a Cajun gumbo is supposed to be, so it was authentic. MM said his gumbo had plenty of chicken and sausage.  He let me taste a piece of the sausage and it was some sort of German smoked sausage and not the proper andouille.  I don't really hold that against them.  Where the hell are you going find andouille sausage and tasso ham in Thailand? But it's also true that German sausage can't add the right flavor.  It's a bit of a Catch-22 moment.  The overall rating on the gumbo:  OK, but not better.

 

 

The bread that came with the gumbo wasn't French but sliced bread from 7-11. Sacré bleu!  The other odd thing was that after a rather long wait, both the gumbo and étouffée came at the same time.  Gumbo is the type of dish that should be made ahead of time and left to sit overnight so the flavors meld.  One would think they'd bring out the bowls of reheated gumbo while making the étouffée, but that didn't happen. As a result, the étouffée went cold and congealed while we were eating the gumbo.

 

   

 

Étouffée means "smothered" in French and "smothering" is a cooking technique typical of Cajun cuisine.  Meat and/or vegetables are cooked with a small amount of Liquid over low heat until ready.  It's similar to braising but with less Liquid. The sauce tends to be a bit bland as it's not supposed to overwhelm the main ingredient, usually crayfish or shrimp.

 

 

Again, I'd say the etouffée was OK but not better.  Add the misses with service to the lackluster food and you get a rather disappointing dining experience.   I may try it again if I can hitch a ride with someone, but I'll call first to make sure jambalaya is being served that day.

 

The whole about Cajun cooking doesn't make a lot of sense without more background, but I'll save that for a separate post.

 

Evil

 

A map for those who want to try Gumbo House.  The baht buses usually end at Soi Chaiyaphruek, so you have to hike a bit to the restaurant.  If you have your own wheels, parking is easy.

 

 

 

[Evil Penevil]

Discussions and reviews about Cajun food tend to get complicated because much of what is called "Cajun" really isn't.  Cajun cuisine was hardly known outside of Louisiana until the 1980's when it was made famous by celebrity chefs like Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse.  However, what they served up in their restaurants and on their TV shows wasn't traditional Cajun food but a fusion between Creole and Cajun styles plus plenty of their own original touches.

For example, blackening is a cooking technique associated with Cajun cuisine thanks to Prudhomme and his "blackened redfish," a dish which became a national craze 40 years ago.  Thing is, blackening is a technique Prudhomme invented and which had no basis whatsoever in Cajun cooking. It was a delicious way of preparing fish and other proteins, but it sure wasn't Cajun.

Authentic Cajun food was heavy and bland. To make it more appealing and acceptable to a broader public, the New Orleans' celebrity chefs "kicked things up a notch."  Other, lesser-known chefs took things even farther.  Cajun food is often regarded today as fiery hot along the lines of some Mexican, Indian and Szechuan dishes, but that isn't true historically.  

And I haven't even gotten into the difference between Cajun and Creole cuisine!

Evil

[gusincebu]

Location.. As nice as it is, out there opposite the water / beach may be an issue for them.
Basically they are right out in the mainly Russian district.
Unless their food becomes good enough to be a " destination " venue, they will probably struggle to attract walk ins.
Given that, they appear to have done a nice job setting it up, and I wish them well.

Sent from my vivo 1713 using Tapatalk

[tsmith18]

Wow, great detailed expertise in the above posts !

 I live nearby the Gumbo House and have dined there several times. And I lived in New Orleans for 4 years back in the 1980’s.  Can’t argue with any of the opinions expressed. You guys really know your stuff.

Service needs improvement (common for many first-year restaurants) that is correct.

 However, it’s such a unique offering for this area, I heartily recommend you give it a try. Gumbo, Jambalaya, Etouffee, an occasional Shrimp Po’Boy ... when you’re in the neighborhood, cmon in and add some variety to your food choices. Worthy of our support, I say. 

[mcfish]

 

  The Gumbo House Cajun Seafood Restaurant & Bar is a small restaurant towards the south end of Jomtien Beach Road. I'll post a map at the end of the review.      It's been open since May and is operated by an American man from Louisiana and his Thai wife.      According to the Gumbo House Website:  "We're from Louisiana and we brought our love of Louisiana's Cajun food and our Cajun recipes with us to Thailand. We're also Thai, so, we serve Thai food for those of us who can't go a day without our famous local delicacies."       As the name proclaims, it is focused on Cajun cuisine and seafood, but also has an extensive menu of Thai dishes. It's open from 11.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.     I'm not going into too much background in this review, but Cajun is a regional style of cooking that originated among French settlers called Acadians who had been kicked out of Canada in the mid-1700s.      For at least 150 years they lived an isolated existence in Louisiana's swamps and bayous, eking out a living under tough circumstances.  They spoke a dialect of French and kept very much to themselves, developing their own cuisine, music and folkways. Except for some parishes (counties) in Louisiana, Cajun cooking was largely unknown in the U.S. before the 1980s.  I'll give more background in a separate post.   The Gumbo House does seem a good place to enjoy a cocktail and watch the sun go down.     From the GH Website:     The cocktails at GH aren't expensive.     I noticed the list feature the Hurricane, a sweet, fruity cocktail that's almost become a symbol for New Orleans but is seldom served elsewhere.  It consists of equal portions of light rum,  dark rum and passion fruit syrup, plus orange juice and a splash of lime for extra flavor.  In the Big Easy, it's often served in special glasses shaped like hurricane lamps.  However, New Orleans city law allows the consumption of alcohol in public and for drinks to be carried from bars, but not in glasses.  Many Hurricane cocktails are therefore sold in plastic cups, especially during Mardi Gras.       I had lunch Tuesday with a friend at the Gumbo House (many thanks for picking me up!   ).    We were both eager to see what such a rarity as a Cajun restaurant in Pattaya would have to offer. There's a two-fold problem with Cajun cooking:  1) much of what is called Cajun cooking really isn't; and 2) "authentic" doesn't necessarily mean "delicious" or even "good."   Plenty of authentic regional dishes in all cuisines taste horrible to outsiders.     So to cut to the chase:  Was the cuisine at Gumbo House authentic?  Yes, it was.  Was it good?  Well,  I won't be rushing back to try it again.  I wanted to like the Gumbo House, I really did,  as it's always a positive thing to support small, family-run businesses that try something new. I would rather be writing a rave review, but I can't. The best that can be said about the food we had is that it was average. It didn't taste bad; it just didn't taste much at all. And there were a couple of misses in the service that didn't make things better.   Here's an excerpt from the Gumbo House menu:         The appetizers are smaller servings of main courses- and that's a good idea when it comes to an unfamiliar cuisine like Cajun.  The diner can try more of it that way.  My friend ordered the chicken and sausage gumbo as his starter and I chose the seafood gumbo. He went for the shrimp étouffée as his main and I asked for the jambalaya.  Gumbo and jambalaya are the two dishes most closely associated with Cajun cooking and étouffée would come a close third.  After a few minutes, the young waiter came back to say the jambalaya was "finished."   That's unlikely, since we there at 1.30 p.m. and the restaurant had opened at 11.00 a.m.  It probably would have been more accurate to say it hadn't finished cooking, or even that it hadn't started cooking.   Anyway, I ordered the étouffée instead.     Gumbo is a thick soup and Cajun gumbo should be close to the consistency of a stew.  It was.     A Cajun gumbo has a base of roux, a flour and oil mixture that cooked together and gives the gumbo its dark brown color.  It's also supposed to impart a nutty flavor, but I couldn't detect that. I could taste the shrimp, some shreds of crab, a bit of heat and not much else.   In a sense, that's how a Cajun gumbo is supposed to be, so it was authentic. MM said his gumbo had plenty of chicken and sausage.  He let me taste a piece of the sausage and it was some sort of German smoked sausage and not the proper andouille.  I don't really hold that against them.  Where the hell are you going find andouille sausage and tasso ham in Thailand? But it's also true that German sausage can't add the right flavor.  It's a bit of a Catch-22 moment.  The overall rating on the gumbo:  OK, but not better.     The bread that came with the gumbo wasn't French but sliced bread from 7-11. Sacré bleu!  The other odd thing was that after a rather long wait, both the gumbo and étouffée came at the same time.  Gumbo is the type of dish that should be made ahead of time and left to sit overnight so the flavors meld.  One would think they'd bring out the bowls of reheated gumbo while making the étouffée, but that didn't happen. As a result, the étouffée went cold and congealed while we were eating the gumbo.         Étouffée means "smothered" in French and "smothering" is a cooking technique typical of Cajun cuisine.  Meat and/or vegetables are cooked with a small amount of liquid over low heat until ready.  It's similar to braising but with less liquid. The sauce tends to be a bit bland as it's not supposed to overwhelm the main ingredient, usually crayfish or shrimp.     Again, I'd say the etouffée was OK but not better.  Add the misses with service to the lackluster food and you get a rather disappointing dining experience.   I may try it again if I can hitch a ride with someone, but I'll call first to make sure jambalaya is being served that day.   The whole about Cajun cooking doesn't make a lot of sense without more background, but I'll save that for a separate post.   Evil   A map for those who want to try Gumbo House.  The baht buses usually end at Soi Chaiyaphruek, so you have to hike a bit to the restaurant.  If you have your own wheels, parking is easy.      

A review written more to the top end 4 Star to 5 star resteraunts. (great review)
Question is were they 4 to 5 star prices?

[adammike]

What also happens is the fish/stocks used will have a big influence on the final taste,substituting blackened tilapia fillet for blackened red fish will not really work, farmed black tiger prawns will not be anything like fresh cold-water prawns or crayfish.getting the roux as dark as needed takes practice and nerve,I can't remember seeing celery in the markets and that's one element of the holy trinity.I guess you can get some sort of smoked sausage somewhere maybe a German import but it's another substitute. It's going to be a problem getting dishes authentic when the main ingredients are all going to be substitutes for the originals. 

[Kreggerz]

1 hour ago, adammike said:

What also happens is the fish/stocks used will have a big influence on the final taste,substituting blackened tilapia fillet for blackened red fish will not really work, farmed black tiger prawns will not be anything like fresh cold-water prawns or crayfish.getting the roux as dark as needed takes practice and nerve,I can't remember seeing celery in the markets and that's one element of the holy trinity.I guess you can get some sort of smoked sausage somewhere maybe a German import but it's another substitute. It's going to be a problem getting dishes authentic when the main ingredients are all going to be substitutes for the originals. 

Celery is very easy to buy here. Not in Thai markets. At places like Friendship. 

[Saddic]

I ate there quite a few nights before Evil...  agree mostly...

I ordered the big seafood gumbo, small red beans and rice, and salad... (but no hab)... so ordered a shrimp poorboy in it's place..  TOO MUCH FOOD!

Next time would do without the poorboy when ordering 2 other dishes... or vice verse...

The gumbo was good but I think needed to be a bit thicker... aka more roux or okra to help thicken it up...  Flavors were good..

The red beans and rice was spot on..

The poorboy was a bit off as the shrimp was butterflied and fried to be big, and didn't quite fit in the bun right...  Made it very hard to eat...  Sacrilege (I know), but could have used a dressing to moisten it up... Wish they had a catfish offering...  Their menu just has fried fish...

+ a beer...

total damage 500b

Overall, it hit the spot...  I'd go back to try some of the other dishes...

[Marcus85]

This guy should be making his own sausage, not hard to get pigs right?

[jerrygarcia]

I love cajun food and I'm not gonna pretend to know a ton about it.....but I did work as a waiter at a cajun restaurant for a summer, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. 

I make red beans and rice quite often.

 

Might be worth a trip to Jomtien just for this restaurant.

[Kreggerz]

1 hour ago, jerrygarcia said:

I love cajun food and I'm not gonna pretend to know a ton about it.....but I did work as a waiter at a cajun restaurant for a summer, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. 

I make red beans and rice quite often.

 

Might be worth a trip to Jomtien just for this restaurant.

You'll be very disappointed compared to Pappadeaux.

[soi16]

13 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

Where the hell are you going find andouille sausage and tasso ham in Thailand? But it's also true that German sausage can't add the right flavor.

Why do not use Chorizo sausage? More spicy. 

[jimboh]

7/11 bread is a total fail for me, especially with so many good bakeries in close proximity.

[ChiFlyer]

17 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

 

Thanks once again Evil for the thorough and very honest review. The location works for me now that I have a motor bike. Being from the US (Chicago),  I  really like Cajun food and prepare Gumbo and Red Beans and Rice at home, not to mention a few Emeril Lagasse stew type recipes. Good to know that I will be disappointed, if I come in with high hopes thinking they can match "Heaven on 7" in Chicago (probably Chicago's best Cajun restaurant).

Take care and thanks for the reviews.

[Evil Penevil]

6 hours ago, soi16 said:

Why do not use Chorizo sausage? More spicy. 

Traditional andouille sausage is not very spicy.  It contains black pepper, but not cayenne or hot peppers.  It was double smoked, but didn't have a lot of capsaicin heat.  Andouille adds a smoky and meaty flavor to gumbo and jambalaya, not heat.  There's a big difference between food that is spicy, i.e.,  "hot," because of capsaicin content and food which is seasoned, i.e., flavored by non-capsaicin spices, herbs and ingredients.

Evil

[Kreggerz]

The food at Gumbo House is the blandest Cajun food I've ever had. Seasoning and pepper. I wonder if it's intentional for what they imagine their customers won't like (flavor). 

[adammike]

2 hours ago, Kreggerz said:

The food at Gumbo House is the blandest Cajun food I've ever had. Seasoning and pepper. I wonder if it's intentional for what they imagine their customers won't like (flavor). 

If I remember right the cajun seasoning mix contains dried onion,garlic,thyme,oregano,paprika are these things available in catering quantities and wholesale prices? chilli and blackpepper is of course paprika probably, the ready mix always has too much salt and flavour enhancers.farmed fresh brackish water shrimps/prawns/gambas don't have the depth of flavour that comes from their shells that cold-water ones do, think of a Atlantic lobster and compare it to the ones you get in seafood restaurants in Thailand they are totally different. A lot of the flavour comes from the roux and that takes a while to master.

[baddog666]

With an abundance of fresh seafood available , this helps for Cajun food, but so many other ingredients can be hard to find.

I lived and worked in New Orleans when I was a pup..... what a fun place it was then.

Just a technical note, Gumbo does get its' color from using a dark roux , but also should contain a healthy amount of gumbo file  , which is basically ground sassafras leaves. This adds to the dark color. Then the okra to give it a slightly slimy texture.

I don't understand why they would serve sliced generic bread, unless they simply ran out...somewhat blasphemous .

 

[brutox]

Hey, Evil .. as always, your reviews are a leap better than just .. "food" .. "eat" .. "eee-yummers" .. "eee-yewww".

Cultures are defined by and viewed through a number of facets, one of which is their unique cuisine .. your description of the Cajun culture's cuisine is spot on.

Before going to university, I spent a couple of years roughnecking on exploration oil rigs in the deep water offshore of Louisiana .. more than half of the rig workers were Cajuns, and I enjoyed running around with many of these guys on our off weeks .. the Cajun country is concentrated from the swamps west of New Orleans to SE Texas .. the heart of Cajun Country is arguable, but it is a good 150+ miles west of New Orleans .. the consensus I got from hanging around these guys is that Breaux Bridge is where they do their pilgrimage.

My first job out of university was working in SE Texas, where I worked again with a number of Cajuns .. my first boss was a Cajun who was raised speaking French as his first language .. man that guy could cook, as is common amongst Cajun men.

The Cajun culture is just glorious .. highly regional .. quite distinct, as their frontier ancestry is indelibly burned in deeply .. proud .. independent .. lively .. their food, their music, their values, their humor, all of it .. the Cajun national battle cry? ..  "Laissez les bon temps rouler!" .. ["Let the good times roll!"].

I add to Evil's culinary history, that Cajun roots cuisine is major league peasant food .. survivalist stuff .. French settlers pushed out of eastern Canada by the Evil King George, relocated to those bothersome Colonies .. they found the endless uninhabited bayous of Southwest Louisiana about the massive Atchafalaya River Basin much to their liking, where they were left alone.

Living off the land there, the local harvest was fish, shellfish, and wild game .. modern Cajun dishes derive from 'gator tails, frogs, venison, duck, crawfish, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, turtles .. later nutria and armadillos were introduced to Cajun pots and pits (both invasive species that arrived in the mid-1900's).

Another footnote .. beware of Louisianans from New Orleans claiming Cajun credentials .. real Cajuns herald from the swamplands, and are quite protective of their roots .. and they ain't in New Orleans.

The Creole cuisine is more associated with New Orleans, and considered more refined than the more rustic, French-based Cajun cuisine .. the owner of the very good Bourbon Street Restaurant claims his as a Cajun restaurant, but his menu is mostly Creole .. better curb appeal .. and, of course, every Louisiana chef wants to be a Cajun.

As mentioned above, Cajun cuisine is heavily seasoned, but not overly-spiced .. for those living here whose tastebuds have been transmogrified by Thai spices and need more kick, Cajun dishes take heat really, really well.

The famous Tabasco Pepper Sauce was developed in the mid-1800's by the Confederate General McIlhenny, from Avery Island, Louisiana, right near the heart of the Cajun Country .. Cajun food is for what it was created .. pour it on, men, pour it on.

 

[ChiFlyer]

15 hours ago, adammike said:

If I remember right the cajun seasoning mix contains dried onion,garlic,thyme,oregano,paprika are these things available in catering quantities and wholesale prices? ......

This is a link to Emeril Lagasse's Bayou Blast mix.

http://emerils.com/121705/emerils-essence-creole-seasoning-also-referred-bayou-blast

 

I use spicy smoked paprika in my version, which is great for blackened fish, although some complain ma pet.

 

 

[tsmith18]

Fascinating reads by Evil and Brutox and others, regarding the Cajun subculture. Cajun is Very different from Thai culture but some interesting comparisons. Both cuisines emerged from warm climates... and from poor people, getting by on foods  they had locally, and being quite creative with it. Both have spicy foods (Yes VERY different spices), this is also common to disadvantaged areas... if there’s no meat, spice is cheap and it at least makes the rice taste better. This is why Wealthy advanced countries (England, and most of the USA) have boring food by comparison. 

[adammike]

8 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

This is a link to Emeril Lagasse's Bayou Blast mix.

http://emerils.com/121705/emerils-essence-creole-seasoning-also-referred-bayou-blast

 

I use spicy smoked paprika in my version, which is great for blackened fish, although some complain ma pet.

 

 

I use smoked paprika a lot but less is definitely more it can dominate and that's not good,my pet peeve is overuse of cumin not in creole/cajun but in any dish.

[brutox]

6 hours ago, tsmith18 said:

Fascinating reads by Evil and Brutox and others, regarding the Cajun subculture. Cajun is Very different from Thai culture but some interesting comparisons. Both cuisines emerged from warm climates... and from poor people, getting by on foods  they had locally, and being quite creative with it. Both have spicy foods (Yes VERY different spices), this is also common to disadvantaged areas... if there’s no meat, spice is cheap and it at least makes the rice taste better. This is why Wealthy advanced countries (England, and most of the USA) have boring food by comparison. 

What you write is all true, tsmith18.

The footnote is that the chili is not native to Thailand at all (or, anywhere in Asia), but South America.

The early European explorers from some centuries past first discovered them when they landed in the New World, loved them, became committed chili evangelists, and spread the good word all across the seven seas.

Reaching Siam, the local heathen quickly rose through the ranks, known now as high priests of the noble chili.

 

[Evil Penevil]

22 hours ago, brutox said:

Hey, Evil .. as always, your reviews are a leap better than just .. "food" .. "eat" .. "eee-yummers" .. "eee-yewww".

Many thanks for your words.   On another board,  I get flamed heavily,  really nasty stuff, for that type of review. The same guy post on Addicts, but I guess he doesn't dare to flame me here.  

Cultures are defined by and viewed through a number of facets, one of which is their unique cuisine .. your description of the Cajun culture's cuisine is spot on.

Yes, I find food history and the backgrounds of different cuisines fascinating.  It's half the fun of eating for me.

Living off the land there, the local harvest was fish, shellfish, and wild game .. modern Cajun dishes derive from 'gator tails, frogs, venison, duck, crawfish, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, turtles .. later nutria and armadillos were introduced to Cajun pots and pits (both invasive species that arrived in the mid-1900's).

There's a phrase that's used in Louisiana to distinguish Cajun from Creole cuisine:  Cajuns caught it, Creoles bought it.  As you say, Cajuns lived off the land, but Creoles were city dwellers who bought their ingredients in shops and markets.

The Creole cuisine is more associated with New Orleans, and considered more refined than the more rustic, French-based Cajun cuisine .. the owner of the very good Bourbon Street Restaurant claims his as a Cajun restaurant, but his menu is mostly Creole .. better curb appeal .. and, of course, every Louisiana chef wants to be a Cajun.

That's a very interesting chapter in U.S. culinary trends.  When chefs like Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse began to popularize Cajun cooking in the 1980s, they didn't want to take on the powerful Creole food establishment in New Orleans.  Both had been head chefs at Commander's Palace,  which to many was the top restaurant for classic Creole cooking. 

Prudhomme, whose maternal ancestors included early Acadian settlers,  introduced Cajun elements to the traditional menu.  Lagasse,  who is no more Cajun or Creole than I am, continued the fusion trend when he took over  as head chef from Prudhomme at Commander's Palace.  When both struck out on their own and opened restaurants, they didn't want to appear to be directly challenging the Commander's Palace. A pic::

As mentioned above, Cajun cuisine is heavily seasoned, but not overly-spiced .. for those living here whose tastebuds have been transmogrified by Thai spices and need more kick, Cajun dishes take heat really, really well.

The famous Tabasco Pepper Sauce was developed in the mid-1800's by the Confederate General McIlhenny, from Avery Island, Louisiana, right near the heart of the Cajun Country .. Cajun food is for what it was created .. pour it on, men, pour it on.

One small point: Edmund McIlhenny was not a Confederate general but served the Confederate Army as a civilian financial agent.  He had moved to New Orleans as young man and began a millionaire banker, but the Civil War destroyed his fortune and the fortune of his wife's family, which had been one of Louisiana's biggest land owners.  After the war ended, they returned to what was left of his in-laws' ruined plantation.  He knew nothing about agriculture and developed his hot sauce as a means of contributing to the family's upkeep.

The man himself.

 

 

 

Evil

[ChiFlyer]

I am pretty certain that the Gumbo House is now closed. I made a mental note of it based on Evil's original post. Drove by tonight both coming and going to a seafood buffet place near Pupen's. Interesting place and I will try and post a little info tomorrow.

Anyway the Gumbo House was dark both times and a shade was drawn across the front. I doubt Saturday is their day of rest.