In case you don't remember (or didn't read it, you asshole), I once wrote about my Mexican restaurant. Now, this wasn't a Mexican restaurant that I owned; just the Mexican restaurant that I frequented. Unfortunately, they closed down in October (more on that later...), but a new restaurant opened it its place: Ragin Cajun Seafood and Po'boys. Just so you know, I'm no restaurant critic: I like eating food, and I like eating other people's food to help expand my own ideas and find new inspiration. That's what restaurant week is about. I have only visited Ragin Cajun once, and that was within the first week of their opening, so keep that in mind. I usually like to give restaurants 2-4 weeks before really analyzing their food as it takes time for them to get into their routines. However, sometimes you just have to go when you're able.
I started off my visit with their boudin balls with "creole mustard dipping sauce." The balls came dressed with some scallion and cheese and were...okay. The dipping sauce was pretty tasty, but could have used a bit more spice. As I chowed down, I kept thinking about the boudin balls I've eaten in Louisiana, and there was just no real comparison. This is by far the best I've had in my area, but they still didn't stand up to those crazy folks in New Orleans. That dipping sauce, though? That was really a work of art. I'm not sure I would personally call it a creole mustard dipping sauce because it didn't have quite the complexity I expect from creole cooking; maybe a spicy mayo?
And that's where my mind took off. An aioli is an emulsion of garlic and olive oil; mayo is an emulsion of oil, egg, and seasoning. Take the egg out, add garlic, drop in that mustard seed, make a mustard aoili. Throw in some cayenne, salt, black pepper...now you're getting yourself into a spicy, garlicky aioli. With the flavor coming from that sauce, you can have a slightly underseasoned appetizer to dip in it. Now we're talking...
My second dish was the Louisiana seafood gumbo. To be honest, this was slightly disappointing. Not a lot of heat, not a ton of flavor. It was cooked well, which is important, but it was still not seasoned like I would expect from a Cajun restaurant. God, I miss that Louisiana food. Granted, they served it properly with that scoop of rice dropped into the cup of soup, but...it needs some more flavor. Luckily, there was a bottle of hot sauce at the table, so I threw some of that in and the soup was saved.
I have to say, I was uninspired by this particular dish. Sometimes that happens; you don't get an idea from everything you put in your mouth.
Speaking of uninspiring dishes, the roast beef po'boy was next. The fries were meh, the sandwich was meh; I was starting to grow disappointed by my experience.
But then, I used my spoon to scoop up some of that debris gravy. That was the winner. As of this writing, it has been seven weeks since I ate there, and I can still remember the flavor of that gravy. "Debris gravy" is a common topping for roast beef po'boys; it's made from a jus from the roast beef combined with the random odds and ends from the meat leftover after cooking that make it through the process of pulling the beef out. In addition to adding a little extra substance to the gravy, they also perk the flavor up quite a bit as, while the gravy reduces, the meat is still imparting flavor to the sauce. This got me into the mindset of starting to feel okay about leaving bits of food in my pan while I reduce my gravy instead of spending twenty fucking minutes pulling out every little bit of food first.
I also had a side of red beans and rice, but it, like the gumbo, was pretty uninspiring; however, I finished off my meal with a cup of crawfish etouffee. In short, I fucking love crawfish. I was very pleased that the etouffee had plenty of mudbugs in it, and it even had a great flavor. Definitely the best thing I ate at the restaurant.
It was so good, I had to pull in Bobby Hill to help. This dish initially sent me down the path of remembering my shrimp soup I like to make. I like to get the raw shrimp with the shells and heads still on, remove those to make a broth, then fry up the shrimp meat to make a soup. This etouffee made me realize what makes that soup incomplete: the broth. It needs to be thickened, it needs to be more spiced. I always knew it was lacking something, but now I had a better idea of what: cream, turmeric, and a goddamn roux to thicken it up right.
But that's it for the Ragin Cajun. I'm sure I'll get back there sometime before too long to see how they've improved. I'll be trying some other dishes next time to see what other ideas I can glean from them
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