Brandon's Cajun Cafe

Update: Brandon's Cajun Cafe went out of business in 2010.  We were sorry to see it go.


4215 S. Sherwood Forest
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
225-292-6262

Cuisine Rouge Rating:

4 plates

By: Chad

Whenever I learn about a new restaurant in town, I get excited. This is especially the case when it’s a locally owned establishment, and one that offers something different or unique. When I learned of Brandon’s Cajun Café my excitement over the newness was quickly extinguished by the word ‘Cajun’. Another Cajun restaurant in Baton Rouge isn’t what we need I thought. There are already a laundry list of places where one can get Cajun food, and as most of us know, none are as good as own grandmothers.

However I was quite pleasantly surprised by the new and interesting items on the menu. They take some standard Cajun staples and really rework them in innovative and interesting ways. For starters, the appetizer of Couyon Sushi is as tasty as it is unique. They take nori (the traditional flavorless seaweed wrap used for sushi), put boudin stuffing, crabmeat and avocado inside, then roll it up and slice it,top it with remoulade sauce, and dust it with cayenne pepper. It’s something that even people who aren’t fans of traditional sushi will enjoy.

Another great item on the menu is the boudin burger. Boudin is mixed with pepperjack cheese, formed into a pattie and grilled, then placed on a bun and topped with bacon and remoulade sauce. Very tasty. The rest of the menu is fairly straightforward Cajun eats, with items you would expect to see like fried seafood and etoufee. I sampled the etoufee and it was not that great, the gravy had a strange consistency, almost gelatinous. The flavor was good, but the rice was also a bit undercooked for my liking.

For dessert, they once again offer a little something different in the form of their red velvet bread pudding. Yep, red velvet cake is given the classic bread pudding treatment, resulting in a rather unattractive yet tasty glob of red goo, topped with vanilla ice cream. This dessert is definitely sweet and has great flavor, but could use some texture, perhaps in the form of nuts.

All in all, this restaurant impresses me with its innovative approach to Cajun cuisine. I think that with a few refinements this place can really stand out and make a name for itself. I look forward to seeing more innovative items on its menu.


Couyon Sushi



Red Velvet Bread Pudding

Bistro Byronz

5412 Government St.
225.218.1433
http://www.bistrobyronz.com

Cuisine Rouge Rating:

3.5 plates

by: Chad

In the restaurant world, terms used to describe an establishment are often thrown around, such as café, rotisserie, grill, or bistro. Rarely does the name truly fit the atmosphere as well as it does at Bistro Byronz. The simple, straightforward menu and quaint French style décor fit nicely together in a very casual yet refined setting.

The menu is a good one, with a great variety of choices including sandwiches, salads and lunch plates featuring everything from seared Asian style tuna to the French classic, cassoulet.

For our visit, we started out with the Bleu Cheese Chips. They make their own potato chips in house and for this dish, they pile them high and cover them with a creamy bleu cheese sauce laden with chunks of bleu cheese and topped with sliced green onions. If you like bleu cheese, this is a must have. The chips aren’t too thin, and have that kettle fried flavor. The crispy crunch of the chips combined with the tangy creaminess of the cheese make for a great combination of both texture and flavor.

My wife chose the Bistro Salad for her lunch, a tasty combination of Mandarin oranges, dried cherries and pecans on spinach with raspberry poppy seed dressing. She chose to add the chicken breast as well. When the salad arrived, she was quite pleased with her plate. First of all, the portion was very generous and could have easily served two. They absolutely did not skimp on any of the toppings. There were plenty of cubes of roasted chicken breast, toasted chopped pecans, dried cherries and mandarin orange slices. The raspberry poppy seed dressing, which she had served on the side so she could use it conservatively, was delicious. Sweet with a hint of sour which she concluded was red wine vinegar. Her one complaint was that the chicken lacked a lot of flavor and was relatively bland. Perhaps a hint of more seasoning on the chicken would have made a difference. However, she reported that the salad was pretty phenomenal on its own and was easily one of the best that Baton Rouge has to offer.

I ordered the Sesame Seared Tuna, prepared rare. Perhaps the menu item furthest from what one would consider bistro food, it had a distinct Asian quality to it. The tuna itself was very fresh, a generous 8 oz portion, crusted with sesame seeds and seared. The sesame seeds had a slightly burnt flavor, but something that is to be somewhat expected with a seared preparation. The tuna was topped with a sweet and sour glaze and drizzled with a wasabi based cream sauce, served atop a bed of thinly sliced cucumber ribbons. I found the tuna very tasty, cooked perfectly, and well seasoned. Personally I would have liked to see more of the wasabi cream sauce, but understood the need to use it sparingly to accommodate the average diner.

Typically I skip dessert these days, but the mere sight of Heavenly Hash cake on the menu quickly broke down my willpower. The base of the cake is chocolate sheet cake, topped with marshmallows and chocolate icing. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with a caramel sauce. The cake was a bit on the dry side, but was very tasty.

Overall, this a great place for a nice lunch in the mid-city area. Bistro isn’t just part of the name; it’s very descriptive of what’s inside.


Bistro Salad


Sesame Seared Tuna

Opie's Cajun Cafe

by: Wesley

http://www.opiescajuncafe.com/

I was looking for a good place to eat lunch in Mid-City this week, and my coworkers and I decided Opie’s Cajun Cafe would be a great place to chow down. This turned out to be a great decision!

We were promptly seated in the dining room, and a very friendly and attentive server took our drink and appetizer orders. The 3 of us split 2 appetizers - the crawfish pies, and the 10 piece BBQ chicken wings. The crawfish pies were about 2 bites big, filled with creamy crawfish and accompanied by a remoulade sauce. They were tasty and not greasy. As delicious as the pies were, I was more excited about the wings. The wings aren’t on the menu of Opie’s but are provided care of Sharky’s Wing’s, which is conveniently attached to Opie’s restaurant. The wings were lightly breaded and then deep fried, coated in a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, and then brought to the table with a cup of ranch dressing. These wings were so good that I didn’t need the ranch - they were delicious all on their own.

For our lunch, 2 of us split the blackened shrimp po-boy with fries, and our other lunch partner ordered the crawfish ravioli. The po-boy was not bad, and had great bread, but I was disappointed in the shrimp. They tasted good, but there were too few of them on the sandwich. The real star of the show was the crawfish ravioli. They were so rich and filling that he couldn’t finish them on his own, so he was obligated to share them with me. I was very impressed with what I tasted. The ravioli are stuffed with ricotta cheese and fried, then covered with a crawfish cream sauce. It’s a great combination of chewy, creamy, and savory. Did I mention this is a very rich dish? This is what I’ll be ordering for myself next time around - it was so good!

So to sum it all up, Opie’s has great food, good prices, and friendly staff. If you are looking for a GREAT place for a Cajun seafood lunch (with a chance of wings) you have to give Opie’s Cajun Cafe a shot! They also feature a full bar, and the attached Sharky’s Wings does larger orders for take out.