Pinch the Tail, Suck the Heads
By D.K. Crawford 02/01/2008
"Ya'll here for take out or dine in?" he said, and with every syllable there was a deep, southern drawl holding each word back slightly like a river slowly flowing around mounds of Mississippi mud. This familiar voice wore an apron that said in both Cajun French and English, "La chef n'est pas joyeaux; Il est ivre," or "The cook isn't happy; He's drunk."
"Where are you from?" I asked. He was from Opelousas, La. and grew up about 30 minutes from my hometown, Lafayette. We quickly discovered I have shopped for years at his relative's stores for boudin, cracklin and andouilli.
The menu exhibits both Creole and Cajun selections. There was shrimp, catfish and oyster po-boys, two kinds of gumbo, boiled shrimp, crawfish and blue crabs, étouffées, beignets and Café du Monde Chicory Coffee. Even turtle soup and frog legs appeared alongside Dixie and Abita beer selections.
The seafood gumbo we started with was blonde and used okra for thickener. There are several varieties of gumbo in the south. Some use okra or file' for thickener, some use roux, (a paste made out of flour and oil), and some combine two thickeners together. The very word gumbo is a Bantu African word that means okra so some feel it's imperative to a true gumbo.
When I prepare gumbo and get it from the Cajun areas of Louisiana, the roux is dark chocolate brown and makes the gumbo sludgy and rich with a toasted flavor. But often in New Orleans and Creole territory this lighter, blonde gumbo is preferred. There were bits of small scallops, Gulf shrimp, celery, onion and okra in it. It had a light cayenne spice - just enough really to get our attention. A piece of housemade garlic bread accompanied the bowl. Dipping the flat, soft crunchy butter-soaked bread into the gumbo was simply divine.
I had a shrimp po-boy and my sister the seafood platter with fried shrimp, oysters and a soft-shelled blue crab which one eats in its entirety. Ninety percent of the seafood used at La Louisianne Express comes directly from Louisiana. "Grandma always told me ya gotta start with the best ingredients," said the owner.
As seafood varies across the country, depending on the water, species and depth at which it's caught, the only way to truly get the flavors of the South is to import the actual seafood, and these dishes had those flavor differences. The shrimp is more briny, the oysters more substantial and there is nothing quite like fresh soft-shell crab.
"That's one damn good oyster," said my sister emphatically as she bit into the fried gray blob. She'd been searching for oysters locally and failed to find one to her liking until this day. Her crab was cooked perfectly, the batter was a good thickness and had that somewhat crisp, somewhat chewy appeal that soft-shells have as you bite through their shell.
My po-boy tasted familiar. The homemade garlic bread and large gulf shrimp were packed on with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. The Gulf shrimp with their salty sea flavor popped. The battering of the shrimp and oysters wasn't the standard used in Louisiana, but rather a thicker, tempura batter.
We also shared bread pudding with whiskey sauce and a cup of chicory coffee. The bread pudding was pure sin! It again highlighted the delightful house-baked French bread. It was spongy, rich and dense and tasted like eggnog-soaked French toast with a hint of warm whiskey poured on top.
Next week's menu will feature fresh boiled crawfish and crawfish étouffée and scampi. Also five varieties of (famous) king cakes from Gambino's in New Orleans will be served as Fat Tuesday nears, and beignets are on the way!
What I found at La Louisianne Express was excellent Louisiana seafood, some quite authentic Cajun and Creole fare and some twists. It sounded like home and for the most part tasted like home. It wasn't exact but it was darn close, cher!
La Louisianne Express 1854 Cochran St. Simi Valley 805.582.2026 $1.95 - 17.95
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