I decided not to go for three bad articles in a row, so I’m holding it for next week and going for a bit better one this week. Last week we visited the Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant located at 3208 Amnicola Highway in the former Papa’s Country Style location.
They certainly seem to be doing a great business as they were packed. We arrived at a very good time as there were only a few people waiting, but the line certainly grew.
We noticed upon entering there is a chalkboard with the daily specials and one of them got Wayne’s attention – Crawfish Pie.
This was an appetizer and you are served two small pies so we decided to give it a try, along with brew-battered mushrooms ($5). I don’t know how much the pie was as they use handwritten tickets without prices and you only get a receipt showing the final amount. The mushrooms were huge! They weren’t bad, but they didn’t really stand out as far as taste.
The Crawfish Pie was delicious. It was so good that Wayne told them they should consider making it pot pie-sized and serving it as an entrée with a side salad.
Deciding on an entrée took a bit more time. There were so many delicious sounding items, we wanted to try them all, but of course, that would have been impossible. We did the next best thing and ordered the seafood platter ($15).
Causing our indecisiveness were Crawfish Etouffee, Shrimp Creole, Creole Red Beans with Andouille Sausage, Crawfish Pasta, Jambalaya, and several other items. Blue Orleans also has Creole Sausage, Shrimp, Oyster and Crawfish Po-Boy sandwiches. There were also four salads with Fried Oyster Salad ($9) tempting me.
The seafood platter was piled high with a mix of shrimp, crawfish, oysters and catfish. Of course I knew the crawfish would be small, but I was disappointed in the size of the oysters and shrimp. The shrimp was close to the little salad shrimp size, not the jumbo shrimp I would have expected. Why is it that the best shrimp in town is at a little hole-in-the-wall place on Cherokee Boulevard? Everything was served very hot and crisp. The catfish was delicious and was a nice size (two pieces).
There is one recommendation I would make regarding this platter – add cole slaw. It is served with a large amount of fries, which we really didn’t eat with all the fried seafood, and cole slaw would certainly have been a nice accompaniment, as well as complement.
The meal is also served with Crawfish Fritters. These could have been a bit crisper on the outside, but we found them to be quite delicious. They are much moister on the inside as compared to hushpuppies and we found that a refreshing change.
They have several desserts priced at $4, including Bread Pudding, Cheesecake and sorbet.
Hours for Blue Orleans are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. for lunch and 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. for dinner. Hopefully they will begin opening for Saturday dinners soon. It is wheelchair accessible, as well as a non-smoking restaurant.
CdoJanet@ChattanoogaDineOut.com
http://www.Janet-Wilson.com