Okay, so I know the reviews have been a bit more scarce to start the New Year, but that is not because the “Fat Foodie” has eaten out fewer times, it is because I have eaten at many of the same fine places I have shared with you in the last month since the beginning of the blog.
What I did realize is that it is a huge undertaking to put out twenty plus reviews in a month!
That being said, on to the food!
Tonight, we went to a place that we have never dined in before, but the other couple with us had said it was very good, so we decided to give it a try. The style of the food is Cajun/New Orleans and albeit I have never been one who is in love with more seasoned food, I believe my palate has expanded quite a bit from years ago. For many who don’t understand my lack of “sophistication” with spices, it has to do in being raised in a household in which my father had a heart attack when I was still fairly young; thus, all of our food was cooked rather blandly to adhere to his dietary restrictions.
The French Quarter Bistro is in a quaint part of Royersford and has an ample sized bar as well as dining room. The menu is rather extensive with a lot of cocktail and beer choices as well as extremely plentiful on all of the food available.
I began my meal with a cocktail ($6) which was a mixture of some various fruit juices and sour mix. It was fairly unique tasting, but quite good. One of the members of our party chose the beer special which was Magic Hat for $3. My other companions had respectively iced tea and a pomegranate martini. I am not one who likes martinis generally, but this was absolutely a great drink with very good flavor.
All of the food sounded great as described on the menu so I split an appetizer with one of my companions—this was the fried tomato appetizer which was described on the menu as “Fried tomatoes with lump crabmeat and topped with a chipotle remoulade”. This appetizer was tremendous. There was a nice amount of crabmeat served with the fried tomatoes over some greens. The remoulade accentuated the dish perfectly.
This appetizer was relatively small since we were splitting it so I also ordered a crock rather than the bowl size of the gumbo. Any New Orleans style restaurant needs a good gumbo if it is to be valued as truly authentic. This crock of gumbo ($4.50) was outstanding. This soup was a perfect blend of spices and “up there” for my temperature tolerances, but was truly a gem. The gumbo had great consistency and was wonderful with the andouille sausage, crab and rice.
Like any true “Foodie” might do to conserve eating space since I had the gumbo and the fried tomatoes, I asked not to be served the dinner salad. The other members of my party all had the salad and it appeared to be a nice blend of lettuce almost like a spring mix. The salad looked fresh, but again I did not partake. I should also mention that the appetizers were accompanied by homemade cornbread which was outstanding. The bread was moist enough to eat without any butter, but that just wouldn’t be this “Fat Foodie’s MO”.
My main course was a real winner. This was the Louisiana Skillet Fried Chicken ($16) which is described on the menu as a battered fried chicken breast smothered in a mushroom cream sauce--served with mashed potatoes and maque choux. This was arguably one of the best entrees I have had in a long time. The chicken was done to perfection and the sauce was delicious. Both the potatoes and the maque choux were outstanding as well. For those of you who are not familiar, maque choux is corn with green peppers, tomato and onion with a hint of garlic and celery. Again, the entire entrée was delicious!
One of my companions began her meal by splitting an order of the Cajun popcorn crawfish ($8). I sampled this and concurred with her conclusion that this was an awesome appetizer. The crawfish was served with a nice creole mustard . Her main course was the blackened tuna ($19). The tuna was fairly moist and was accentuated nicely with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and spicy green beans. This was a very nice entrée for the money and tasted great.
Another person at our table ordered for her entrée the Slow Cooked Pulled Pork ($12) which came with mashed potatoes and the maque choux. I sampled the pork as well and was impressed with this dish too. The pork was a perfect blend of sweet vs. spice and had great consistency and tenderness.
My other companion chose a special which included the crock of gumbo and the Shrimp and Andouille Jambalaya ($20 for the special). I took a taste of this dish as well and again agreed with my companion that this was unbelievable. My fellow companion is one who I would classify as a “foodie” as well and he took home a nice sized portion from his meal.
Now at this point, I hope I have conveyed that there was a lot of food and it was all good. Now most people might have called it an evening, but this “Fat Foodie” had to sample the desserts. Although I was very interested in the Bourbon Pecan Pie, I didn’t order this for the sake of the calories if you can believe that. I opted instead for the Bananas Foster Bread Pudding ($6) which was remarkable. This bread pudding had a perfect blend of banana and the sauce was phenomenal. One of my companions ordered crème brulee ($6) which she stated was delicious and done to perfection-- I did not sample! One of my other companions ordered the Banana Caramel Fried Cheesecake ($6) which she also stated was delicious. Again, I didn’t sample this one, but it looked great!
Dinner for four people with drinks was $147 before tax and tip, but well worth it! This place is quaint and may not look like much, but the food is worth coming for again!
Overall 4.5 Brownies
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