Cajun Food + Digits

During my recent visit to Louisville, KY for work some of my colleagues and I opted to venture out for lunch on our own rather than dining at the convention center.  One of my colleagues had previously visited J. Gumbo's in downtown Louisville (a very short walk from the Kentucky International Convention Center) and made a compelling recommendation to the rest of us.  She was so right about the quality of the food that we returned there for a second visit during the week...yep, that good!

Having family heritage from Cajun Land in southern Louisiana I am sometimes skeptical of gumbo.  Over the years I've been pleasantly surprised and overwhelmingly appalled at what different restaurants will serve as a gumbo.  So I made my initial order with some skepticism.  To help tame down the skepticism I did order a "split decision"...for $1 over the price of the more expensive of your two options you can get two medium bowls of food rather than one large bowl of a single item.  My two items? Well, one had to be Gumbo (just to try it) and the other was the Voodoo Chicken.

First the Gumbo: well it wasn't Aunt Mary's (best I've ever had, with close honorable mentions for my dad's other sisters) but it was very close!  Let's just say that gumbo coming anywhere close to being compared with Aunt Mary's (in a positive light) is gumbo that gets a thumbs up from me.  Second the Voodoo Chicken: if you can't handle spicy then DON'T order this because it is HOT HOT HOT.  I had to actually tame it down some by mixing in some sour cream.  Despite its heat its flavor is AWESOME.  I strongly recommend it!!

For our second visit two days later I did a single order of Crawfish Etouffee.  It was light and creamy and served over rice.  It could have a used a bit more crawfish mixed in, but overall a wonderful flavor!!  The highlight, however, of this visit wasn't the food (which was great).  The highlight was the flirtacious attention from one of the waitresses.  Well, those who know me know that I can flirt back and let's just say, "whoot, whoot", that SunShyne gave me her "digits".  It's her "birthday month" and she is just having fun celebrating.  She was lots of fun and a great help at J. Gumbo's.  I'll definitely be back again.

Until next time, happy eating is only an adventure away.