N’awlins Creole Café
1118 N State Road
Avon, IN 46123
http://www.nawlinscreolecafe.com

I enjoy Cajun/Creole food quite a bit and am always looking for a new place to go.  I stopped by N’awlins Creole Café based on the recommendation of a trusted friend and I was really looking forward to this.  It was all-you-can-eat catfish night for $13.99 and I was tempted to give that a try, but I decided to stick to one of the standard menu items.

What I Ate:  Crawfish Etouffee; $9.99.  It is served with a side (I choose mac and cheese) and a salad.

The salad was straight iceberg with cheese and a slice of tomato.  I tried their ranch dressing and to be honest, I could make this at home and I really didn’t see how this fit into the meal.  Nothing special here, so let’s move on.

When I ordered the etoufee, they asked me on a scale of one to ten how spicy I would like it and I said six.  The crawfish etouffee was a sneaky heat on the back end of the bite.  There wasn’t a lot of flavor going on here and the consistency was thinner than I like it.  The etouffee was served over a bed of rice that was under cooked.  A few pieces stuck in my molars.

The Mac and Cheese was better, but still off.  It needed salt and was cooked too long and the noodles did not hold their shape.  My dining partner got the Jambalaya and I found that to be bland as well.  Service was also hit and miss.  It was slow enough to cash out that after about ten minutes, I asked the server to bring my check.  My water was empty most of the time as well.

Would I Buy It Again?  No and it pains me to say it.  This could be a cool place, but between the inattentive service and lackluster meal, the only reason that I would go back is that they are an independent in a city of chains.

-wibia

Gumbo a Go-Go!
1420 West 86th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46260
Open: M-Sa 11-8
317-337-9422

I can only write Gumbo a Go-Go so many times, so from here on out, I am calling it GAGG.

Every reader has a restaurant like this in their city. I never hear any rants/raves and the parking lot is never full. They are under the radar.  Ask most people form Indy about cajun food and they will say Yats! and then…ahh…ummm…

After my Yats! post, a reader sent me an e-mail and said give GAGG a try. It is close to work, so I said why not.  Chalkboard menu with about twelve options consisting of Vodoo Chicken, Bourbon Chicken, three Etouffee’s, Red Beans and Rice, Jumbalaya, Creole Chicken, and four veggie options.   Odd pricing system as it is $6.00 for a regular, $7 for a combo (same size as regular) and $9 for full entree (two choices).

What I Ate: Full Entree, 1/2 Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, 1/2 Crawfish Etouffee. $9.00

First bite was the crawfish etouffee. Good, but I wasn’t wowed.  It had very subtle flavors, so I added hot sauce, a little salt and pepper and we were back on track.  I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either.   I noticed a Chili Cheese Etouffee on the menu and I might try that next time.   However, it is somewhat frustrating to see that on the menu since true cajun cooking uses very little cheese.  Definitely a Midwestern adaptation.

I was unimpressed with my first few bites, so I moved on to the Gumbo.  Awesome.  Really nice flavors and the chicken was plentiful and it just tasted right.  Perfect cold weather dish.  I quickly understood why they called the restaurant Gumbo a Go-Go instead of Etouffee A Go-Go.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, easily.  The $9.00 portion was a lot of food and I could be happy with $6.00 gumbo all day long. They had a very steady lunch crowd and I got to sneak a few looks at the Voodoo Chicken and other entrees and all of it looked good.  The owner was really friendly and pretty funny.  With quick service and honest prices, this is a great combination.  Also, they were playing early Clapton blues until the next CD came on and it was Ottis Redding.  +10 on the music selections.

-wibia

Yats
Indianapolis, IN

http://www.yatscajuncreole.com/

It is difficult to imagine that this blog has been in existence for about eleven months and we have yet to say one word about Yats!  Most people in Indy will breeze past this review because they know that it rocks, but let’s follow normal protocol here.  Long story short on the history:  Joe owns the place, it has four locations and does quickserve, cheap, tasty cajun/creole food.

I was in the neighborhood and stopped in at the 96th Street location.  First time to Yats?  Get the full flavor and head to the original store in Broad Ripple.  The menu changes daily, but it does have a few standards. You can check online beforehand to see what is up with the menu for that day.

Chili Cheese Etouffe

What I Got:  Chili Cheese Etouffe with Crawfish/White Chicken Chili and extra bread.  About $7.00

IMO, the Chile Cheese Etouffe with Crawfish is their flagship dish.  Creamy and just well balanced with a proper amount of crawfish sprinkled in.  If you bought the Channel 13 Cookbook last year, this recipe was in there.  Really tasty and a must have.  As with most of the items on the menu, this was served over rice.

The white chicken chili was nice as well.  There was a ton of shredded chicken.  I would really like to highlight some of the flavors, but I can’t because I scarfed it down so quickly that it waved at my tongue on the way down.  Yats bread is ridiculously good as well.  Buttered with some cajun seasoning that I would really like to know the mix of spices that they use.  If you know what makes up the mix, hit me up on e-mail or Twitter.  If I have been fooled by Tony Chachere’s, please kill me.

Look, I have never been to New Orleans, though I will probably go in 2010.  I am not sure how authentic it is, but frankly I don’t give a shit because I love their food.  If you are in Indy for a few days, you have to give Yats a try.  It is truly one of my favorite places in Indianapolis to eat.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes and Hall of Fame.

Fun Yats Story:

About four years ago I was in Yats in Broad Ripple at about 2:00.  Joe, the owner, was walking around busing tables and this conversation followed:

Joe:  How was lunch?

wibia:  Great, when are you going to put the white chicken chili on the menu?  It is my girlfriend’s favorite item.

Joe:  Do you have about 10 minutes to spare?

wibia:  Yup

Joe (10 minutes later arriving at my table with a to go order of white chicken chili):  Here you go man, this one is on the house and I hope she enjoys it.

I mean, who has this customer service model anymore?   Not only is the food excellent, every person there seems to be cut from the same cloth, loves the food and loves what this represents.

-WIBIA

I was in Greenville, NC on biz and had the opportunity to grab breakfast without the client that I was traveling with.   When in south, I think chicken and biscuits for breakfast.  I had about 15 minutes to eat and I saw a Bojangles, so I decided to give it a try.

Started in 1977, Bojangles does the cajun chicken thing.  Think Popeyes. Normal fast food ordering system, a few combos, sides, etc.   Right at the counter, there was a tray that had tater rounds and some fruit sticky bun type items.  I was thinking that I was not sure how fresh the taters were.  Honestly, I don’t like to see my fast food before it hits my tray.

What I Got:  Cajun fillet biscuit combo.  About $4.00.

As far as taste, there were some cajun spices on the chicken breast, more than you would find at McDonald’s, however it didn’t have a lot of punch.  I found the chicken fillet to be a little salty as well.  My biggest complaint is that the fillet was really thin and dry.

The biscuit was pretty standard fast food.  Not even close to the king of morning fast food biscuits: Hardee’s.  Combine a dry biscuit with a dry fillet and the result was pretty dismal.

As you can see in the picture, you only get four tater rounds as a side.  There were very average and not even worth me talking about.

Would I Buy It Again:  No. Maybe I caught them at a bad time and one would only assume with this being regional fast food that they have a pretty solid following, but after this meal, I can’t imagine why.

Also, they had Christian music playing.  I just can’t listen to that at 6:00 am…actually ever.

-WIBIA

Everyone knows about Hooters wings.  They are breaded and up until recently were available in just the normal flavors of naked, mild and hot.  But, Hooters has recent debuted some new wing flavors such as Cajun, Samurai, Spicy Garlic, Parmesan Garlic and BBQ.  WIBIA and I decided to make a visit for $10.99 All You Can Eat Wing night (this is a running promotion on all Wednesdays) on a recent Wednesday night to give a couple of these new flavors a shot.

And since it is Wednesday and some of you may be having these same thoughts of going, here’s our “timely” review:

Samurai Wings

First up was the Samurai wings.  These wings were the standard Hooters breading coated in a layer of teriyaki sauce.  What was odd about this sauce is that it was VERY thick and mildly sweet, yet somehow also very bland.  Personally, I thought these wings were just okay, but if you don’t want to have sauce everywhere and don’t generally like thick, sweet sauces, this is not something that you want to order.

Cajun Wings

Next up were the Cajun wings and these were unlike any wing that Hooters serves.  Normally, Hooters wing breading is very compact and tightly held together.  These wings had a flaky and greasy breading.  It was so greasy in fact that WIBIA was using paper towel and squeezing the grease out of the wings before he ate them.  That’s not exactly the most appealing visual to have before you eat the wings, but hey, that’s why we try these things for you!

Anyway, despite the disgusting visual, I will say the taste wasn’t all that bad.  You could obviously tell that they had used one of those spicy/hot dried creole seasonings like you would buy at the grocery store, but the taste of the seasoning was not overpowering at all.  I felt odd sitting at Hooters eating these wings because this is definitely not something that is normally on their menu and they just seemed out of place.  Despite this, the taste was somewhat appealing.

Would I Buy It Again? If I was there on another night that was not all you can eat wing night and was only having a regular meal, then I would not buy these again.  If I was there for all you can eat wing night and had the option of mixing it up with different flavors with no additional repercussions (a higher bill), then I would maybe order a plate of these just to fulfill my curiosity.

Regardless, I will still go back to Hooters because there’s one thing that you can’t match anywhere and that’s the old reliable hot wings.  Often imitated, but never duplicated, the Hooters hot wings are the best.

Hot Wings

WIBIA can add his feelings in the comments because I know he had a differing opinion on at least one of these flavors, so you can check that out once he posts.

-IndianapolisEater