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New Orleans or N'Awlins is known for its Louisiana Creole cuisine, which combines French, West African, Amerindian, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian influences. The blend of culture screams deliciousness. How can you go wrong? Seafood is a staple in this type of cuisine, no doubt due to the proximity to the Mississippi river and the Gulf. So it was exciting that the Urban Foodie's first taste experience was at Deanie's (@DeaniesSeafood)!
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| Deanie's interiors have a casual diner look |
At Deanie's, we were welcomed promptly and were seated quickly by a friendly hostess. After we ordered, the waitress served up a complimentary appetizer of boiled potatoes with butter. The spicy kick in the red skin of the potatoes was a welcomed surprise to an otherwise plain looking dish.
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The first dish that came out was the charbroiled oysters. They were charbroiled to perfection giving the oysters in a half shell a crunchy surface with gooey Romano cheese beneath and flavours of garlic, butter and spices. Delicious. They oysters were better alone than with the French bread... but the bread was useful in sopping up the juices in the pan.
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| Deanie's Charbroiled Oysters |
The barbecue shrimp dish was presented nicely with a slice of lemon and a French baguette. The baguette was superior to the bread that was offered with the oysters as it had a crispier exterior and a warm, fluffy interior - even better for sopping up the New Orleans blend of seasonings in the oily broth that hugged the succulent, jumbo, head-on shrimp. One of my favourites at Deanie's - just peel and dip!
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| BBQ Shrimp |
Next came the crawfish duo. The crawfish tails were served two ways, fried and in an étouffée with a side of fries and coleslaw. The batter of the fried crawfish was not greasy but it was difficult to taste the crawfish. However, the non-fishy crawfish in the étouffée was sweet and meaty. Étouffée is a type of stew served over rice. The word étouffée is French for smother, which describes the process of cooking in a covered pan over low heat with a small amount of liquid. An étouffée starts with a roux, a base thickening agent that consists of equal portions of fat and flour. The roux in this étouffée at Deanie's was cooked with onions, peppers, celery and garlic to a brown colour consistency which corresponds to a deeper, richer flavour profile. It was fantastic! Though the coleslaw was forgettable as it had too much mayo.
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| Crawfish Duo |
The service at Deanie's was solid. The waitress was friendly, helpful, and attentive. I was never able to get to the bottom of my soda as it was refilled time and time again - another one of those perks that I find is always executed better in the United States than Canada. God Bless America! :)
Deanie's was a great start to a four day food tour excursion!
