Wednesday, September 05, 2007

L.A. Cajun

Please note: That is L.A. as in Los Angeles, not LA as in Louisiana...

My comments about the Ragin' Cajun Cafe last night had me thinking of a funny dining experience about 15 years ago. My cousin from Baton Rouge, Tara, was living down in Redondo Beach. She was the one who had first taken me to the Ragin' Cajun. I just loved going to visit her because we often ate there.

On this particular trip, she had already told me before I arrived that she wanted Cajun food. I was excited thinking we were going to our usual haunt. But no. Ms. T had other plans. It seems this new Cajun restaurant had opened right around the corner from her house and she wanted to go there.

"But Steve's food is so good," I protested.

I lost that argument. We ended up at the other place.

The decor was very chi-chi... not a good sign in my book.

We ordered. I got some shrimp thing and she got the etouffee (a sort of rich stew made of vegetables and seafood and served over rice).

The food came after a really long wait. Mine was o.k. but left me wishing I had been more insistent about going to the Ragin' Cajun. But Tara's etouffee was awful!

She called the waiter over.

"Excuse me. This etouffee is terrible." She hands the plate to the waiter.

"Oh no, this is how it's supposed to taste." He puts the plate back down in front of her (!)

"No it's not. I grew up on etouffee." She hands the plate back.

"But our chef studied for years in New Orleans. "{He pronounced it Or LEANS, making both of us cringe.} He put her plate back again.

She picked it up and handed it to him once more as she said, "Tell him to go back and study some more. This is NOT etouffee! Now, bring me a menu or bring me a manager."

Needless to say, we never ate there again!

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3 comments:

Annie said...

They didn't fool you two though I suspect the waiter had been fooled by the cook.

Anonymous said...

so, how did the story end? did you get a free meal, or did the chef come out to argue with her?

CreekHiker / HollysFolly said...

Annie, Yes, that waiter was well-fooled.

Janet... free meal?? Hell, we just wanted out of there! We did pay. But the whole wait staff sort of stared us down as we left.