The Cajun Foodie

So two nights ago, Lindsay and I were prepared to fulfill our lenten penance filled with heaping quantities of fried or boiled seafood (yeah, I know, what a sacrifice).  We quickly narrowed our options down to a couple of choices – Crescent City Brewhouse, Franky & Johnny’s, or Casamento’s.  Luckily for us, we chose the latter.  I saw this restaurant on the Food Network’s show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” and I was very intrigued.  We arrive at Casamento’s at 8:00 p.m. to see a line curling out of the door.  The restaurant is located on Magazine near the corner of Napoleon, right next to Miss Mae’s, which caused a good laugh as one of my friends once offered to buy a pretty young lady there a Milwaukee’s Best Light and – 5 years or so later – now they’re engaged to be married.

We walk into this joint to see the walls, floors and bars filled with decorative white tile that looks like it’s from the 1950′s.  The restaurant is about 10′ wide by 80′ long, jam packed with smiling patrons drinking Abita’s, busy servers and an oyster shucker, Mike Rodgers, who is apparently the five-time oyster shucking champion of New Orleans.  He greets everyone with a big smile and a lot of personality and as many oysters as you can eat while standing in line waiting for a table.  This is the kind of guy you want to greet your patrons.  The oysters are huge.  One side of the restaurant is filled with tables for two, while the other is occupied by a bar, behind which is countless bottles of Barq’s, Coca-Cola and other soft drinks, all in those little bottles I know you enjoy drinking from so much.  Between the diners on one side and the bar on the other were the patrons, getting hungrier by the minute.

Nearly 90% of the people I saw had some form of Abita beer in their hand or on their table, drinking from 6 oz. glasses, a huge plus in my book.  To go to the restroom, patrons need to walk through the kitchen and when I did I saw fresh seafood, old fry pots everywhere and the owner, CJ Gerdes in all his glory – cross earring, sleeveless t-shirt, Zubaz pants and an apron, going to town on every piece of raw seafood in sight. There is also resident cat near the restrooms named Midnight.  He weighs 22 lbs.  I’d guess he’s not on the mouse diet. There was not an ounce of pretentiousness to be found in the entire building.  I knew this restaurant was all about good food and nothing else.  Every single thing about this place contributes to the fact that I will definitely be back here.

8:45 p.m. – we finally get a seat in the main dining room.  After perusing the menu, we decide to start with a cup of the seafood gumbo, followed by a seafood platter and 1/2 an oyster loaf.  Our waitress comes up and happens to be the owner’s wife, Linda.  I ask if the seafood gumbo is good and she replies that it was her mother’s recipe, so we order a cup and a couple of Abita’s.  A few minutes later it is delivered to our table and it looked perfect.  The consistency was perfect, thick and brown.  It was filled with shrimp, lump crab meat and okra.  I knew then that this gumbo was not anything near what the tourist-y restaurants tried to pass off as local gumbo; I was 110% right.  The taste was phenomenal, just the right amount of salt, pepper and seafood.  Not too much rice.  These people aren’t interested in sacrificing quality for quantity.  The Gerdes’ know that having dishes like this pays in spades.  I’m not sure how you end up with something like this, but something tells me that Linda’s mother was roux-maker extraordinaire.  I’m thinking this roux was made with some sort of lard.  You don’t get this taste from something manufactured and I would go here for the gumbo alone.

Next, to the main courses.  Lindsay had the 1/2 oyster loaf, dressed, I had the seafoood platter, which consisted of shrimp, crab fingers, oysters, fried trout and french fries.  After the first bite of each different item, it was entirely clear to us that next to nothing in this restaurant has ever been frozen.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that these people don’t even own a freezer.  The oyster loaf was served on two pieces of what looked like grilled Texas toast (everything is bigger there – have you ever heard of North Dakota toast? Exactly.)  The oysters on this thing were huge and fried to perfection, with a moist, juicy center.  Some places overfry their oysters; not old CJ – this dude is at the top of his game.

The seafood platter was met with much anticipation.  There were about 4-6 oysters.  Since I have already mentioned them, I won’t bore you with talking about them again.  On second thought, these things are outstanding.  There was one trout fillet.  Three words – Veni, Vidi, Vici.  Coonass translation – it was thick.  It was fresh.  It was awesome (that’s what she said).  The fillet was maybe one inch thick, four inches wide and eight inches long.  It was the fish your buddy brags about catching.  There were about a dozen fried shrimp of the 16-20/pound variety.  The batter in which they were fried was light and fluffy and they were fried to perfection as well.  The shrimp obviously cooked through and through, but maintained a perfect texture.  Too many restaurants haven’t figured out how to get this right.  The crab claws were just okay.  We were happy with them, but there are better things here.  If the restaurant does own a freezer, it’s where they store the crab claws.  To their credit – there were tons of them on my platter.  I couldn’t move by the end of our meal, but if I could have, I am nearly certain that I would have given CJ a chest bump or a bash brothers forearm.  I may name my first-born boy or girl CJ.

Overall, I am huge-glad we went here.  We will definitely be back.  From what I hear, there is always a wait here, and for good reason.  This is the kind of place that makes New Orleans “New Orleans.”  I’m not sure that places like this exist outside of the Crescent City.  A couple of caveats – bring cash (no credit accepted), a lot of time and they are only open in months with an “R.”  No BS.  Casamento’s is taking part in French Quarter Fest in April and Po-Boy Fest later in the year also and I’m pretty damned excited about it.  You would do well to show up, stop by and dig in.

Signed,

ICP