This is a grilled beef tenderloin with Goji Berry-Red Wine Reduction, Three-Potato Hash, and Locally (Florida) sourced Butternut Squash Risotto.
Category Archives: Steak
Review – Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen – Multiple Locations in Texas and Other States
Click here to see my review on Yelp.
Let me start by saying that my five star review extends to all Pappadeaux locations that I have been to. Service is consistently good, the food is excellent, and they’re consistently top notch. And I’ve been to multiple locations–Chicago, Cincinnati, and of course, multiple ones in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston…. you name it. I’ll probably replicate this review in a few other locations which I have been to.)
Pappadeaux is arguably THE Pappas restaurant that has scaled the best throughout the US. (With the success of Pappadeaux, I’m actually quite surprised that Pappas seafood house hasn’t scaled more. However, the Pappas family is known for their ridiculous attention to detail, and it shows–it certainly pays off.) The reason I’m given that Pappas seafood house hasn’t ventured outside of the Houston metro area is that they want to be able to have fresh fish from the gulf for that restaurant concept daily. However, I’ve never had anything less than 100% outstanding at any of their locations. This is further shocking as I feel that I would think that the Cajun feel of Pappadeaux is more regionally bound to the Louisiana / Texas / Deep South. However, they seem to pack them in up in Ohio as well!
Anyhow, enough background, on to the good stuff. Let’s talk food. I’ve personally had probably most of the things on their menu, but I’ll write about the ones that are standouts in my mind notable enough in my mind that are worth mentioning.:
(Also, note that the portions are generally HUGE!!)
APPETIZERS:
Seafood Fondeaux (i.e. – Seafood fondue): With apologies to Monty Python and the Meaning of Life: “IT’S VERRRY GOOD AND IT’S VEERRRRY RICH.” Mmmmm, mmmm. It’s amazing. Probably not the best appetizer to get on a diet, however. But, it’s absolutely wonderful. I’ll warn you–it’s very large, and I doubt it would be easy to re-heat, so I’d either make sure you’ve got enough folks to chow it down, or make a meal of it.
Fried Alligator: I know–you probably think this is weird. Jump in with both feet–it’s like chicken but I think even more tasty. But each time I’ve had the fried alligator, it has been done perfectly with a fantastic tangy sauce to go with it.
Oysters on the Half Shell: This is one of the best places to get Oysters as well. (Being fair, I’m not a huge oyster buff.) In any case, if you like oysters, these won’t disappoint.
ENTREES:
Ginger Salmon: I never liked grilled fish and ESPECIALLY grilled Salmon… until I had it at Pappadeaux. Now, I can’t get enough of it. This is fantastic. Also, to try some different sauces, Pappadeaux will sell you (for a slight up-charge) some different sauces that you can try on the salmon. These include sauces from other dishes. I recommend trying the Lafayette Sauce, the Pontchartrain sauce, and the Diablo sauce. But why would you get the Ginger Salmon with Diablo sauce when you could get the…
Salmon Diablo: I’ve seen this as a special, and it’s amazing. It’s salmon with their diablo sauce on it. Think a cream sauce with crab meat, crawfish, and pico de gallo. Simply amazing.
Pasta Mardi Gras: Awesome. Very rich and decadent. This dish will kill your diet. This is basically a cajun seafood linguine with a cream sauce.
Stuffed Shrimp: Simply put, a feast. This is probably the best stuffed shrimp I have had. (One dish I had in Providence, Rhode Island came close.)
SIDE DISHES:
Mushroom Risotto: Absolutely phenomenal. It just melts in your mouth. And I don’t even really like mushrooms all that much. It’s worth the upcharge.
Dirty Rice: I’m a fan of the Dirty Rice as well.
(Also, I’ve never had them, but the Cheese Grits with the Andouille Sausage look phenomenal.)
DESSERTS:
I’ve had multiple desserts, but the banana pudding is a stand-out in my mind.
DRINKS:
They have Abita Turbodog on tap. This is essential for a true cajun experience.
I believe they also have Shiner Bock on tap.
And, most amazingly, I believe this is true in other states as well. That’s especially rare I find for Abita.
Pappas Restaurant Group–you’ve done it again. Pappadeaux is another epic concept. It’s easily one of my favorite restaurants. Check it out if you’ve never been.
Review – N9NE Steakhouse – Las Vegas, Nevada
(Five stars, going on seven. Read below.)
Click here to see my review on Yelp.
I’m not sure how I haven’t reviewed N9NE yet. This is inexcusable. I thought I had.
I’ve only eaten here once earlier this year. However, this was the greatest meal of my life. And folks, I’m 29, I’ve got a food blog, and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. I’d give it six—nay. SEVEN stars if I could.
One may say that it may have been the company of folks I had at the table may have added unfairly to the experience (We went to N9NE as one of the stops during my epic Vegas bachelor party experience in March 2012). Or, admittedly, I wasn’t expecting N9NE to be as awesome as it was. But I don’t think so on any of these accounts… The food was just incredible. And Chef Barry was awesome. More on that later.
We started off at the bar, where we had a couple of drinks and waited for our table. the place was PACKED and it was clear that it wouldn’t e easy to get a table… However, we had a reservation.
As we were seated, the folks in my party immediately made a few observations of the folks sitting around us. We had a number of famous folks sitting around us… for some reason on that evening, they were mostly sports players–everything from UFC fighters to retired hockey players.
While all this is nice, on to the food. We had a bunch of appetizers and the house bread (I remember specifically the pretzel-roll style house bread and the thinly-sliced Sashimi appetizer. Both were excellent. I was advised by one of my hosts that the Lobster Bisque soup was to die for. However, I don’t particularly care for lobster. I decided to go (against his advice) for the Onion soup.
Perhaps as foreshadowing of the awesome within, the soup was presented to me in a beautiful All-Clad pan. Classy. Everyone else started on their Lobster Bisque, and I dug in on my solo onion soup.
Two words – Holy crap. It was the best soup I had in my life. I warn you–you’ll never like any other kind of onion soup ever again. Perhaps you shouldn’t get it… It will spoil you for anything else. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I ultimately did try the Lobster Bisque. It was damn good, also. And I’ll re-iterate–I don’t really care for lobster. But it was still damn good. I let my host that was raving about the lobster bisque try the onion soup. He (who doesn’t normally care for onion soup) actually changed his mind and said that he liked the onion soup a bit better.
On to the main course. I ordered the 8 ounce filet. It was of the top 5 steaks I’ve ever had. Be sure to get a nice steak sauce to go with it… I think I either had the peppercorn or the horseradish. But yes, the steak was cooked perfectly and outstanding.
Finally, on to dessert! We had two dessert dishes that we sampled–the S’mores and the Donuts. They were both awesome… I especially loved the presentation of the S’mores. In a nutshell, dessert was just as impressive as the courses that came before it.
After the meal, I only had one request. I wanted to meet the chef. Luckily, my host happened to know Chef Barry and was able to pull him away for a couple of minutes. As icing on the cake, let me tell you–Chef Barry’s one in a million. He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. I had an opportunity to take my picture with him and his famous “door.” (If you have the means–it’s an awesome photo opp…) I wish I had thought to ask Chef Barry for his autograph.
In short, this is the kind of restaurant which I’d consider taking a vacation contingent upon eating here again. Sure, it’s quite expensive, but it is OUT of this WORLD. You’ll get your money’s worth… And you were probably going to go blow all that cash in a slot machine anyway. Skip it and savor the flavors of N9NE. Shame on you if you go to Vegas and don’t eat there. Make your reservations as far in advance as possible.
