As was expected, this place was rammed but we snagged two bar seats and waited for our server to come over...and waited...and waited. There were a bunch of them standing off to the side chatting with each other and looking all buff but none made eye contact with us. Yes, we are Torontonians but we don't bite....unless you keep us away from our freakin' food!!!!! We finally had to flag one down and put in our order. Thankfully, the food was way faster than the service. Blessings.
With buck a shuck on the menu, we couldn't pass on it, so we got a dozen oysters that were accompanied by about 4-5 different sauces. Fresh, local and plump, can't go wrong with that. Our second app was the crocodile and corn hush puppies. The croc had a lovely crunch on it, and the jalapeno jelly and the pickled salad were a perfect marriage of tangy and spicy. The hush puppies were the star of this dish for me. Hush puppies always remind me of doorstops that you could eat, flavourless doorstops, but these were little balls of heaven; they had everything - a banging moist filling, a crunchy exterior and a little bit of a kick. Thumbs up all around.
Since the apps were a hit, we decided to stick around for dinner to continue the festivities happening in my mouth.
Presenting the Gumbo Yaya - fried chicken, andouille sausage, smoked chicken and white rice. Woweeee, is what I wanted to say but this didn't even deserve a wow. Don't get me wrong, everything was cooked well, but the flavours didn't really go together. It all smelled and tasted smokey and bland. So, I basically paid for smokey soup.
On to the jambalaya, a southern classic. This rendition included smoked chicken, andouille sausage, prawns, ham and, of course, rice. Ugh, ugh, ugh is what first comes to mind. Too tomato(ey), lack of any discernible flavour and hastily put together, this is where jambalaya comes to die.
As if we weren't tortured enough, we ordered dessert. Two of them to be exact. Hey, you never know, this could be where they knock it out of the park!
The beignets were massive, like unnecessarily so AND we got three of them! They were awkward to eat and, because they were so oversized, I didn't care to eat more than half of one. I mean, how much fried dough can one person have? On top of that, the coffee anglais dip was watery and came in this tiny cup that we couldn't dunk the beignets into because they were so freaking big!!!! Is anyone else enraged by this? Did anyone even test this out?!
The pecan pie was also a disaster. It pretty much fell apart as soon as you took a fork to it since it was jam-packed with nuts. I appreciate that they didn't skimp on the pecans but baking is a science; a proper bake is all about the exact ratios to hit that sweet spot of flavour and the perfect consistency. Someone clearly fell asleep in pastry school. And if all that wasn't enough, the pastry was not buttery at all and which reminded me of the frozen variety. I have nothing against frozen pastry, I use them all the time (what up Tenderflake!) but this tasted like pastry that may have gotten freezer burn, was defrosted and then frozen again and then defrosted to make this special pie. Ick!
Next time I look up places for happy hour, I think I'll stick to happy hour. Lesson learned...the hard way.
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