Lake Charles • 337-214-2975
So, Chelsea and I had some time the other night and we decided to go check out a new salad place on Nelson Road named The Greenhouse Salad Co.
The place was cute on the inside. I would have thought it would have been a little more colorful as it’s a salad place, but I didn’t do the décor, so it doesn’t really matter.
We ordered The Chinatown, which came with spinach, oriental chicken, sunflower seeds, cabbage, edamame, red grapes, and chow mein noodles. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember the dressing we had other than it worked well with the salad.
The salad was large and all the ingredients tasted very fresh. The chicken was very tender and seasoned nicely.
I had a cucumber and mint water that was very refreshing, and I thought it was so much more enjoyable iced down.
They’re not recreating the wheel here; they’re making fresh salads at a more than reasonable price and giving us a nice healthy dining option. Go check them out.
Sampson Street • Westlake
There’s a new barbecue spot in Westlake called Jeanne’s Bourbon Street BBQ. It’s located on Sampson Street next to Burger King. You can’t miss it; it has to be the largest food trailer I’ve seen.
Jeanne and her husband are from Ohio. They have a very impressive mobile barbecue rig complete with a hideaway smoker sitting on the back of the trailer.
They cover all your needs. They have plate lunches, slabs of ribs, whole smoked chickens, and some badass pulled pork nachos. I, as you can imagine, had the pulled pork nachos. There was melted cheese over the chips; that was topped with a crazy amount of pulled pork. The pork was topped with jalapenos and their own BBQ sauce.
I couldn’t tell whether the barbecue sauce or the pork had a sweet taste. But combined with the jalapenos’ spiciness, there was a food explosion going on in my mouth.
We also had the brisket sandwich. It came on a nice bun that had a slight butter taste to it, and a side of coleslaw. They give you so much meat that you really can’t just pick the sandwich up; so I just used a fork, which worked out well because I wanted to eat the slaw on the brisket anyway.
The staff seem to get very busy with to-go orders for the plants. I suggest getting there early so you won’t miss out.
Lake Charles • 337-433-8085
I drive around a lot for work, and sometimes I notice places that clearly didn’t open the day before. Somehow I’ve passed them a dozen times.
I was driving down Opelousas Street because I-10 was backed up from another wreck in that S turn. I thought I was being inconvenienced by the detour. But I ended up stopping in at Full Dos for lunch.
I then went back, so I got two lunches in before I decided to talk about the venue.
The first day, I had smothered ribs over rice with collard greens and yams. Now the ribs were cooked to perfection, and there was a light seasoned gravy over the rice which I found filling, but not so heavy that I needed a nap. (Y’all know what I’m talking about).
Now, I’ve had some good greens, and I’ve had some not so good greens, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should never even try greens.
In this case, someone in the kitchen had a very good clue about what they were doing because I wished I had had more to eat. The greens weren’t bitter; they were tender and still had good color, which meant they didn’t have to cook them down too long to get the right texture. Also, they were seasoned just right.
The yams were chunky and had a nice flavor. But to be honest, I couldn’t tell if they were fresh or from a can. But if the truth be told, it wouldn’t have mattered because they were good nonetheless.
Full Dos has been there for six years. They have a new loyal customer in me.
On a personal note, I’ve been dealing with food in some aspect for my entire adult life — so, say about 25 years. I’ve worked for and with some amazing chefs, and I have learned a great deal about food. That’s why I love sharing my love of food.
I know how hard it is to take a simple idea and make it into something that people enjoy. I know that doesn’t happen overnight; there comes a lot of struggle to make these ideas work.
That’s why when I see someone take someone else’s great ideas and then portray them as their own creative masterpieces, I find that offensive. It’s one thing to have a recipe of something you like and make it your own while paying respect to a great idea. For instance, if there’s a sandwich on any menu in Lake Charles that has ham, turkey and roast beef with two cheeses, gravy and jalapeno mayo, then they’re paying respect to the Darrell’s Special, and that’s OK. But if you outright take a concept from someone else and only change it a bit, then shame on you, because deep down it’s disrespectful to the people who put in the work to create something great.
I know this seems random. But it’s an observation I’ve made firsthand, and it’s disappointing to see people praised for someone else’s work.
Eat local and break the chain!
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