BLUE DOG CAFE

609 Ryan St. • Downtown Lake Charles • 337-491-8880

A few weeks back, my friend Joseph Whitley, the General Manager of the Blue Dog Cafe, sent me an invite for their soft opening. I have never tried the food there before, so I was happy to accept.

Chelsea and I invited our friends, Steven and Linda Almond, to join us to see what the Blue Dog folks were able to do with the old Sha Sha location, and, besides, I had heard they had a nice menu.

The first thing that we all noticed when we first walked in was that the floor plan had opened up so much, you really didn’t realize how cluttered it was before, with all decor. The Blue Dog photos were all over the walls, and I enjoyed seeing ones that I had not seen before.

Brad Goins has already written an amazing piece on the owners, and what brought the Blue Dog Cafe to Lake Charles, so I am going to focus on what I know, which is food, and encourage you to read Brad’s article for all the back story you would possibly
need.

Smoked Duck Quesadillas — smoked duck, jalapenos and pepperjack cheese, sandwiched between two tortillas, lightly toasted, and served with sour cream and salsa fresca.

The duck quesadilla had a slight, but pleasant, smoky flavor. Sometimes, too much smoke can cause you to lose the other flavors of the dish, which can result in the dish not combining its flavors correctly, and even though you may enjoy it, the flavor you’re getting may not be the one that was intended. This was a good and simple spin on a tried and true appetizer.

Portabello Pizza — large mushroom caps, extra virgin olive oil, herbs, shrimp, roasted peppers, jalapenos, roasted garlic, artichoke hearts and red onions, topped with feta pepperjack and parmesan cheeses, broiled and set in a beurre blanc sauce.

This was a surprising appetizer, as I didn’t order it, so I thought it was just going to be a regular pizza with all the toppings; when it came out, and I realized that the mushroom itself was serving as the pizza base, I was delighted. This was a fun and flavorful dish that I would for sure order again.

Crabmeat Tortilla Salad — smoked crab meat and mixed spring lettuce, surrounded by crab claws, tomatoes and shredded cheese, topped with an Asian sesame ginger vinaigrette.

Hands down one of my two favorite dishes that any of us had for the evening. I could not believe how much crab meat was on this salad, between the claw meat that was all the way around the salad, to the big pile in the middle, it was simply a crab meat overload, but in the best way possible.
The sesame ginger vinaigrette made the salad what it was; I am sure you could have used another dressing, and it would have been good, it just wouldn’t have been as good. The salad was very simple; it could have had a ton more toppings and been completely over the top, but it doesn’t need all the bells and whistles; it was just fine in its simplicity.

Corn and Crab Bisque — Louisiana crab meat combined with a creamy, sweet & spicy corn bisque. 

THEBOMB.COM. I’m sure you can tell that this was our other favorite. Both the corn and crab flavors were very strong in this bisque, and it was so silky and smooth it reminded me of my brother Marco’s Lobster Bisque, which is the greatest in the world, by the way.

Crawfish Tasso Alfredo — crawfish and spicy poche’s tasso, combined in a classic alfredo cream sauce and served over a bed of angel hair pasta, with vegetable du jour. 

Pasta with a Cajun twist! This was a good dish, but it just didn’t wow me at all. The sauce was in need of a little more seasoning. There was more than enough crawfish, and the tasso flavor was there, but it was just missing something that would’ve tied it together nicely.

I know this was a test run on the kitchen, and there will always be mistakes in a grand opening, so I just wrote the lack of seasoning off to that, and I will order this again to see if it is better then.

Crab meat Au Gratin — succulent lump crab meat, combined with spicy cheese au gratin sauce, topped with shredded cheddar, and then baked to a bubbly finish. Served with corn maque choux and dirty dog rice.
Steven ordered this, and I was very excited to give this a try. The flavors were good, and it was prepared correctly, but the items came out a tad on the cold side, which I believe was caused by sitting in the expo window too long. Again, this is something that can only be corrected by working out the opening bugs, and I don’t see that as being an issue.

I saw several staff members that I have had the pleasure of meeting during my time writing Dishing It Out, as well as when I was an active chef here in town, and I have all the confidence that they will get all these little things resolved.

Be aware that the more restaurants that open up here, the thinner the pool of  qualified customer service staff will get. This will mean that these new places will have a harder time getting staff trained, so please be patient, and a little more understanding of the struggles these places face. Always give a new place at least two visits before you make a final decision on whether or not you want to continue to be a customer.