Mudbugs A Plenty

I had lunch at Gumbo’s today with the rest of the office crew (including Anthony). Being at a place called Gumbo’s naturally implies you should try the gumbo. They serve it, right? I scan the menu (primarily to see how many mudbug dishes they have) and the first 1/4 of it is dedicated to their different types of gumbo. Proud much? Of course they have a Crawfish Gumbo and an Étoufée. I am a big fan of the cra-dadde, so I order the name sake of that variety. $10.50.

Worth every freakin’ penny.

Every spoonful, filled with at least one and often times -two- chunks of crawfish. And these aren't wimpy chunks. No, no. Pretty sizable pieces in that soup. It was just plain good. Nothing else to say about it. And a mere walk up the block from the office. I think there was some conversation during the meal. I had crawfish. Good crawfish. I didn’t notice.

Aside from good gumbo, I had the house salad to start off the meal. [By the way, their dinner rolls are real nice too.] One of the things I judge a restaurant on is their house salads. Not specialty salads or salad bars. The house salads. Sometimes known as the Dinner Salad. Currently, Outback Steakhouse has the best house salad — in my opinion. That's a good place to eat too, but not necessarily my favorite. When I get a salad, I use it to determine the quality of the food as well as the quality of the service. Generally, salads come prior to the main course. If my salad comes at the same time as my meal, there is too much in front of me and I feel rushed to eat it all. The steak (assuming I got steak that time) might get cold if I wait to finish the salad first. The salad will lose its crispness if I eat it whilst eating the main meal. Those are factors that put me off during a meal. So if a waiter/ress brings the salad too late, the service takes a dip on the ’ol meter.

Food quality: I dislike grainy salads. I understand that I am eating rabbit food. Please don’t make it -feel- like I am eating rabbit food too. The “wild” greens thing doesn’t do it for me. I don't understand putting in lettuces that have a dirty, gritty texture to them. Why would I want to think I am eating dirt? The same with baby frisée. C’mon… To say fresh, you don't need to include part of the landscaping. Also, the quality of the salad as a whole can elude to the quality of the food overall. How much grease is on the bacon bits (if they are real)? Croutons a bit soggy? Is the lettuce wilted? The cheese a little sour? What other cold items aren’t being maintained back there? The baked potatoes might be good, but if the cheese is bad on the salad, it will be bad on the potatoe. Finally, if the salad is a plate with 5 leaves, a carrot “twig” and a sprig of parsley – how much is gonna come on the main entrée? Most likely, not a lot.

Again, this is my way of rating restaurants. A good house salad generally means a good meal -and- dining experience. So far, I have yet to find a restaurant that had a good meal (and service) after a poor grade on the house salad. With that said, Gumbo’s house salad was big, timely and tasty. We all know how the gumbo turned out.

I wonder if -my- Soundwave did this whilst I slept…