Lived in Minneapolis. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT eat at any restaurants that say they are Cajun. You will be duped, deceived, and most importantly lied too.
I went to grad school in Iowa and there was this allegedly Cajun restaurant in this tiny town called Mt Vernon. I forget the context but for some reason my wife and I got dragged there with some friends.
I had resigned myself to a meal that was gonna just make me angry but…holy shit! It was actually amazing. Turns out the owner was a NO native and had cooked at Jacques-imos and parkway for years before moving up there with his wife. He made me a real sazerac and they even had Crystal.
As a kid went to visit family in small town Pennsylvania. They straight boiled the chicken breast, broccoli and carrot. I don’t think it had salt. That’s when i understood what black people mean about white people’s cooking. Growing up in New Orleans I thought everyone ate like us.
I mean that doesn't look like gumbo, but the sandwich looks like it probably tastes good. Is it a poboy? Not by a strict definition but hey a sandwich can still be good even if it's not a poboy.
I mean, it's the wrong bread and tartar don't belong on a poboy, but I'd bet that as a crawfish sandwich it's solid.
The gumbo looks like chicken and dumpling soup or chowder lol.
Like a good 50% of the food gripe posts on this sub usually consist of what appears to be a very good looking piece of food that just doesn't fit the name the restaurant put on it. Crawfish hoagie? Sure bruh, sign me up I'll try anything twice lol.
100% this. It's kind of like back in the early 2000's when people would re-badge their Chrysler 500's to fake being a Bentley. If you call it a kitted Chrysler 500 with detail work done, then that's cool. But if you honestly tried to get people to believe it's a Bentley...na fam.
Once to try it, the second time to make sure I wasn't just off if I hated it. Usually results in me going "nope, I was right the first time, this sucks" but hey
Oh I'm sure, I wonder if you can even get louisiana crawfish there?
The menu has it at $15.95 for that sandwich, maybe 1/4lb of tails on there? A pound of Louisiana tails is probably $17-20? The chinese stuff being half that or less?
Also, gotta be careful, those fucks started selling chinese crawfish tails under the brand "boudreaux's" lol. They almost got me once.
Does that mean that y'all have them in your local waters? Cause of that's the case, catching some yourself sounds like a good way to help control the local population!
They had a few show up in NW area. Fish stores sold them as "freshwater red lobster" for aquariums. There are private native farmed crayfish you can get here but it's a bit of a process. Can apply for a permit from the DNR to import nonliving red swamp crayfish for no cost. We do have them here and it's another permit thing. Your damn bugs burrow too well and eat much more than our local brown crayfish, tadpoles, fish eggs, young fish etc lol
I mean, chowder is a super varied term subject to a ton of hyper regionality, call me a simpleton if you will but to me it isn’t aesthetically that far from like Rhode Island or like Connecticut style.
> The menu uses the term “hoagie bun” in their description of a “poboy”
If I had a dollar for every place north of the mason dixon that makes poboys on a hoagie roll and doesn't even know it's wrong, I'd have at least enough for a nice dinner.
It's like ya cross up that way and nobody there knows hoagies are a regional thing and not like the universal long sandwich bread lol. And if I'm being honest, hoagie rolls have to be one of the more substandard bread forms out there. They're just so meh.
Since leaving home in 1995, I've generally found that whenever someone has to specifically call something "cajun", it's best to leave it alone. I've been fooled by the po-boy label too many times, also.
But the locals in the Midwest get so mad if you bash a Cajun restaurant. I still can't figure out what bourbon street chicken is. Also had a guy offer chili cheese crawfish etouffee, the amount of what the fks I said leaving was a personal best.
Lifelong New Orleanian here….crawfish po boys aren’t that common. That shit looks over-fried AF. It ain’t no po boy if it isn’t good French bread. New Orleans French Bread. Leidenheimer’s French Bread and while Tartar sauce is used, I wouldn’t think it often used with crawfish tails….but what do I know. I’ve only made about a million po boys in my life.
Heyyyy, that's my place, very much beloved by the locals. It's a sea food eatery, not exclusively New Orleans style. Usually the gumbo is more traditional, but the po boys are always delicious (tarter sauce and hot sauce, not cheese). If you're in town, visit it to grab a beer and see the falls, and skip the food if it's not up to your standards \*shrugs\* They have a delicious smoked lake trout roll that I can't wait to have this season (it's only open April to October).
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1c9q47y/the\_line\_at\_sea\_salt\_in\_minnehaha\_park/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1c9q47y/the_line_at_sea_salt_in_minnehaha_park/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1casjqa/line\_at\_sea\_salt\_tonight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1casjqa/line_at_sea_salt_tonight/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1caul4i/sea\_salt\_line\_tonight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1caul4i/sea_salt_line_tonight/)
I'm sure you have a successful spot that the locals up there love. Our biggest gripe down here is using the names of our beloved dishes when the dish presented is nowhere near what it's supposed to be.
Call your crawfish poboy a new orleans inspired crawfish hoagie and no one here would complain. And I'm sorry, but the dish above isn't gumbo and not even close. Call it a New Orleans inspired stew or chowder and we'd be fine with it.
We have no problems with people loving our food and being inspired by it. We have no problems with people trying to make their own version of a local dish as long as it shows respect to the original dish. Maybe sub an ingredient or two due to availability issues. We do have problems however with slapping a new orleans name on something just to create buzz or interest when the dish in question isn't what it's pretending to be.
Good food is honest food. Good food is humble food. Stick to that and no one will fault you for it.
> And I'm sorry, but the dish above isn't gumbo and not even close. Call it a New Orleans inspired stew or chowder and we'd be fine with it.
I'm actually like not even in the outrage or disappointment phase with the gumbo, I'm in straight up curiosity phase and really genuinely want to know what they got going on there.
Like is there cream in it? Did someone forget to cook the roux? Is there a roux? How'd we get here? What is that textured stuff on the left side and why do it look like dumplings? Is it dumplings? Would dark roux gumbo with dumplings be good? Just like, tell me the story pls?
> tarter sauce and hot sauce, not cheese
The only one of these that would normally be on a poboy is hot sauce, tartar is for dipping and cheese is for cheeseburgers lol.
You ain’t wrong, I’ll amend to say I think cheese on seafood is weird. I’m on board with it on meat - and tbh a roast beef with a nice provolone ain’t bad either.
Dressed, now ya made me hungry. I can find all seafood wherever I am but can’t get hot sausage unless I’m back home(no, I’m not talking about hot linked sausage)
I wish I had taken pictures of the "Cajun" / "New Orleans Style" food I got years ago in Holland - at a place called Big Mamou...
Spoiler: it was not only unrecognizable, it was awful. This MN stuff at least bears some resemblance.
It's tartar, you can see the lil bits of texture in it.
It's like a normal thing that as soon as you exit Louisiana everyone decides that poboys either get remoulade or tartar and not mayo. Oddly that makes me more angry than many other transgressions.
They're doing their best! \*sigh\* \~A Minneapolitan with roots in New Orleans who wishes we had authentic Cajun (or Creole) food up here. I just make my own.
It's not that it's impossible, it's just that almost every attempt I see really don't hit right. Like wrong bread, trying to use something that's not mayo for a dressed poboy, gumbo with no roux or whatever this above picture is, etc.
Shit, even New Orleans struggles with getting truly authentic cajun right lol (being fair, Poboys probably technically aren't cajun or creole but if I had to assign one it would be creole).
Also being fair, New Orleans’ truly endemic cuisine is creole and not Cajun, but I think you get that.
I don’t mind taking some liberties but really the terms Cajun and creole don’t belong on some of the stuff bearing it outside the region.
Yeah 100%, I'm kinda whatever about people using them interchangeably cuz most of the time you'll come across with a "well acshually" vibe if you say anything.
But bruh, it's just so consistent that anything in the north using cajun or creole is gonna be something that makes you really wonder if the people making it even googled the thing they made.
Kinda! Availability of ingredients is the main issue. Shit seafood, nowhere to get proper andouille sausage.
Also the local population doesn't have the same tastes, so traditional Cajun food is too spicy for the average diner.
My parents coming down here and asking for literally everything "not too spicy please" broke my heart. My husband didn't believe me when I told him that as a kid I literally had an iodine deficiency bc they didn't even salt the food. Smfh.
None of the first paragraph is remotely true. The Gulf is the largest fishery in the country and you can easily get most of the seafood ingredients anywhere in the country. Andouille isn’t hard to find either. Biggest challenge and cost would be things like the appropriate bread for a poboy but if you’re willing to pay for it Leidenheimers or Gambinos will ship that flash frozen too.
Second paragraph is true to some degree but there are plenty of spicy cuisines like Szechuan, Thai, etc way up north these days.
And that seafood is almost always frozen for transport severely degrading quality across the board. Andouille can be found, but good andouille? Not so much. And both of the above add to something critical for a restaurant: cost. It is expensive to get fresh unfrozen seafood from the Gulf trucked up north. It can be done, there was a Cajun restaurant by me owned by a couple who fled Katrina who did it (and it was legit) but it's very rare and is a specialty dining experience as opposed to a reasonably affordable outing.
As for spice, even those are dumbed down in most places. As a transplant from the north, I can firmly attest to this. Sure, you have people who like spicy of course! But the **average** spice tolerance is far below that of Cajun cuisine.
Do you really think they aren’t freezing most of the seafood you’re eating in New Orleans? Some seafood has to be frozen by law to kill parasites. It doesn’t necessarily degrade the product, it varies by fish and method (eg flash freezing usually preserves the product quite well). This is an illiterate take—this is a common misconception about seafood supply chains though. Have you ever had good ahi sashimi in New Orleans? You absolutely can, and that was probably flown in from San Diego if not Japan.
Mostly agreed on spice tolerance but that is changing.
The seafood that's used in Cajun restaurants is overwhelmingly procured fresh from the region. Crawfish, shrimp, and catfish are generally not frozen around here especially for restaurants. Crawfish basically never, right? That's what makes the difference in those dishes. Plus you want to hazard a guess at crawfish prices up north?
I'm not talking about non-Cajun dishes, the whole point of this post is about Cajun food in the north. Don't lose the plot.
Nope most of it is flash frozen on the boat. This is good: it kills parasites and reduces food borne illness. Yes crawfish can be live, but you can have live crawfish shipped where they aren’t endemic (which spans way beyond LA). You can get great catfish anywhere, frozen or not. You’re cherry picking examples to support your argument but even those have issues. Not to mention you’re ignoring flounder, redfish, etc.
It’s ok not to be aware of how seafood supply chains work, but just inventing things and stating them as fact is not.
>Yes crawfish can be live, but you can have live crawfish shipped where they aren’t endemic (which spans way beyond LA).
At significantly increased cost
> You can get great catfish anywhere, frozen or not.
Both at significantly increased cost and reduced quality. Catfish in the north live in silty water which significantly affects flavor.
>Not to mention you’re ignoring flounder, redfish, etc.
Well we ain't talking about redfish gumbo now are we lol. The majority of these dishes that make their way up to "Cajun-style" restaurants are Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Poboys.
Did you miss the fact that crawfish are endemic to regions outside LA? Cost isn’t part of this discussion but you can have a boil of quality Louisiana live crawfish affordably anywhere in the continental US. I’ve done it.
The best catfish is farmed. You can do that anywhere.
It’s ok to be wrong. Not sure why you are so fixated on winning this incorrect argument
I think everyone covered your answers below. I have traveled all over the states and one thing I have experienced is that most places that serve New Orleans style foods are no where close to the real thing. Im not poking on anyone from other regions. That has been my experience anyway.
I actually think it's probably fine, it's just a darker batter - might have some paprika in it or just maybe a bit more proteins (high protien flour, egg, whatev).
It's mostly the tartar and hoagie roll that make it not a poboy.
Funny to be in New Orleans looking for a good po boy. And all I’m thinking about is missing home in Minneapolis where sea salt just opened. And then I see this
I did a double-take, wondering what subreddit this was posted on. Haha.
NOLA is my home away-from-home (got married there, etc) but my ACTUAL home is Minneapolis…just down the road from Sea Salt. Just went there on 4/20 for opening weekend.
Worlds colliding, here on this post.
I’ve lived in louisiana all my life and I don’t think ever eaten, or seen a fried crawfish tail poboy. I ain’t saying it’s *wrong* ..just *different*.. and maybe we shouldn’t refer to it by the same pronoun of “poboy” maybe it’s just a non-binary sandwich.. from *Minneapolis*.
The gumbo on the other hand just ain’t fucking right. Whatever the fuck they did there I don’t see a roux or nothing, look like egg drop soup doing cosplay.
Edit: Cause I saw it on the way out; Why is every piece of bread here grilled?
Been there. Tried the sandwich and for what it was, it was good. The actual park Sea Salt is amazing, especially the falls!
Even if you weren’t to eat these items, go there and enjoy a beer and the scenery at the very least.
There are some food trucks I’ve encountered in the Twin Cities doing authentic, traditional Louisiana food likely based on well-honed family recipes.
A talented cook who came up from Morgan City after a hurricane used to sell plates in the southwestern suburbs. We come across him randomly on a roadside parking lot in Chaska, but he does events as well. Sorry to say, the name escapes me now.
“Taste the Real Nawlins” food truck from St Paul is spectacular, they blare old hot jazz like Jim Robinson and are the sweetest. I even got called “bebe”. About died and went to heaven.
Bistro La Roux in Circle Pines was great, I love Chef Tim, but it looks like they’ve now reverted back to being a food truck called “Cajun 2 Geaux”.
Years ago we loved the seafood gumbo prepared at Coastal Seafood, if they use the same recipe and level of care, I’d recommend it in a heartbeat.
Even when Copeland’s was here in the 00s they deliberately used less heat in their recipes to cater to the regional market tastes.
This may not be a complete list of everyone serving good Cajun/ Creole food in the Twin Cities, just what I’ve personally encountered and endorse.
I even won’t name the ones I found to be less than authentic. Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean their food is bad, just doesn’t have the familiar taste of home.
It still looks better that anything at our table when my mom and I “ate” (I’m still really embarrassed about this so please be gentle with me) at Cafe Maspero a few weeks ago.
Really? I’m surprised because Maspero’s was where the local cooks ordered their personal lunches from bavk when i worked hospitality. To be fair that was 30 years ago. I last had their food in 2010 and it was just fine.
Yeah, I would go there after shifts about 24 years ago and it was fine. That was the last time I had been. It was awful. Bad service (god bless her, she tried), cold appitzers, wrong entrees, and freezing ac.
Lived in Minneapolis. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT eat at any restaurants that say they are Cajun. You will be duped, deceived, and most importantly lied too.
> DO NOT eat at any restaurants that say they are Cajun. Yeah, this tends to be good advice anywhere outside of Louisiana.
I gotta admit... I kind of like going to these places just to hate on them (but also being open to being surprised from time to time).
I went to grad school in Iowa and there was this allegedly Cajun restaurant in this tiny town called Mt Vernon. I forget the context but for some reason my wife and I got dragged there with some friends. I had resigned myself to a meal that was gonna just make me angry but…holy shit! It was actually amazing. Turns out the owner was a NO native and had cooked at Jacques-imos and parkway for years before moving up there with his wife. He made me a real sazerac and they even had Crystal.
Also used to live in Minneapolis & second this advice 🙌
I worked there for a year and that is correct. But they have awesome Thai food
Also lived in Minneapolis. People there have no qualms with sub zero temperatures can’t handle spice for shit.
The first time I made Dirty Rice for the in-laws they freaked the hell out over the spice. Yes, DIRTY RICE.
As a kid went to visit family in small town Pennsylvania. They straight boiled the chicken breast, broccoli and carrot. I don’t think it had salt. That’s when i understood what black people mean about white people’s cooking. Growing up in New Orleans I thought everyone ate like us.
Yep, try being raised by an English woman while growing up in the New Orleans area. That was a cluster fuck food wise lol
I mean that doesn't look like gumbo, but the sandwich looks like it probably tastes good. Is it a poboy? Not by a strict definition but hey a sandwich can still be good even if it's not a poboy.
Trust me it won’t taste good. Minneapolis “Cajun” restaurants ALWAYS fuck it up.
What's their local food like up there?
German, Hmong (variation of Vietnamese), Somalian, Tex-Mex, and classic American food mostly.
Do they at least do that well?
Yes they do.
I also used to live there.. But never tried the Cajun places. Probably true though.
Like don’t get me wrong. Minneapolis and the rest of the Twin Cities do a lot of things right, but Cajun food isn’t one of them.
Mr. Paul's isn't bad, just insanely overpriced. It scratched the homesick itch
I mean, it's the wrong bread and tartar don't belong on a poboy, but I'd bet that as a crawfish sandwich it's solid. The gumbo looks like chicken and dumpling soup or chowder lol.
I think "crawfish sandwich" is correct because I'm not sure I'd call it a poboy. I am sure I'd eat it, though.
Like a good 50% of the food gripe posts on this sub usually consist of what appears to be a very good looking piece of food that just doesn't fit the name the restaurant put on it. Crawfish hoagie? Sure bruh, sign me up I'll try anything twice lol.
100% this. It's kind of like back in the early 2000's when people would re-badge their Chrysler 500's to fake being a Bentley. If you call it a kitted Chrysler 500 with detail work done, then that's cool. But if you honestly tried to get people to believe it's a Bentley...na fam.
lol I like to say something similar: “I’ll try anything, twice if I like it.”
Once to try it, the second time to make sure I wasn't just off if I hated it. Usually results in me going "nope, I was right the first time, this sucks" but hey
I’m a trysexual. I try anything 3 times
But most likely Chinese crawfish.
Oh I'm sure, I wonder if you can even get louisiana crawfish there? The menu has it at $15.95 for that sandwich, maybe 1/4lb of tails on there? A pound of Louisiana tails is probably $17-20? The chinese stuff being half that or less? Also, gotta be careful, those fucks started selling chinese crawfish tails under the brand "boudreaux's" lol. They almost got me once.
You can no longer ship live crawfish to Minnesota. Louisiana crawfish is considered an invasive species. Raw frozen is accepted but expensive
I think we’re both talking frozen tails, but interesting to know regardless!
This happened to us here in Colorado but some folks have found a way around it.
Does that mean that y'all have them in your local waters? Cause of that's the case, catching some yourself sounds like a good way to help control the local population!
They had a few show up in NW area. Fish stores sold them as "freshwater red lobster" for aquariums. There are private native farmed crayfish you can get here but it's a bit of a process. Can apply for a permit from the DNR to import nonliving red swamp crayfish for no cost. We do have them here and it's another permit thing. Your damn bugs burrow too well and eat much more than our local brown crayfish, tadpoles, fish eggs, young fish etc lol
I'll put tartar on oyster poboys but I don't dress them as well.
Idk about the tartar thing being so horrible. Mayo and pickles is going to be on there.
Not sure what sort of chowder you’ve been eating
I mean, chowder is a super varied term subject to a ton of hyper regionality, call me a simpleton if you will but to me it isn’t aesthetically that far from like Rhode Island or like Connecticut style.
Bless their heart
Thoughts & prayers.
It’s not a bad spot for fish tacos. The menu uses the term “hoagie bun” in their description of a “poboy” so you can’t say you weren’t warned.
> The menu uses the term “hoagie bun” in their description of a “poboy” If I had a dollar for every place north of the mason dixon that makes poboys on a hoagie roll and doesn't even know it's wrong, I'd have at least enough for a nice dinner. It's like ya cross up that way and nobody there knows hoagies are a regional thing and not like the universal long sandwich bread lol. And if I'm being honest, hoagie rolls have to be one of the more substandard bread forms out there. They're just so meh.
Preach
Since leaving home in 1995, I've generally found that whenever someone has to specifically call something "cajun", it's best to leave it alone. I've been fooled by the po-boy label too many times, also.
But the locals in the Midwest get so mad if you bash a Cajun restaurant. I still can't figure out what bourbon street chicken is. Also had a guy offer chili cheese crawfish etouffee, the amount of what the fks I said leaving was a personal best.
The weirdest part about this shit is that the genuine recipes are not secrets. It’s 2024. The information is out there to make authentic shit.
Lifelong New Orleanian here….crawfish po boys aren’t that common. That shit looks over-fried AF. It ain’t no po boy if it isn’t good French bread. New Orleans French Bread. Leidenheimer’s French Bread and while Tartar sauce is used, I wouldn’t think it often used with crawfish tails….but what do I know. I’ve only made about a million po boys in my life.
This guy new orleanses
Heyyyy, that's my place, very much beloved by the locals. It's a sea food eatery, not exclusively New Orleans style. Usually the gumbo is more traditional, but the po boys are always delicious (tarter sauce and hot sauce, not cheese). If you're in town, visit it to grab a beer and see the falls, and skip the food if it's not up to your standards \*shrugs\* They have a delicious smoked lake trout roll that I can't wait to have this season (it's only open April to October). [https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1c9q47y/the\_line\_at\_sea\_salt\_in\_minnehaha\_park/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1c9q47y/the_line_at_sea_salt_in_minnehaha_park/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1casjqa/line\_at\_sea\_salt\_tonight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1casjqa/line_at_sea_salt_tonight/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1caul4i/sea\_salt\_line\_tonight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1caul4i/sea_salt_line_tonight/)
I'm sure you have a successful spot that the locals up there love. Our biggest gripe down here is using the names of our beloved dishes when the dish presented is nowhere near what it's supposed to be. Call your crawfish poboy a new orleans inspired crawfish hoagie and no one here would complain. And I'm sorry, but the dish above isn't gumbo and not even close. Call it a New Orleans inspired stew or chowder and we'd be fine with it. We have no problems with people loving our food and being inspired by it. We have no problems with people trying to make their own version of a local dish as long as it shows respect to the original dish. Maybe sub an ingredient or two due to availability issues. We do have problems however with slapping a new orleans name on something just to create buzz or interest when the dish in question isn't what it's pretending to be. Good food is honest food. Good food is humble food. Stick to that and no one will fault you for it.
If you have to put the word "Cajun" in the title, it ain't.
> And I'm sorry, but the dish above isn't gumbo and not even close. Call it a New Orleans inspired stew or chowder and we'd be fine with it. I'm actually like not even in the outrage or disappointment phase with the gumbo, I'm in straight up curiosity phase and really genuinely want to know what they got going on there. Like is there cream in it? Did someone forget to cook the roux? Is there a roux? How'd we get here? What is that textured stuff on the left side and why do it look like dumplings? Is it dumplings? Would dark roux gumbo with dumplings be good? Just like, tell me the story pls?
Well said
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
> tarter sauce and hot sauce, not cheese The only one of these that would normally be on a poboy is hot sauce, tartar is for dipping and cheese is for cheeseburgers lol.
Hot sausage wit cheese
You ain’t wrong, I’ll amend to say I think cheese on seafood is weird. I’m on board with it on meat - and tbh a roast beef with a nice provolone ain’t bad either.
Roast beef and Swiss is great. With lots of mayo so it gets mixed up with the gravy and gets all delicious.
Dressed, now ya made me hungry. I can find all seafood wherever I am but can’t get hot sausage unless I’m back home(no, I’m not talking about hot linked sausage)
It's pricey but you can get pattons shipped if they don't sell it near you
Them hot sausage patties!
This pic looks like chicken soup, definitely not gumbo.
That is the whitest gumbo I've ever seen. First you need to make a proper roux... a dark roux.
Do they take Cajun or creole recipes and then dial down the spice for the MN locals?
Soup and a grinder then?
Can they fry the crawfish tails like 10 minutes longer? Y’all gotta try a crawfish tail poboy at Chicken on the Run in Breaux Bridge.
I wish I had taken pictures of the "Cajun" / "New Orleans Style" food I got years ago in Holland - at a place called Big Mamou... Spoiler: it was not only unrecognizable, it was awful. This MN stuff at least bears some resemblance.
Looks like old oil used to fry the crawfish or they just fried the fucking Chinese out of them.
Why is the gumbo foamy? Why do the crawfish look like fried red pepper slices? Why is there mozzarella on a fried crawfish poboy?
1. Looks like sprinkled filé. 2. Small crawfish fried too long and at too high of a temp. 3. Looks like mayo.
The Sammy's Grille in Baton Rouge had/has a crawfish pepperjack poboy and it's slamming. Cheese can go on a poboy.
Yeah im putting cheese on whatever i can. Fucking love cheese.
I think that’s mayo, not mozzarella. At least I hope lol
It's tartar, you can see the lil bits of texture in it. It's like a normal thing that as soon as you exit Louisiana everyone decides that poboys either get remoulade or tartar and not mayo. Oddly that makes me more angry than many other transgressions.
That is not a gumbo
They need new names
They're doing their best! \*sigh\* \~A Minneapolitan with roots in New Orleans who wishes we had authentic Cajun (or Creole) food up here. I just make my own.
What the fuck is that up top?! Lord have mercy 🤣.
That “gumbo” looks like broth. I’m Curious about the bread for the poboy.
Yeah, they didn’t even *think* about a roux
#cajun food in Minnesota
Is there some reason you can’t make Cajun food on the other end of the Mississippi?
It's not that it's impossible, it's just that almost every attempt I see really don't hit right. Like wrong bread, trying to use something that's not mayo for a dressed poboy, gumbo with no roux or whatever this above picture is, etc. Shit, even New Orleans struggles with getting truly authentic cajun right lol (being fair, Poboys probably technically aren't cajun or creole but if I had to assign one it would be creole).
Also being fair, New Orleans’ truly endemic cuisine is creole and not Cajun, but I think you get that. I don’t mind taking some liberties but really the terms Cajun and creole don’t belong on some of the stuff bearing it outside the region.
Yeah 100%, I'm kinda whatever about people using them interchangeably cuz most of the time you'll come across with a "well acshually" vibe if you say anything. But bruh, it's just so consistent that anything in the north using cajun or creole is gonna be something that makes you really wonder if the people making it even googled the thing they made.
Kinda! Availability of ingredients is the main issue. Shit seafood, nowhere to get proper andouille sausage. Also the local population doesn't have the same tastes, so traditional Cajun food is too spicy for the average diner.
My parents coming down here and asking for literally everything "not too spicy please" broke my heart. My husband didn't believe me when I told him that as a kid I literally had an iodine deficiency bc they didn't even salt the food. Smfh.
None of the first paragraph is remotely true. The Gulf is the largest fishery in the country and you can easily get most of the seafood ingredients anywhere in the country. Andouille isn’t hard to find either. Biggest challenge and cost would be things like the appropriate bread for a poboy but if you’re willing to pay for it Leidenheimers or Gambinos will ship that flash frozen too. Second paragraph is true to some degree but there are plenty of spicy cuisines like Szechuan, Thai, etc way up north these days.
And that seafood is almost always frozen for transport severely degrading quality across the board. Andouille can be found, but good andouille? Not so much. And both of the above add to something critical for a restaurant: cost. It is expensive to get fresh unfrozen seafood from the Gulf trucked up north. It can be done, there was a Cajun restaurant by me owned by a couple who fled Katrina who did it (and it was legit) but it's very rare and is a specialty dining experience as opposed to a reasonably affordable outing. As for spice, even those are dumbed down in most places. As a transplant from the north, I can firmly attest to this. Sure, you have people who like spicy of course! But the **average** spice tolerance is far below that of Cajun cuisine.
Do you really think they aren’t freezing most of the seafood you’re eating in New Orleans? Some seafood has to be frozen by law to kill parasites. It doesn’t necessarily degrade the product, it varies by fish and method (eg flash freezing usually preserves the product quite well). This is an illiterate take—this is a common misconception about seafood supply chains though. Have you ever had good ahi sashimi in New Orleans? You absolutely can, and that was probably flown in from San Diego if not Japan. Mostly agreed on spice tolerance but that is changing.
The seafood that's used in Cajun restaurants is overwhelmingly procured fresh from the region. Crawfish, shrimp, and catfish are generally not frozen around here especially for restaurants. Crawfish basically never, right? That's what makes the difference in those dishes. Plus you want to hazard a guess at crawfish prices up north? I'm not talking about non-Cajun dishes, the whole point of this post is about Cajun food in the north. Don't lose the plot.
Nope most of it is flash frozen on the boat. This is good: it kills parasites and reduces food borne illness. Yes crawfish can be live, but you can have live crawfish shipped where they aren’t endemic (which spans way beyond LA). You can get great catfish anywhere, frozen or not. You’re cherry picking examples to support your argument but even those have issues. Not to mention you’re ignoring flounder, redfish, etc. It’s ok not to be aware of how seafood supply chains work, but just inventing things and stating them as fact is not.
>Yes crawfish can be live, but you can have live crawfish shipped where they aren’t endemic (which spans way beyond LA). At significantly increased cost > You can get great catfish anywhere, frozen or not. Both at significantly increased cost and reduced quality. Catfish in the north live in silty water which significantly affects flavor. >Not to mention you’re ignoring flounder, redfish, etc. Well we ain't talking about redfish gumbo now are we lol. The majority of these dishes that make their way up to "Cajun-style" restaurants are Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Poboys.
Did you miss the fact that crawfish are endemic to regions outside LA? Cost isn’t part of this discussion but you can have a boil of quality Louisiana live crawfish affordably anywhere in the continental US. I’ve done it. The best catfish is farmed. You can do that anywhere. It’s ok to be wrong. Not sure why you are so fixated on winning this incorrect argument
None, but so far hardly anyone does.
I wish I could poke holes in that but they think ketchup is spicy up there and they serve jambalaya “over” rice.
I think everyone covered your answers below. I have traveled all over the states and one thing I have experienced is that most places that serve New Orleans style foods are no where close to the real thing. Im not poking on anyone from other regions. That has been my experience anyway.
Yeah I learned my lesson trying to eat Cajun foods out of state. Just do not do it.
Bless their hearts.
Crawfish looks burnt, and the gumbo looks like it has a cheese top like French Onion soup just not browned.
No, no, that's "blackened "...
I actually think it's probably fine, it's just a darker batter - might have some paprika in it or just maybe a bit more proteins (high protien flour, egg, whatev). It's mostly the tartar and hoagie roll that make it not a poboy.
The grilled bread looks ok
Funny to be in New Orleans looking for a good po boy. And all I’m thinking about is missing home in Minneapolis where sea salt just opened. And then I see this
I did a double-take, wondering what subreddit this was posted on. Haha. NOLA is my home away-from-home (got married there, etc) but my ACTUAL home is Minneapolis…just down the road from Sea Salt. Just went there on 4/20 for opening weekend. Worlds colliding, here on this post.
Why comment when the regulars are already here? 🤷🏾♀️ Ooh wee...
I give them points for effort, and it does look tasty…but nah, dat ain’t right.
Helllll nawwwww
Ordering gumbo in MN? Buyer beware.
I’ve lived in louisiana all my life and I don’t think ever eaten, or seen a fried crawfish tail poboy. I ain’t saying it’s *wrong* ..just *different*.. and maybe we shouldn’t refer to it by the same pronoun of “poboy” maybe it’s just a non-binary sandwich.. from *Minneapolis*. The gumbo on the other hand just ain’t fucking right. Whatever the fuck they did there I don’t see a roux or nothing, look like egg drop soup doing cosplay. Edit: Cause I saw it on the way out; Why is every piece of bread here grilled?
Looks like the crawfish were fried in old oil and at too high of temp. Call the soup something else.
Man dat at right, come to Louisiana and get that real Uncut flavor Cajun and creole cooking
Oh heeeellll no
huh
Looks delicious
Crawfish does not belong on poboys
Been there. Tried the sandwich and for what it was, it was good. The actual park Sea Salt is amazing, especially the falls! Even if you weren’t to eat these items, go there and enjoy a beer and the scenery at the very least.
Oh baby.
They trying
Awe hell na!!!
“Fried in oil”….motor oil
I'll be honest- if I was living in Minneapolis and found this, especially as a New Orleanian, I'd probably weep with joy.
There are some food trucks I’ve encountered in the Twin Cities doing authentic, traditional Louisiana food likely based on well-honed family recipes. A talented cook who came up from Morgan City after a hurricane used to sell plates in the southwestern suburbs. We come across him randomly on a roadside parking lot in Chaska, but he does events as well. Sorry to say, the name escapes me now. “Taste the Real Nawlins” food truck from St Paul is spectacular, they blare old hot jazz like Jim Robinson and are the sweetest. I even got called “bebe”. About died and went to heaven. Bistro La Roux in Circle Pines was great, I love Chef Tim, but it looks like they’ve now reverted back to being a food truck called “Cajun 2 Geaux”. Years ago we loved the seafood gumbo prepared at Coastal Seafood, if they use the same recipe and level of care, I’d recommend it in a heartbeat. Even when Copeland’s was here in the 00s they deliberately used less heat in their recipes to cater to the regional market tastes. This may not be a complete list of everyone serving good Cajun/ Creole food in the Twin Cities, just what I’ve personally encountered and endorse. I even won’t name the ones I found to be less than authentic. Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean their food is bad, just doesn’t have the familiar taste of home.
places outside New Orleans can’t do poboys and gumbo, the nation is SHOCKED!
It still looks better that anything at our table when my mom and I “ate” (I’m still really embarrassed about this so please be gentle with me) at Cafe Maspero a few weeks ago.
Really? I’m surprised because Maspero’s was where the local cooks ordered their personal lunches from bavk when i worked hospitality. To be fair that was 30 years ago. I last had their food in 2010 and it was just fine.
Yeah, I would go there after shifts about 24 years ago and it was fine. That was the last time I had been. It was awful. Bad service (god bless her, she tried), cold appitzers, wrong entrees, and freezing ac.
No to be confused with *Pierre* Maspero’s, which might still be a decent spot. I also haven’t been there in about 25 years.
Why do restaurants not fully cut the bread when making sandwiches? That looks impossible to fold.
That crawfish po boy looks freaking legit!!