Sabine Pass

OUT AND ABOUT


Sabine Pass Crab Shack

345 Broad St

Lake Charles LA

337-721-2777



Wednesday to Friday 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM $2 to $25

Wednesday to Saturday 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM



If you go to this venue, you must have a love of seafood and like it fried. It is a fry shack pure and simple. 95% of it’s menu is seafood and 90% of that is fried. You must also deal with its eclectic hours and loud bands in a small space on the weekends. They seem to use amplifiers which are not appropriate.



Since they adjusted their menu essentially negating one of my visits and their hours and location made it hard for me to eat a meal, I am just go down the list of items I ate. An appetizer of fried crab fingers in a black pepper flecked batter was excellent. Not over fried or over battered a delight with the in house tarter sauce. They served fine burgers which have disappeared never to return. However the onion rings have stayed and are delicious. A fine to medium cut coated in flour and fried to perfection



The Captain’s Platter is a meal and a half. It contains, shrimp, catfish pieces, oysters, crab cake, stuffed crab, frog legs, hushpuppies and a BBQ crab. All of the above is fried. I opted for the potato salad and sweet potato fries. The shrimp and frog legs were coated in flour and great. The catfish and oysters in corn flour/meal are also great. The BBQ crab as good as I have ever eaten. The stuffed crab was OK. However the crab cake was an abomination of a pre fabricated product with a thick crust and surimi in the middle. Why restaurants put these on their seafood platters is beyond me and I had them on every seafood platter I have eaten in the last few months. I like the sweet potato fries (thin stick like) and did not care for the dilly potato salad.



The unfried option of grilled shrimp and catfish filet was ok but too salty for me. The slaw I opted for was wonderful. The cabbage was thinly cut and lightly dressed so it retained a great crunch. Except for chicken fried steak the menu is just variations of the seafood I sampled on the platter. My steak came out fried rock hard with gravy on the side and texas toast. Again I opted for sweet potato fries. Not a happy meal



I would suggest you stay with the fried seafood which was excellent and delicious except for the fried crab cake. You will leave happy and satisfied

Huddle Up 1103 W Prien Lake Lake Charles, LA 70601 (337) 656-2905

I really like this place and it's owner.  He keeps putting out Bargain Bees and I keep coming.  Below is a six piece bone in wings with his special sauce which is both sweet and spicy, my favorite.  He fries the chicken naked so you get the flavor of the sauce on the meat itself.

Rodeo Burger came next.  This is a new one.  A half-pound burger with lettuce, tomato, mayo,  Cheddar-Monterey Jack blend, BBQ sauce, & topped with fried onion rings.  Good concept but it failed a bit in the execution.  The patty was slightly overcooked but taste.  As is my wont these days I cut the lettuce and tomato.  The onion rings were fine but it was a bit light on the BBQ sauce.  I like curly cue fries and these were not exception.  I was good but it could have been great

This is a new dessert idea here.  The owner brought out some free samples for me.  Using his pizza dough and toppings for the bunt cake with streusel on top.  Below is raspberry and chocolate.  Good utilization of ingredients he already in house and not bad tasting

Huddle Up

Mom & Pop's 4102 North University Avenue Carencro, LA 70520 (337) 896-8778

On the way back I popped up north of the interstate to this local chicken shack.  Good fried chicken is delicious hot, room temp or cold.  I basically had my three piece for supper.  The crust was still crispy and nice with a good level of spice.  The chicken nice and tender with good flavor.  A real nice large and tender biscuit and the standard mashed potatoes and gravy.  They do so much more than fried chicken here also.  But I would definitely return for the chicken.

Serranos 3347 Highland Road Baton Rouge, LA 70809-1970 (225) 344-2354

I went to lunch at this long time favorite of Baton Rouge situated at the gates of the university next to The Chimes.  The tortilla chips were fresh and I liked the salsa.  Good start

I got the  Ceviche for starters.  Fresh flounder, onions, serranos, citrus, avocado and pico de gallo.  This was arranged like a deconstructed dish.  I swear Blue Coyote must have come here for inspiration as this is the stupidest way I have seen ceviche done.  All the components were good but they would have been better mixed together.  However the serving dish was so small and the portion so large you could not do that.

Next was Dos Cubanos "The Two Cubans" The perfect combination of Cuban steak and marinated Cuban pork roast. Cuban Pork Carnitas is a marinated pork roast with garlic, spices, and grilled onions topped with our signature orange and lime mojo. Cuban Steak is grilled skirt steak topped with sautéed onions and finished with our tequila lime marinade.  These two were excellent.  Tender and full of flavor.  I especially loved the grilled onions.  Again the problem was too much food in too little a serving vessel.  I struggled to cut up the meat.

I got the Chile Lime Grilled Corn cobette and the Sweet Fried Plantains as sides.  No complaints here.

For dessert surprise Tres Leche A rich cake soaked in condensed milk, whole milk, and evaporated milk.  I know but I cannot pass it up and this one was worth it.  Fully soaked and delicious.  I would return here no problem except I would ask for a plate to mix thing on.

Serranos

Rocco 3358 Drusilla Ln # 2 Baton Rouge, LA 70809-1877 (225) 248-1999

Back story on this place.  Boy grows up in Chalmette helping his grandfather in a po boy shop.  Goes off to college at LSU.  Goes out for football.  Decides to open his own place.  Rocco’s Roast Beef hot roast beef and our home made brown gravy. Just like in New Orleans.  The roast beef was very good but not too sloppy.  Seemed not to be deli meat but sliced off a roast.  I did like the bread that much.  There was a choose between white and wheat.  They brought me wheat.  It did not have the crusty crust of a true New Orleans bread.

I opt for the bread pudding for sweet.  It was loaded with cinnamon and bread was well broken up to the point of being crumbs.  It made for a slightly dense but tasty portion.  Maybe I hit it at a bad time but this place seemed so sad it is unlikely I will return.

Rocco

Brewbacker 5580 Government Street Baton Rouge, LA 70806-6032 (225) 927-8131

Expedition to Baton Rouge with a stop-by in Lafayette.   Shrimp Remoulade boiled and chilled shrimp on a bed of lettuce topped with chives and a sliced egg served with homemade remoulade sauce on the side. This turned out excellent.  Perfectly boiled shrimp with some spice.  Flavorful horseradish based sauce.  The eggs were good also.  Did not partake of the lettuce

Battered onion rings.  Good while hot.  I will have to stop ordering them when they are in the appetizer column.  They send out too much.  Enough or a table of four.

Bacon Cheeseburger  Grilled hamburger topped with Cheddar cheese and bacon dressed with mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato.  I 86ed the lettuce and tomato.  These days I just want a straight burger.  This one was excellent.  The patty juicy and flavorful.  Bacon crisp and smoky.  Cheese melted with a nice cheddar flavor.  I prefer cheddar to American.  All in all a nice experience  Would go back

Brewbacher

Johnny T and B&B BBQ

OUT AND ABOUT
Johnny T’s
2020 Ruth St
Sulphur LA
337-313-3105

11:00 AM to 10:00 PM Everyday $2 to $13

This new venue is housed in the old Bonanza building. As I never went in there I can only say it is nice inside now. BBQ seems to be a major component here so I went with the Sampler Platter to get as many tastes as I could. It comes out with ribs, sliced brisket, pulled pork, regular sausage, and jalapeno cheddar sausage. You can order two sides. I opted for baked beans and Cajun corn. Also appearing was dill pickle, raw onion and Texas toast. The meats possessed a light smoke to them. The brisket has a slight smoke ring. It was tasty and fall apart tender. The pulled pork was juicy and tender. The ribs had a little tooth to them but great flavor. The regular sausage was good. The jalapeno cheddar proved flavorful but I could only eat several bites before the spice sent me packing. I am just a medium spicy guy not a chile head. I loved the sides though. They were great. The beans were cooked with the brisket trimmings and had that sweet/tart flavor I love. The corn was cobbettes that had been seasoned then fried to a perfect delicious sweetness. The bread used for the Texas toast was a sweet sourdough virtually soaked in butter. It came like French toast. I could have eaten it for dessert.

Next time in I started with Spicy Corn Nuggets. The combination of the sweet corn and the spicy chile flakes makes for a powerful bite. This is the kind of contrast I love to eat. I ate them all and enjoyed the pleasant after burn. I followed that up with a Seafood Combo. I got the Grilled Shrimp and Grilled Catfish with Cole Slaw and Potato Salad. That wonderful Texas toast comes along for the ride. Although I suspect the seafood was griddled, they possessed a wonderful coating of spice and butter while being perfectly cooked. The potato salad contained large chunks of what I considered undercooked potatoes, not my favorite. The cole slaw however tasted like it had just been tossed with a light mayonnaise sauce with vinegar punch, crunchy and not too cloying.

Last time was burger and onion rings, my favorite combo. The rings were thick cut (good) but heavily battered (bad in my eyes). I could only eat a few. The Bacon Cheeseburger was stupendous. A moist and tender patty (huge) topped with cheddar cheese and sturdy bacon with mayonnaise, thick sliced tomato and hunk of raw onion. It all came on a sweet sourdough bun. A singe bite with all the components made for an explosion of flavor in my mouth, everything a burger should be. A definite place to stop by if you are across the river at meal time

B&B BBQ
3584 East Napoleon
Sulphur LA
337-625-6653

Monday to Friday 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM $1 to $15

The shack these people are in has a long history of being a take away venue. They also seem to be following the Five Guys model. There are five meats available on plates or po boys, drinks, and chips. This is it and all take away. I got them to give me a combo with all five meats. It took two boxes. The first held sliced beef, rice dressing, baked beans, cole slaw, sauce and a hunk of French bread. The beef was not brisket but roast beef. I was a bit dry and had no smoke to it. I mixed in the BBQ sauce (tomato base with a vinegar tang) and made a sandwich, good. The fine rice dressing had a definite liver note. The beans possessed bacon bites and tasty like I make it. The cole slaw was ok, a little too much mayonnaise for me. The second box contained dark chicken quarter, ribs, pulled pork and sausage. All had a dark heavy smoke on them (I suspect pecan). Chicken was moist and tender with tasty skin. Ribs were fall off the bone with excellent bark. Pork proved itself moist and tender. The sausage was OK.

All in all good BBQ and I would not hesitate to stop there again