Chez Bayou Review

Today we had lunch at a new restaurant in town, Chez Bayou. The grand opening was today and seeing as I can't resist Cajun food, we had to go. Chez Bayou is located in East town next to Wolfgang's and across the street from Yesterdog. Chez Bayou is certainly a step up from those dumpy places.

The decor is traditional New Orleans, French Quarter and all. It's very clear that they put a lot of attention to detail when designing the dining room. The big question is whether or not they put the same attention to detail into their food.

I started off with a bowl of Chicken Gumbo, which I must say was the best gumbo I've ever had. They clearly got their roux to a nice chocolate color and the benefit of their hard work is in the taste. It had a wonderfully spicy, nutty flavor. The andouille sausage and chicken were perfect additions to the wonderfuly roux and rice. This gumbo is worth coming for.

Janna started off with a side Cajun caesar salad. I didn't try any but she had nothing but nice things to say about it. She particularly enjoyed the fact that she could taste the anchovy in the dressing. Janna tends to get a caesar salad and uses it as a base by which to judge restaurants, if a restaurant can make a good caesar salad it suggests that they have a clue as to what they're doing.

On to our main course. I ordered the Crawfish Etouffee, which I had been looking forward to all week. About five minutes after we placed our order we were informed that they had 'run out' of etouffee. One must wonder how they ran out of something when we were one of the first people in the place for lunch. Disappointment aside, I ordered Jambulaya. I was expecting big things after the gumbo and was throughly disappointed in the Jambulaya. The rice was flavorless and overcooked and the chicken tasted as though it didn't belong with the dish. I wouldn't recommend the Jambulaya, though I still want to try the Etouffee.

Janna had a Muffuletta Sandwich and she to was disappointed in it. The difference between a Muffuletta Sandwich and your run of the mill sandwich is the olive salad spread and that was unfortunately missing for Janna's sandwich. What she was given was a fine sandwich, it tasted good and all but it was missing the essential ingredient.

Over all I think we had a fine dining experience. They clearly have a few kinks to work out with the staff, for example they shouldn't seat customers next to waitresses who are preparing silverware. The kitchen needs to figure out what goes into each dish a little better (olive salad on the Muffuletta guys) and perhaps they need to tweak some of the dishes. We're definitely going back, that gumbo will keep me coming back over and over again. There are a few dishes I want to try down the road, the Etouffee (yeah, I'm bitter about the Etouffee), fried alligator, blackened chicken and so on all look good. It's my hope that Chez Bayou will make it here in GR, we desperately need this kind of place.

I give it 2 stars out of a possible 4. If they get on the ball with some of their dishes and if their wait staff gets better (you have to think they will over time) then this place really has a shot at getting a third star. In the meantime, I'll have to encourage everyone to go to Chez Bayou even if it's just for gumbo.

Baby, If You Ever Wondered. Wondered, Whatever Became of Me...

We just got back home from a trip to Cincinnati. We were cajoled into going as my brother graduated from Med School at UC and my grandmother was having a 90th birthday celebration. Seeing as one doesn't turn 90 on a regular basis, we decided it was best to make an appearance.
Here's the birthday girl holding onto her one and only great grandson. Her party was as one would expect a 90th birthday to be, full of old people we don't know and a rubber chicken dinner. But she had fun, so I suppose that's all that counts. We had more fun I suspect when we took Stuart to a sports bar to watch the Wings win the first game of the Stanley Cup Final. And yes, I'm still mad about the no goal.
We headed into Janna's homeland, Kentucky where we saw one of Quackers long lost relatives.
Sunday we decided to take my grandmother to Mount Storm park for a Sabbath day picnic. When one is out of town on the Sabbath it can sometimes be difficult to eat without breaking the Sabbath. Thankfully, Cincinnati had an abundance of parks and we could grill out after having bought food on Saturday.
Stuart doesn't quite know what to make of this strange old lady who he's being forced to sit with. I imagine looking up at a great grandparent is quite odd for a little baby who's only used to looking at his youngish parents and grandparents who aren't quite over the hill yet. Stuart handled himself quite well, as usual.
This monument is in Mount Storm Park, it was apparently placed there prior to the Prince of Wales arriving. This thing is pretty old, so I imagine it wasn't for the current Prince of Wales. Further I don't know why any American would care about the Prince of Wales, though it's mildly interesting nonetheless.
Janna bought some bubbles for Stuart and here she is blowing them at him. He seemed mildly amused. I think he was more interested in the baseball he was given to play with.
And finally we have a picture of the view from Mount Storm Park. It doesn't look quite as nice as it really was. We're home now, thankfully. Seamus and Squirrelface were happy to see us, more happy to see Stuart. B as usual took good care of our blessed dogs.

The Dog Park

We took Seamus to the dog park the other day. Seamus loves to run around with the other dogs, he spends a good 30 minutes running around and as a result he does nothing but sleep for two days. Not a bad move on our part.
We did not take Deirbhile to the dog park because she doesn't get along with other dogs. We are currently calling her Squirrelface because yesterday she killed a squirrel. I caught her gnawing on the lifeless rodent. I don't know how she got the darn thing, nor can I figure out how she killed it. There wasn't any blood. In any event, I buried the squirrel and I'm sure at some point either myself or whoever buys this place from us will dig a hole for a plant and find the remains of a squirrel. Fun times.
Stuart didn't quite know what to make of all the dogs, after all they didn't look anything like his puppies. It occurred to me after we got home that he's really only been exposed to Irish Terriers. There were a number of different breeds and mutts at the dog park, all very interesting for Stuart.
Stuart's love of dogs won out though and he enjoyed watching them run around. The dog park is great fun, if anyone has a dog I highly recommend going.

Happy Birthday Stuart

Stuart turned one today. Yesterday we celebrated his birthday (really B's) at the Tigers-Yankees game in Detroit. Since today is the Sabbath and since we don't do birthday parties on the Sabbath, we'll be celebrating Stuart's birthday tomorrow. Pics of that should come later in the week.

Psalm 1

¹Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

²But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

³And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

⁴The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

⁵Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Saturday At The Park

Today we went to Riverside Park to scope out a place for Stuart's upcoming birthday party. It wasn't all work and no play though, Stuart got to go to the playground for the first time. What little kid wouldn't enjoy going on the swings with mom?
Ok, let's be honest here. Stuart liked going on the swings with dad more than mom. Why? Because dad is willing to swing much higher than mom is.
Stuart loved the slide, here Janna is preparing to let him go while Dad is waiting for him at the bottom. There was only one problem to this arrangement, Janna wouldn't actually let him go down by himself. Typical mother.
We had to switch spots, I let him go at the top, Janna caught him at the bottom. It was much more fun that way, I actually let go of him allowing him to achieve the purpose for which the slide was built.
Next up it was the merry-go-round, which as you can bet was lots of fun. Needless to say, Janna panicked when I moved the toy in its intended manner. She was going all of 5 rpm's and she freaked out. Stuart enjoyed this greatly.
It's getting warm enough for Stuart to start playing outside. The grass is particularly interesting, a new excitement if you will.
This child is getting close to walking, perhaps if mom would let him go he could walk on his own. Or perhaps he would fall down again.