Cajun King Go For the Catfish

I have to admit to you that I am not a buffet fan.

I don’t care how good the food is when it’s first cooked, sitting on a buffet for long tends to make it lose it’s pop, no matter what you do to it.  There are some things that work well with buffets, and some things that don’t. For instance- soupy things or things in a broth, or some sauces tend to hold up well, while fried things and things that will separate or get too cool are usually not as good.

But isn’t that why we have buffets? So everyone can find those things they like for one price and enjoy them?

Such is the case with Cajun King.  There were many things I loved about the food, and a few things that didn’t work on the buffet.   It’s just the curse of the buffet-style service. But there were so many things that did work, I’m going to focus on the good things because Cajun King offers some things that are absolutely delicious.

The entire buffet is offered and paid for at the door when you walk in the door.  You pay your $9.95 (plus price for drink if you get one), and then you’re given free reign of the place for the remainder of the visit.  The entire time we were there, the place was hopping, and that is always a great sign if you ask me.

The decor hasn’t been changed much since Dina’s Cafe used to operate in the same space.

There are a few new touches like Mardi Gras beads that hang from the lights and a few Mardi Gras masks on the wall. But this is one of those places that you go to for fun and food, and decor just isn’t that important.

The buffet makes an L-shape, and I have to say, I approached it tentatively.

I had heard of a few things that I needed to try so I knew to try the crawfish etouffée, and the fried chicken.  I also tried a helping of cornbread, the blackened chicken pasta and some au gratin potatoes to start.

The étouffée was amazing and I loved it served over some dirty rice.

It’s a good thing I don’t work at Furr’s.  I would get fired for my sloppy dishing-up skills.  This was pretty spicey for me (but I’m a weanie) and I loved the flavors.

The chicken was great and I’m not a big fried chicken nut.  It was seasoned well and had a hint of sweetness as well in the batter.  Very yummy.

I had a bowl of their collard greens (we like to eat it with rice) and they were really good.  I mean way good!

Mr. Wonderful is a huge greens fan and he smiled bigtime when he ate these.

Mr. Wonderful will tell you every time he eats greens how, when in elementary school, they had to clean their plate before going outside.  Once a week they had greens, and all the kids at the table gave him their greens helping because he was the only kid who liked them.  The man loves him some collard greens.

In fact, Mr. Wonderful really, really loved this place.

But when I arrived back at the table, what had arrived in my absence quickly became the star of the show.  Fresh, hot, melt-in-your-mouth catfish strips.

This ruined me for the rest of the trip for anything else.  Cut in thin strips, this is the best catfish I’ve had in a long, long while.  It comes fresh out of the fryer and is brought to your table with a tangy honey mustard-type sauce that I loved.  When your plate is emptied, they will bring you more, for as long as you like.  I can’t say enough about how good this is…so I’ll say it once again…this is GOOD!

I would go again just for this.

These also come out hot and fresh with the catfish.  Beignets  – the French version of doughnut holes.

These were freshly fried as well and all-you-can-eat,  but I just didn’t want to fill up on fried dough.

And I wanted more of that catfish.  Seriously, I’m thinking about it now, and I want some.

Another worth while mention -the bread pudding.

I don’t usually like bread pudding, so when the owner told me I had to try it, I was thinking “yeah right”.  However, Mr. Wonderful got a plate and I decided to taste it.

And I liked it.  It was like a plate full of a gooey cinnamon roll.  It was wonderfully, sinfully, sweetly delicious.

We met Ken Mills while we were there, and you’ll never meet a nicer guy.

Ken, (who owned two restaurants in New Orleans and hails from there) co-owns the restaurant with Simeon Adda (former owner of Wellington Pancake House) and the two decided to venture into bringing Oklahoma some New Orleans style food and apparently it’s working, due to the revolving door of folks we saw pouring into the restaurant while we were there.

I am going back to Cajun King soon.  This time I will fill my plate with étouffée, greens, chicken, and bread pudding but I will save most of my stomach-space for catfish.

Because I can’t stop thinking about it.