Introducing Jay D's Louisiana Molasses Mustard!

Check out our revamped labels! They're going to grace the next batch of Barbecue Sauce as well.

It's finally here!

After months of laboratory testing and repeatedly shouting the phrase "back to the drawing board!" we at last perfected the recipe for the long-awaited Jay D's Louisiana Molasses Mustard.

Combining three of our favorite ingredients (Louisiana-made hot sauce, mustard, and cane syrup) in perfect proportions, we came up with what we think is something really special. It's hot, tangy, and sugary sweet, and we can think of a million different ways to enjoy it.

As a salad dressing? Sure.

As a marinade? Why the heck not?

As a dipping sauce? But of course! Toss some dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets in the oven! LET'S DO THIS.

We hope you're as stoked about this product as we are.

Pre-order a bottle online, and stay tuned for some fun recipes with the Molasses Mustard!

Seattle Part II: The Pyramid Alehouse

After wrapping up with drinks and a snack at The Pike Brewing Company in Seattle Part I, Eric and I took a nice little walk to SoDo where we found the Pyramid Alehouse right next to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.  Stop number two on our Friday-Funday awaited us with more beer and delicious food.  We met up with Meech Crowley, a "brandvangelist" for Pyramid Brewing, who hung out with us at the bar as we talked about Seattle, Louisiana, travels, and, of course, beer.    

The Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle, WA

Once again we began our beverage intake with a sampler platter.  Pyramid's sampler came with five brews to choose from out of the majority of the beers they had on tap.  Picking the first five to try proved to be a bit of a challenge, but after I accomplished that task I promptly had some assorted liquid refreshments awaiting my taste buds.

A Beer Sampler Pyramid Style

I tried to get as much of a variety pack as I could when choosing my sampler dejour.  My selection included the Audacious Apricot Ale, the Haywire Hefeweizen, the Thunderhead IPA, the Alehouse Amber Ale, and the Grifter IPA.  The Audacious, Haywire, and Thunderhead are three of Pyramid's flagship, year-round brews.  I found the apricot ale to be a great fruit beer.  After the walk from the Pike Place Market, a refreshing, summertime beer really hit the spot.  The wheat malt and unfiltered appearance added to the beer's overall aroma and appearance.  The hefeweizen was very similar to the apricot ale minus the fruit influence.  A typical unfiltered wheat beer, the Haywire didn't blow me away.  The Thunderhead IPA is a lighter, golden IPA that is not over-hopped and is quite enjoyable.  While it does not deliver a "thunderous" Pacific Northwest hop overload to the tongue, it is quite nicely balanced with malt to make a pretty good light IPA.  The Amber didn't impress me much, but like almost all cold beer, it was certainly drinkable.  The Grifter IPA may have stolen the show though.  One of Pyramid's summer seasonals, the Grifter IPA delivered a much stronger bite than the Thunderhead.  Using two different malts and four different types of hops, this beer packed a punch of flavor just like what I was looking for in Seattle.  Bravo to the brewer!

Pyramid's Garlic Cheese Roll

Needing to put a little more food in our stomach's, we opted for our waiter's suggestion for an appetizer.  The garlic cheese roll is a well-portioned pizza roll filled with mozzarella cheese and rep pepper flakes, and brushed with roasted garlic olive oil.  Ours also came stuffed with pepperoni and served with marinara for dipping.  While the garlic cheese roll did nothing to bring out Seattle culture or flavor, it did pair nicely with my empty stomach and all that beer.  The dough tasted hot and fresh while the filling and sauce made me happy.  Hard to argue with that.

The Sausage Sampler at Pyramid

Needing to fill up with a little more pub-grub in between vessels of liquid courage, I opted to try Pyramid's sausage sampler.  The entrée came with three links of Uli's Famous Sausages, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, grilled onions, Audacious Apricot Ale BBQ Sauce and honey beer mustard. The sausage came in three different styles which I found quite appealing.  There was a traditional English banger, a German bratwurst, and a Cajun chicken sausage.  All of the sausages were quite appetizing and the sauces were delicious.  But the main thing was that I had some subsistence in my stomach because I was really there to drink.

The sampler obviously could not satisfy my thirst alone, so I drank several more pints.  And then a few more... I think.  The bar filled up as the pre-game Mariners crowd started to arrive.  We had a couple of visitors stop and chat with us for a while about the oil spill and other things, but the main thing Eric and I did was keep drinking.  My favorites included the Fling Pale Ale and the Dark IPA, though there were several more that added to the flavor profile of Pyramid.  They did seem to be missing a dark beer though.  There was no porter or stout option, which would have been nice to try.  Still, the cold beer satisfied every bone in my body during the Seattle heat wave.  Thanks to Meech for chatting with us about the brewery, and I'll make sure to go back next time I'm in Seattle!

Now on to Seattle Part III for more debauchery and amazing cuisine!

Things To Do
Seattle

Cajun Tales... Tall Tales After Dunk Hunting

After a successful duck hunt in South Louisiana, our group realized that we had worked up quite a hunger.  Brent, Brandon, Billy, P, and I took a ride to Cajun Tales Seafood Restaurant in Welsh, Louisiana to fill our empty stomachs with some comfort food.  P seemed to know everyone in the place, and the waitress brought him a tea that was half sweet and half unsweetened mixed together without even having to ask for him.  That was nice.   

Cajun Tales Seafood Restaurant in Welsh, La

I decided that my hunger warrented plenty of grub, and wanting to try an assortment of local fare, I ordered the fried seafood platter which also came with gumbo and salad.  The seafood gumbo had a rich and earthy roux that worked very well with the accompanying shrimp and oysters.  What a great way to start out any meal!  The green salad with honey mustard dressing was about as standard as it gets.  Chopped iceberg lettuce, check.  Honey mustard, check.  Call it a salad, check.  Moving on...

A Bowl of Seafood Gumbo and a Honey Mustard Salad

After I got the formality of the roughage scarfed down, the time came to turn my attention to the fried seafood platter that lurked in the shadows of the table.  The fried catfish, stuffed shrimp, fried oysters, hushpuppies, crab fingers, and sweet potato fries all stared back at me as though they knew their disposal would come in the form of my digestive system.  Oh yes, it was devouring time!

Fried Seafood Platter

All of the food on the plate was wondeful under the cirumstances.  I had an extreme hunger, and everything was certainly very edible.  However, the fried seafood did not blow me away.  I think they could use an upgrade to their badder and a change of cooking oil.  Likewise, the sweet potato fries were nothing that I'd die to go back for.  Of the meal, I thought that the fried catfish was probably the best item.  I still ate all I could and at the end of the meal left full and satisfied.  I suppose that is what really counts!

Things To Do
Lake Charles

The Roux House for Lunch with some Friends

My favorite novelty about being downtown for work these days is all of the lunch hot spots that are available within a very short walking distance.  Recently I received a phone call from Justin Ulrich, a former grad school colleague, who was hoping to meet up for some grub after he did a little research for his dissertation at some of the governmental offices.  Not being one to turn down good company for feasting, I easily obliged.  At pretty much the same time that Justin contacted me, I was also propositioned for doing lunch with Eric, Kevin, and Shawn.  I saw no reason why we couldn't all five dine together, so I told them to head downtown to join up with Justin and me. 

Justin and I walked around downtown for a little bit to see what the local restaurants had to offer.  It was a beautiful day so we decided that it would be wise to find somewhere that we could sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.  While it is best known for being a bar at night, the Roux House on Third Street offers up some pretty decent lunches at fair prices with both inside and outside seating.  Our mind was made up, and we grabbed a table in the courtyard area.

The Roux House Courtyard and Wall

The special on this magnificent Monday was Shrimp Acadiana.  For those who may not know, a typical "Acadiana" dish features something smothered in crawfish etoufee.  It is much like rice and gravy with some sort of smothered meat like a pork chop, but instead of rice and gravy it has rice and crawfish etoufee.  Usually the meat in an Acadiana dish is some sort of fried seafood like catfish or, in this case, shrimp!

Shrimp Acadiana with a Honey Mustard Side Salad at the Roux House

To start with, I had a side salad with honey mustard dressing.  The rabbit food was a slightly above average side salad and certainly gave my diet a little much needed roughage.  The honey mustard itself was top notch, but surely something that came in a prepackaged bottle.  The Shrimp Acadiana had a great flavor to it.  The fried shrimp formed a ring around the outside of the plate while the crawfish etoufee sat nicely in the middle.  The shrimp themselves were spicy and flavorful, though a little smaller than I would have liked.  Although, given their size, the Roux House did make up for it with quantity.  There were enough shrimp for nearly every bite to have a fried shrimp and a fork full of Cajun goodness. 

I truly enjoyed the company for a downtown lunch as well as the food.  I've come to really be a fan of guests for lunch, experiencing new restaurants and items, and showing other people dishes at places they've never been before.  A lot of people around Baton Rouge don't even know the Roux House is open for lunch.  That, my friends, is a mistake because you really ought to give it a try!