I'm obsessed with type, and Hymel's retro signage makes me so happy
If you're anything like me, and you grew up in South Louisiana, it can be hard to drum up enthusiasm for a Cajun seafood restaurant. All fried seafood platters seem to meld into one in my mind, each pile of brown crunchiness indistinguishable from the last. In fact, writer Brett Anderson recently penned a column for Nola.com which insisted that fried seafood platters should get the hook.
Recently, Team Bite and Booze had the opportunity to eat at the famous Hymel's in Convent, La., where beverages are served in gigantic fishbowls and seafood is served fried and in heaping quantities.
Just about everything we ordered was fried.
Gigantic fishbowl of Abita Amber
We started with hush puppies and fried crab fingers as an appetizer. The hush puppies were some of the best I'd ever had (Blair insists Jay's from his legendary tailgating days are the best), and the crab claws were huge.
Jay and Blair split the largest fried seafood platter I'd ever seen. Piled high on the plate were fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried catfish, and a fried soft-shell crab. Served with coleslaw, white toast, and french fries, this platter could arguably feed a small army.
The soft-shell crab was fantastic. It was my first time eating soft-shell crab, and as strange as it was to literally eat the fried shell of the crab, it was incredibly tasty. Fried to a crisp, the fresh crab was a table favorite.
Seafood platter with soft-shell crab, fried oysters, fried shrimp
I made out like a bandit. For about $10 I wound up with a huge plate of fried chicken. And y'all, I love my grandma, but this fried chicken blew hers out of the water. It blew Chicken Shack out of the water. It changed my life. I have formed a religion around it.
There is no god, only Hymel's fried chicken.
The crispy corn meal crust had a distinct pork flavor to it, leading me to believe it may have been fried in...wait for it...actual lard.
The result was a crust that tasted like cracklins. Heaven help us all.
Some of the best fried chicken I've ever had
If you ever find yourself near the river in Convent, hit up Hymel's. It's worthwhile.
First things first: I enjoyed the food. No, it didn't stand out as revolutionary, inventive, or inspired. Then again, I don't believe anybody ever said that it would be. Crispy Catch is what it is – a place to get fried catfish fingers, fries, hushpuppies (or as they call them, corn bobbers), and boudin balls akin to Tony's Seafood, which are some of the most snackable and magical boudin balls in the world. They finished second in our ranking of Baton Rouge balls. The restaurant itself is a new fast-casual concept seeking to bring the flavors of Louisiana to a hungry audience.
Immediately upon walking up to the restaurant that has been built out of the old, iconic Kean's Dry Cleaning building near the Perkins Road overpass, you get the sense that they are going for something bigger than just one location. The branding screams corporate, like they've already designed their logo and color palate to expand to numerous locations. It may work. There is clear evidence of utilizing a Raising Cane's model, which certainly paid dividends for them.
Catfish Fingers at the new Crispy Catch on Perkins
Like Cane's, which started at the nearby North Gates of LSU, Crispy Catch offers a welcoming environment and a simple menu. There are four main combinations to order with different amounts of fried catfish and extras. They also offer fish tacos, which I definitely want to try but haven't yet. I opted for the Surf & Turf combo – the meal that came with boudin balls in addition to the catfish, fries, cole slaw, and hush puppies. The total for the entire plate and a drink came out to just over $13.
Based on the way the combo came out on a plate with fries and catfish fingers, I couldn't help but to think of Cane's and their chicken fingers with crinkle cut fries. They even had their signature "Reel Sauce," a remoulade style sauce very similar to Cane's Sauce. All in all, the fries weren't all that much to speak of, though they were fries, and certainly not bad. They were plentiful and thin cut, but not to the point of being shoestring.The cole slaw offered very little to my taste buds, though I suppose a little tang to go with all the fried food isn't bad.
Compared to Cane's (not they have to be compared to Cane's, but they brought the compare and contrast on themselves), I noticed the absence of fresh squeezed lemonade and really good sweet tea. The beverage options were pretty much limited to a Coca-Cola lineup of fountain drinks, which I feel can be improved upon. If you want to be a local joint, bring in a cooler with some Swamp Pop and other regional beverages. If the idea is to build something that can be scaled to many locations, and you're copying Cane's anyway, don't underestimate the value of the beverages.
Another thing that makes Crispy Catch fast-casual but not necessarily "fast food" is that there is no drive through. Nothing wrong with that, though the convenience sales to night-owls in the overpass area could be a good business model. That being said, as of now the hours at Crispy Catch don't go into the late night market anyway.
The star of the show definitely proved to be the fried fish, with a nod to the boudin balls as well. At the end of the day, a place is judged on what they truly claim to be good at, and at Crispy Catch that's the USA farm raised catfish fingers. The don't do any whole filets of catfish. They don't fry shrimp or any other Louisiana seafood. The star of their limited menu is the catfish, and it lived up to expectations. The slender strips of catfish are marinated and battered in seasoned flour. It is a departure from the more common cornmeal style fish fry base around here, but I didn't mind. The catfish indeed had plenty of crispiness. The reel sauce and the house tartar sauce were both great dips for the catfish.
I also can't complain about the hush puppies or boudin balls. I'd even go back for the boudin balls. They really are very similar to Tony's, which again, is good in my book. In fairness, the owners of Crispy Catch are tied to the family that owns Tony's, though they no long share any stock in the famous seafood market. Still, I can see why if they wanted to put boudin balls on the menu that they'd go with a replica of the Italian-inspired boudin ball.
I can see myself going back to Crispy Catch, but I don't know how often. The very limited menu will make it hard to go often. And the fact that they aren't as convenient nor do they have all the intangibles as Cane's means they won't really get the quick-meal-on-my-way-home kind of business. And as much as I've compared Crispy Catch to Raising Cane's, it is missing perhaps the most important element: the "One Love" motto and attitude. I didn't feel it. I just had a decent fried catfish platter, but nothing else about the experience would make me identify with the brand. Perhaps in time they'll find their own motto.
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!
Jay's Bay X: Winter Games turned out to be a roaring success despite the absence of our dear friend Chetan, who happened to be frolicking around on the other side of the globe instead of living it up at Jay's Bay with his boys. We dearly missed Chetan, but his spirit stayed with us as his picture from our high school days joined us everywhere we went.
John, Tyler, and the Spirit of the Sweet Indian Prince
Most of what happens at Jay's Bay stays at, well, Jay's Bay. However, this being a food and drink blog, I thought it would only be right to feature some of the wonderful food that got cooked up over the New Year's weekend. Thursday evening brought New Year's Eve and, along with it, an amazing fish fry.
Hushpuppies in the Oil and Slap Ya Mama Battered Catfish Filets
For any of you who have never had Slap Ya Mama fish fry I suggest you try it, and soon. They make an amazing blend of corn meal and spices that adds just the right amount of flavor to season the fish without overpowering it. Tyler and Lauren helped me cut the fresh catfish filets into strips. We then dipped them in whisked eggs and milk, followed by giving them a coating them in Slap Ya Mama fish fry, before dipping them into the hot oil. The fish turned out crispy, moist, and delicious. To add to the fish we also fried up a couple batches of hushpuppies. The guys from Texas brought some jalapeño hushpuppies and I found a bag of homemade corn balls at Southside Produce back in Baton Rouge so we did a little taste test. I liked the jalapeño spice from the Texas puppies but the Louisiana spheres had more overall flavor and pizzazz. They definitely won the show so I'm glad that I found them at the local produce stand.
Jay Doing the Frying, Showing off the Feast, and some Remains of the Finished Products
New Year's Day brought on my efforts to try to watch football... and gumbo! I brought everything that I needed from the bayou to the bay so that I could make a duck, chicken, and sausage gumbo for the gang. The ducks were killed during our duck and goose hunt near Jennings, La. You can click here to see the blog post and video from the hunt.
Step one for the gumbo was to roast to the chicken and ducks for a few hours to get them cooked to the point that I could pull the meat off the bones. The night before I cooked the gumbo, Tyler helped me liberally season the birds inside and out with fresh sea salt, cracked black pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, and thyme. We let them sit in the fridge overnight and then in the morning I covered them in foil on a roasting pan and put them in a 350 degree oven for an hour and a half to two hours. I let them cool for a while after pulling them out of the oven until the temperature lowered enough to get my hands dirty. I pulled off all the meat from the birds and placed the shredded chunks of goodness into an appropriately sized mixing bowl. All of the skin, fat, and bones from the poultry were placed into my large stock pot to be rendered down even more for the stock. I also poured a little bit of the liquefied duck and chicken grease into a sauté pan for later.
Two Ducks and a Chicken after Roasting, Stock Simmering in the Pot
While I messed with the avian proteins, Tyler graciously cut up my vegetables. He diced two medium yellow onions, two green bell peppers, and 4 stalks of celery (known as the Holy Trinity of Cajun cuisine). I also had him press six or seven cloves of garlic to mix in with everything. All the vegetables and garlic were blended together in another large mixing bowl. I took several handfuls of the vegetable medley and added them to all of the chicken and duck leftovers in my stock pot. I then added about 3 quarts of water (that's a guess) and let the stock simmer for another couple of hours while I watched football on TV. It was New Year's Day, after all, and the Tigers were playing. That's all I'll say about that!
When the football game ended I returned to my wild game in the kitchen to get the full gumbo in the pot. I turned the burner off on the stock and removed the lid to let it cool. I then heated the sauté pan that I put a little extra duck and chicken fat in and added the remaining onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to start cooking it down. The veggies were stirred while the stock cooled until the onions started to turn clear. Fortunately there was no shortage of large bowls and pots at Jay's Bay. I poured the stock through a strainer into another pot. The strainer collected all of the bones and skin segments for me. However, it also had all of the cooked down vegetables that I placed in with the stock, and I didn't want to waste that flavor. After shaking out all of the liquid, I placed the strainer over the trash can and started picking through the solid remains. The bones and skin that I found were moved to the trash can while the rest of the tender meat that fell off the bones, as well as the soft and translucent Trinity morsels, made their way back the pot.
Back at my now empty, original stock pot, the time had come to add all of the ingredients together. I started with the freshly cooked down vegetables and garlic, then added all of the de-boned meat that I had placed in the fridge. Oh, and don't forget the two pounds of Manda Cajun sausage the John sliced up for me. All of that was covered with the stock that I had previously strained into the other pot. I added more garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and cayenne, threw in a couple bay leaves, a few shakes of gumbo file, and several heaping tablespoons of previously made roux, stirred the pot real good, and let everything simmer for a few more hours while we sat by the fire that Chad and Ashley made outside and told stories. When the time was right the gumbo got served over some fresh Louisiana rice that I also picked up at Southside Produce (where all of my vegetables came from) and some potato salad on the side.
The finished product tasted amazing:
Jay's Bay Video: Duck, Chicken, and Sausage Gumbo and Fireworks!
Now I'd like to share a brief booze story. There was plenty of booze flowing throughout the weekend including several types of bourbon and whiskey, unique flavored vodkas, and an assortment of St. Arnold's beer out of Houston. However, for NYE, Katie and company brought a couple bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate the occasion. Having seen several celebrities open Champagne and sparkling wines with a knife or sword on TV, I thought that this would be a perfect time for me to give it a try. It took an old heavy knife out of the kitchen drawer and went out to the back porch with my buddies. Taking the back end of the blade, I struck the bottle just under the rim. Success! The cork, along with a portion of the glass from the neck of the bottle, shot off into the yard like a baseball shoots off of Albert Pujol's bat. Liquidy delight bubbled out of the opening that I created, and we were ready to toast 2010!
Jay with the Cut-Off Sparkling Wine Bottle, Bottle and Toasting Glasses Ready for Midnight
I love Jay's Bay. There aren't many annual or semi-annual trips that I look more forward to. Getting together will all my old high school buddies has never let me down, although I do wish Chetan could have been there. I'd like to give a special thank you to Chad, Ashley, John, Lauren, Tyler, and Katie for the great weekend at Jay's Bay and all your help and friendship along the way. And Johnny, if you are reading this, I'd love for you to come next summer as well! Until then, have a great 2010, and I'm sure there will be plenty more Jay's Bay trips in the future!
Tuesday night brought upon the latest in a long history of reunions at The Chimes by LSU. The Chimes is a classic eatery and watering hole that is dear to so many in the LSU community and all around Baton Rouge. Their beer selection, which was by far the best in town for a long time, is extensive and various, and their food is always delightful. This particular Tuesday night reunion was brought about by Paul Holbrook who happened to be in town from Chicago and wanted to get together with a group of buddies. Brent came and picked me up, and we rolled to The Chimes where we met Paul and Michael Northington at the bar. They promptly sat us at a table for eight where we ordered a round of drinks (Shiner Bock for me), an order of boudin balls, and two dozen oysters. After all, Tuesday is 35 cent oyster day... all day!
Boudin Balls at The Chimes
Two Dozen Raw Oysters at The Chimes
After a few minutes of feasting on the fried boudin and raw oyster delicacies, we were joined by James Lawson, Brian Thom, and my brother, Eric Ducote. James ordered a double Talisker on the rocks which is one hell of a Scotch Whisky. Order one whenever you feel like going top-shelf and you'll see quickly why we call it the "Marksalot". Talisker is distilled on the Isle of Skye and is a single malt whisky with a strong peat content and a very unique, spicy taste and smell.
With appetizers and drinks in our belly, the seven of us set our eyes on some main courses. It is pretty hard to go wrong at The Chimes, and there were some pretty good off-the-menu tweaks to popular dishes, which is common with our group. I went with one of my favorite sandwiches of all time, that way I could write about it here! My order: The Chimes Club, fried, on a croissant, no mayo, with a side of alligator sauce, and an order of hushpuppies. The only thing I did wrong was forget to say "no pickles!"
The Chimes Club, Fried, on a Croissant with Alligator Sauce and an Order of Hushpuppies
This sandwich truthfully is one of my all-time favorites, but not many people have ever enjoyed it. The normal Chimes Club comes with a grilled chicken breast on whole wheat bread and regular old mayo. Getting the chicken fried, the croissant added, and the alligator sauce in exchange for the mayo... MONEY! The warm, buttery croissant melts in your mouth as it fills with the juicy, tender chicken breast that is topped with succulent ham and crispy bacon. What a feast! The hushpuppies are one of my favorite side items at The Chimes. They make one of the best hushpuppies that I've ever had so when I'm there I like to get an order. They are beautifully fried balls of corn meal and spices that make your mouth water with excitement and anticipation while you slice them open to spread some butter on the inside or just dunk them one at a time into the butter to get a nice coat of cream on the outside.
This Chimes reunion was short and surprisingly sober. I guess we are all getting older now with jobs to worry about and such. No worries though. It was still as great time with fantastic friends, plentiful drinks, and delicious food. I'll be back many, many more times and continue to have a smile on my face every time.
