Lucille's Creole Cafe

So, my Auntie has been in town for two weeks (visiting her daughter, celebrating my cousin's birthday and Mother's Day) and left last night. We celebrated her last day here with lunch at Lucille's Creole Cafe at Alameda and Logan. This made my third visit, my first lunch. I've been there for breakfast twice before.

Beignet

Biscuit

My first time at Lucille's was breakfast, and I had the Oyster's Rockefeller. This was a bed of steamed (just right) spinach topped with scrambled eggs and fried oysters, dripping with Rockefeller sauce (I can't tell you what's in this sauce, only that it's rich and delicious). Oh, and you get the giant biscuit, grits or potatoes, or the half and half of grits and potatoes, which I opted for. This was on President's Day, before our annual movie marathon, and we were hungry and had eyes bigger than our tummies, so we ordered beignets BEFORE the meal. And, since it was a Creole Cafe I had the delicious chicory coffee. The beignets were brown fried dough pillows that reminded me very much of sopapillas (but for the thick coating of powdered sugar they put on them), and Lucille's offers strawberry preserves and apple butter to dress them up with. We tried both and I preferred the strawberry preserves. The giant biscuit they bring with the meal was frustrating, because it was hot and delicious but you have to decide. If you eat it, you won't be able to eat your meal. I ate some of it, with butter and some of the strawberry preserves. It was light, crunchy on top and simply delicious. The Oyster's Rockefeller was a piece of art. The oysters were crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and the spinach was steamed to perfection, not mushy. On my second breakfast I had the "Creole Breakfast," which was a serving of meaty (with ham) red beans, topped with a couple of poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, grits and potatoes. A rich combination of fiery creole seasoning (in the beans) tempered by the creamy hollandaise. Oh and that huge biscuit. I fell in love with the red beans - spicy, perfect and meaty. I recommend this dish.

Above - Red beans and rice with andouille sausage, and corn bread below

Yesterday at lunch I had the Oyster Po' Boy. I asked them to substitute a side of red beans instead of the slaw or french fries, which they were happy to do. The Po' Boy was served on a kind of ciabatta bread with artichoke-mayo, lettuce and those delightful oysters. And instead of just a regular pickle, I was delighted to bite into a crunchy, pickled okra-pod pickle. In the end I ended up just eating the inside of the sandwich after struggling with all that bread, because I couldn't resist those red beans and ate them first. Auntie and girl-cousin had red beans and rice, which was served andouille sausage and slabs of moist, delicious corn bread. Boy-cousin had some standard bacon-and-egg breakfast, and complained that it wasn't enough food, although it was served with one of those mondo-biscuits.

Oyster Po'Boy with Red beans

I couldn't help noticing what the people at the next table were eating, especially since they were all up in our conversation after my loud boy-cousin launched into an incredible story about the court hearing of a family member had them all intrigued. The Bloody Mary's that they were drinking looked, well, sinful - course black pepper floating around in rich tomato, with a lovely kebab of an olive, okra-pickle and pink shrimp. They split this spicy, cheesy-looking casserole full of sausage and had a pink sauce they spooned over their biscuits, which was probably Lucille's version of sausage gravy. It looked fantastic, so that's what I will have next time. In the meantime, check out Lucille's for breakfast, lunch, or both. It hasn't disappointed me yet.

http://www.luciles.com/flash/