Roadfood Seafood Quest

One of the reasons we wanted to go to New Orleans was to eat the fresh seafood. Well, to be truthful, "I" love seafood, Mary likes it bot would rather have a hamburger but she is tolerant of my passions. Unfortunately with the BP debacle the fishing and seafood industry has been decimated and many of the small Seafood Restaurants and Markets are struggling or worse, have closed. We were able to find one place open on a Sunday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Neither one of us really wanted to drive around looking. I tried my Yelp app and it suggested a couple of places but when I called, no one answered. So, we headed down the street figuring we were going to have to settle for something other than seafood. Anything Cajun would have been OK, but hey, you're by the sea, you'ld like to have seafood.

We found a little place, a dive really, called Steamboat Bill's Inc. Steamboat Bill's is one of those neighborhood fish markets and restaurant all in one. You walk in and one side is the fish market where you would normally be able to order all kinds of fish. The other side was the restaurant with a walk up counter where you ordered just like in a deli.

It was obvious that they had been hit hard by the spill. The normally full fresh fish display case was empty. There were only a hand full of people in the place. I asked how bad they had been hurt and it was obvious from their reaction that it was more than just business which was hurting.

We were afraid they weren't going to have much to offer. But most items except crawfish, boiled shrimp, oysters and soft-shell crabs, were on the list. Mary ordered a cup of gumbo and the fried catfish fillets. She said it was the freshest catfish she'd ever tasted. I ordered the shrimp etouffe and a shrimp po' boy.

The etouffe was very good. Nice and thick with plenty of that back of the throat pepper kick that you find in Cajun food. It wasn't too salty and it wasn't too hot. It was excellent. The shrimp po' boy was nearly as long as my forearm. And man was it loaded with shrimp. THEY DID NOT SCIMP ON THE SHRIMP. There was so much shrimp that when I picked up the first half to take my first bite, fried shrimp started falling out all over my plate.

And it was delicious. The shrimp was lightly battered, not so thick that you got mostly batter but just a light batter deep fried perfectly. The batter was crisp and crunchy. The shrimp was not overcooked but still tender and sweet. It's obvious they've done this awhile. (My guess is that it was probably either imported or fresh frozen but it was good.)

The po' boy was so big that after finishing 1/2, I simply opened the other half of the sandwich and just ate the shrimp.

If your'e ever in Lake Charles, Steamboat Bill's may not be the classiest place but the portions were great, the people friendly and the food was really good. They need our support. Who knows how long before they recover, if they ever do, so they also need our prayers.