This rare bird of a restaurant serves top-flight Cajun, Creole, French and vegetarian dishes in a parlor setting that goes beyond shabby chic. A former bodega, the building has a sweet, if rickety pink exterior featuring flower-filled window boxes and a kitchen that opens onto Sixth Street. And look out for that little step down in middle of the room, it sends the unsuspecting on a surprise trip. You might almost think you were in a bordello, given the flocked velvet wallpaper and red tablecloths. But the food is anything but a compromise of virtue.
Cornbread comes warm and crunchy-crusted.
Barbecued Cajun shrimp arrive in all their tentacled glory, heads and tails on, the sweet meat delectable dipped in a buttery brown sauce with rosemary. They're not half as messy to eat as you'd suspect. Jambalaya is a neat mix of spicy rice, generous chunks of moist chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage that gently tingles the insides of your cheeks with its peppery heat. This and another Creole specialty, gumbo, can also be ordered vegetarian. One night's smothered chicken special was Delta home cooking at its finest, pairing browned garlicky legs with herby 'dirty rice'' and maque chaux, a corn succotash minus lima beans.