What an experience!

You can't go wrong with crawfish as decoration!

Tonight I headed out to BFE (read: Hillsborough) to pick up a Craigslist purchase with Dawn and I jumped at the chance to try this new little Cajun restaurant I’d heard about in Leesburg. The Cajun Experience is a quaint little spot with street parking and a crawfish hanging above the door. I’d heard good things about this place from a couple of people, including Breaux Vineyards, so you know there’s no way I could pass it up.

We arrived and were immediately seated by the hostess with a smile a mile wide. There was no wait, but if more people find out about this place there could be a very long one. It’s a small house and can house only a few tables. This place would be perfect to take over for a small reception or large rehearsal dinner. We started out with drinks, and there’s only one thing you can order when you’re in a southern restaurant: Sweet Tea. Sadly, this started the meal a bit on a downer. The tea simply wasn’t sweet. It tasted like it MAYBE had 1/3 cup of sugar per gallon when it is required to have a MINIMUM of 1 cup per gallon, though usually more.

I GOT CRAWFISH!!!!

Now we had to chose appetizers, and in order to cover as much ground as possible I decided to take the gumbo as an appetizer while Dawn chose to go with fried shrimp. The seafood gumbo was quite good and filled with crawfish, shrimp, and crab, but there seemed to be something missing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but nonetheless it was the best gumbo I’d had outside of the South. Period. The fried shrimp were quite good and neither over-breaded nor too small. They did seem to be a small bit greasier than I prefer, but I’m notoriously difficult to please when it comes to fried shrimp.

For dinner Dawn went for the Red Beans & Rice which came with a side of potato salad. She was in love with the red beans and gobbled it up. It’s not an overly spicy dish, but it was well seasoned (I tasted it too…hehehe).  The tater salad on the other hand was not near chunky enough. It would have done well to have had more chunks and a bit less egg. But enough about that, let’s get on to the most important part of the meal: The Po’ Boy.

I'll always be an awful food writer because is never fails that I forget to take a photo before I dig in!

I ordered the shrimp po’ boy as my true test of this establishment’s fare. I’m very picky when it comes to  po’ boys so when someone puts it on the menu I absolutely have to order it. Before the sandwich came out I asked to taste the remoulade sauce because I thought I might want it more than the normal chipotle sauce. After trying both I definitely went with the chipotle sauce and was quite pleased. When it did arrive I was very pleased by what I think are the two most important parts of a po’ boy: 1.) The correct bread. 2.) An abundance of shrimp. I must say, this is a genuine po’ boy and worth the trip to Leesburg. On top of the first two factors there was the right proportion of lettuce, tomato, and sauce to shrimp. And the side…ohhhhh the side…. I first thought they had served it with Zapps crawtators, but I was wrong. They make their own cajun tater chips and they are delicious! Very well done guys!

Simply irresistible! I'll have to force myself to try the bread pudding next time.

Now on to the final round, dessert. Mmm… Dawn had the banana pudding because she is an absolute connoisseur of banana pudding. She rated is as mediocre with plenty of room for improvement. I went with the classic: beignets. With a true nod to Cafe Du Monde, these lovely French doughnuts arrived freshly cooked and caked in powdered sugar. I was in heaven. They weren’t as large as I remember from NOLA, but they were damn delicious and hit the spot. Just a tip for newbies though: hold your breath when taking a bite or you might regret it!

Overall my experience here was great! The service was excellent, the food was delicious, and I am still stuffed. I will most definitely be back, this is my new po’ boy spot since they left Clare & Don’s menu. Mmm… See you again soon Cajun Experience!

OM! NOM! NOM!