Bourbon St Grill

If you’ve been by the new Richmond Center food court, you’ve probably been accosted by the hawkers at Bourbon Street Grill.  Apparently it’s a franchise, and Coquitlam Center got theirs first, but for Wendy and I it was a new experience and based on their friendly staff and abundant samples we picked it as the first place to try in the food court.  But there are many other interesting choices for future visits, including a Korean BBQ joint with burgers too, and a really modern looking Japanese place that serves takoyaki and other street food as well as noodle and sushi dishes.   There’s too many interesting places to list here, so I’ll get to the review at hand:

The concept is based on Southern USA Cajun/Creole style cooking, so think comfort food.  The staff there are awesome, and don’t be shy to ask for samples of whatever catches your eye before you buy.

This is a sample of their meat dishes, including Cajun Chicken, Blackened Shrimp and Blackened Fish.

Ouisi Bistro

Having always passed by Ouisi Bistro on our way to Ezogiku, I was eager to try out just what exactly ‘Southern’ cuisine it like.

More importantly, I wanted cornbread. I could NOT find it anywhere else in Vancouver.

Ouisi Bistro boasts authentic New Orleans cuisine, namely Cajun and Creole. On their website, they describe Cajun as “Rustic, hearty and spicy country food, originally from Southern France, brought to Louisiana by the Acadians and heavily influenced by indigenous plants and wildlife.” and Creole as “A cuisine born in New Orleans closer to French classical, yet heavily influenced by the Spaniards, Africans and Native Americans. Dishes more subtle in seasoning and refined in presentation than Cajun cooking.”

Much to my pleasure, cornbread was served much like how other restaurants give you bread and butter once you’ve placed your order. It was just as good as I remembered. However I think it would’ve been better if it was served warm.

For appetizer, we ordered the Fresh P.E.I Mussels (Lafayette). The broth was very different from Mussel dishes we’ve had in the past. In this selection, the broth is spicy and slightly bitter (but only I noticed that). Honestly I prefer mussels prepared west coast style. However, the Boyfriend enjoyed it very much and sopped up all the broth with the baguette which came with the plate.

For our entrees, the Boyfriend ordered the Jambalaya. He said it’s because Star Trek always talked about it (namely the Deep Space Nine series) and he’s always wanted to try it.  The rice pilaf portion was very much like Uncle Ben’s Minute rice, so I did not enjoy it that much. Overall I did not enjoy this dish that much. It did not “wow” me.

For my entree, I ordered the “House Flight”. Basically, it is a sampling of 3 dishes. From the left there’s the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Tenderloin served with fresh fruit salsa, Gator Bite (‘house marinated, farmed Louisiana alligator served with Cajun tartar‘) and Cajun Style Crab Cakes with corn relish and a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.The Jerk Chicken was a bit too spicy and salty for me. I enjoyed the mango salsa though. Gator Bite was TERRIBLE. I’m not if it’s the fact it’s farmed crocs or what but there’s a certain fish tank smell to it and it was, as chinese would say…very “sang”. It probably bothered me also due to the fact that I couldn’t get over that I’m eating crocodile. The texture of it was also very tough, but that’s the nature of croc meat I guess. But I really couldn’t finish it. I had 4-5 strips at most and gave the rest to the Boyfriend. He didn’t seem to mind it though. But then, he doesn’t seem to mind anything…
Lastly, the crab cakes were ok. It was nothing that special. Nothing compared to the scrumptious ones we had at Mi Bar & Grill. The corn relish was overly sour too I found.

Overall, my impression of southern cuisine is SOUR and Spicy. I did not enjoy it that much. However, I did see on their menu they had lunch sandwiches which seems interesting. We’ll probably go back to try that for lunch one day.

The bill came to a total of around $35 with Entertainment coupon.