The best hushpuppies we ever had were at Joe’s Dreyfus Store Restaurant in Livonia, La., “located some 160 miles upriver from New Orleans on Scenic Bayou Grosse Tete in Pointe Coupee Parish.” Since our trip to the Deep South a few years ago, hushpuppies and poboys have only existed in memories of faraway lands.
All that changed one recent Monday morning. I discovered on the RN&R fax machine an unsolicited menu from Carolina Kitchen, one mile east of Baldini’s in Sparks. The restaurant was offering an All-You-Can-Eat Southern Fish Fry on Fridays after 5 p.m. for only $12.
My curiosity was piqued. I swiped the fax, called my new husband and with a watering mouth read the items on the special Friday menu: cornmeal breaded catfish, beer battered cod, hushpuppies, homemade giant beer battered onion rings, french fries and cole slaw. What more could one want—except maybe a side of ranch dressing! We counted the days till Friday, and when Friday came, we counted the hours till 5 p.m.
We arrived at the Carolina Kitchen, next door to Scores Sports Bar & Grill in industrial Sparks. The restaurant seemed spacious with big windows letting in plenty of sunlight, cheery blue-and-white checkered plastic tablecloths and cool Macintosh-blue vinyl chairs. It was homelike in an unpretentious, banquet-hall, wipe-your-spills-off-the-floor-’cause-there’s-gonna-be-some-dancin’ sort of way. A sign in the corner read: “Maximum Room Capacity: 80 persons.”
We placed our order with the friendly cashier and asked about the parameters of the all-you-can-eat deal. There was no buffet, which meant nothing sat cooked waiting to be selected. One simply walked up to the cashier again and again and requested more and more food.
The cashier, who worked through a cut-out opening in the wall, called back to the guy manning the fryers and an order was placed. In addition to the cashier and the fry guy, a server moved between the dining room and the kitchen delivering orders.
When we sat down, I noticed the big sign above the serve-yourself plastic silverware and napkins: “Best Pork Barbecue West of the Mississippi.” That’s when I did the geography: Most of Louisiana is west of the Mississippi—from Baton Rouge westward, including Livonia. That’s a mighty bold claim; I made a mental note to come back for the pork BBQ.
Within minutes, our piping hot, deep-fried food was served in red plastic baskets with a slice of lemon and a helping of tartar sauce. We were in pig heaven. My husband commented that the fried goodies didn’t appear excessively greasy. Everything smelled great. The fish was too hot to touch, so we began with the french fries. Good, solid russets—nicely salted, not too crisp, just right.
The onion rings? Huge! Again, no greasiness and, of special importance for onion ring lovers, no soggy batter. But the cod stole the show—firm, freshly fried and utterly tasty with no sogginess or greasiness. The cole slaw was cold and crunchy.
The hushpuppies were the coup de grâce. The crispy golden brown balls of cornbread, fried onions, green flecks of parsley and other seasonings were so delightful I lost count of the number I ate, but that’s OK. It was, after all, all-you-can-eat.
We noticed that the bottles of Tabasco sauce on each table were only six fluid ounces. That would be the single-person, single-meal size back in Louisiana. Still, if you can’t make your way to Livonia, La., or to North or South Carolina, get your hungry self over to the Southern Fish Fry at Carolina Kitchen.