Sausage and Boudin Shack

3610 Reed Road

Back when I wrote about JW's Cajun Boudin Hut on Homestead I opined that our city needed more drive-thru boudin huts.  Up until now I have been rigorously ignored but there is at least this:  there's no drive-thru but in its stead is a parking lot and a neat covered outdoor dining area alongside a shotgun shack, just east of Scott, not far off of 288.

The owner is from La Grange originally.  He makes his own boudin but the sausage served is from Weimar.  There is also fried or grilled fish, wings, a pork chop and salmon croquets on the menu plus breakfast.  They are open 8 am to 8 pm Monday thru Thursday and 9 am 'til you stop eating' on Friday and Saturday.

It's a beef boudin.  I got an order by itself (also comes as a plate with choice of 2 sides and bread or toast).  It was about 12 oz of lightly smoked boudin with a portion of rice topped with diced tomatoes and green onions, plus saltines.

This is a Cajun Pate style of boudin.  You pierce the thick, inedible casing (not easy to do with the plastic ware provided) and squeeze it out onto the crisp crackers and you're good-to-go with Cajun Canapes.  This is not my favorite style of boudin but I found it very tasty.  There are no solid bits save for maybe a stray, partial grain of rice or the like and there's just a very mild heat.

I saw some of the fried fish plates being put together for takeout and they looked pretty good; the grilled fish plate on Yelp looks even better.

Sausage and Boudin Shack

The Lunch Bag

9900 S. Gessner @ S. Braeswood


This new truck popped up right in my neighborhood and I was very eager to rush right over and try it out. Not only is it convenient, it's one of the growing number of mobile vendors offering something other than or in addition to the usual tacos, quesadillas, burritos, etc.


So of course, I show you a picture of a couple of tacos...but they're a little bit different. The best thing I've had here was the Caribbean Jerk taco on the right, meaty chunks of chicken breast with jerk sauce, lettuce and tomatoes on a flour tortilla. I've also enjoyed a Buffalo taco, golden fried chicken tender chunks in a Buffalo sauce, also with lettuce and tomatoes. This wasn't as appealing to me because I don't care for hot wings or Buffalo sauce but the pieces of chicken were crisply fried making me think some of their other offerings will be good, too.

Less successful for me was the Blackened Fish taco, on the left in the picture, blackened tilapia with lettuce and tomatoes plus tartar sauce. Many people might find this just fine but tilapia is such a bland fish and I thought it needed a more assertive fish presence as well as a more assertive use of blackened spices. The whole thing was dominated by the tartar sauce for me. The tacos are served rolled.

I've also tried the jambalaya, a daily special one day (not listed among the regular daily specials) but I'm at something of a loss to assess jambalaya since I've had it only a handful of times and it's not something I usually order at a Cajun restaurant. It had a nice heat level with generous chunks of chicken breast meat and a rather salty beef sausage but the shrimp were frozen I think and the seasonings were lacking in complexity. I also would have liked more evidence of the veggies in the mirepoix.

The folks running the truck are very nice. There's a small tent at the end of the truck with some chairs to wait out of the sun but no tables. They occasionally take a day off (besides Sunday) because of catering or other commitments.

This end of town and my neighborhood in particular has not been fertile ground for mobile food vendors nor for those of us who like street food. While we have two of the very best in the Bansuri Indian Food Corner and Boogie's, the majority of the rest I've sampled do a competent but not spectacular job. I'm glad to see The Lunch Bag set up shop and I hope they make it. It sure is nice to have a change of pace on a food truck menu and one so close to me. Grits on a taco truck (on the breakfast menu)? Alright! And I'm interested to make it back over there for the fried catfish and sweet potato fries on a Friday.



The menu undergoes changes, especially the daily specials. The jambalaya I had one day is not listed, nor was the fried chicken dinner (2 wings, cabbage, toast and one other vegetable) on another day. Prices may vary too.

The Lunch Bag

Luke's Place

9600 Fondren, St. 104 @ South Braeswood

UPDATE: 7/23/10 - THIS PLACE HAS GIVEN UP THE GHOST AND IT'S A REAL BUMMER. IT WAS REALLY GOOD, HOME-STYLE CAJUN FOOD AND VERY ACCESSIBLE TO ME BUT THEY HAD A BAD LOCATION, INCONVENIENT PARKING AND ALMOST NON-EXISTENT SIGNAGE. BEST WISHES TO THESE FOLKS. I HOPE THEY LAND ON THEIR FEET SOMEWHERE ELSE (HOPEFULLY CLOSE BY AND HOPEFULLY I'LL DISCOVER THEM). IN THE MEANTIME, I'M EAGERLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CAJUN MADE CAFE GOING INTO THE FORMER FRENCHY'S LOCATION ON BELLFORT, ONE BLOCK WEST OF FONDREN.

This place bills itself as Classic Louisiana Soul Food and Cane River Cookin.' The owner is from Nachitoches, hence the Cane River Cookin' sobriquet. I've been going here since a few weeks after it opened last summer and had some very good meals. It's just minutes from my place so very convenient when I'm in a hurry and I've been 7 or 8 times.


The first time I went I had the Cajun Stuffed Meat Loaf and it's still the best thing I've had here, a very meaty, dense loaf with little or no filler material, covered with a spicy tomato gravy and served on a bed of mashed, skin-on red potatoes. I was able to find out the secret ingredient in the stuffing is minced green and black olives. The green beans were possibly canned but very flavorful while the mac 'n cheese was a bit thin and tasted too much of flour. This was the only time I've tried the mac 'n cheese which isn't a favorite dish of mine anyway.

The original menu spelled out which dishes would be available on a rotating basis and there were some very interesting sounding ones but there's recently been a revamping of the menu and some dishes no longer appear. Service is off a steam table for the plates while some items are prepared fresh. They've offered the famous Nachitoches Meat Pies a la Lasayonne's but have never had them to serve when I wanted to try them. Shrimp and sausage po'boys are available as well as Old Fashioned Hamburgers, made on order. The po'boys are a Wednesday special while the Hamburger is offered as a special on Monday. On the recent menu there's only one daily special, Monday thru Friday. Oxtails appear to be available to serve everyday and look good; I've had some of the gravy over rice with other dishes but haven't tried the oxtails, yet. A plate includes a choice of meat (2, sometimes 3 to choose from), a starch (rice or potatoes) and 2 vegetables.

Meatballs and sausage in mushroom gravy I tried once used canned mushrooms for the gravy; the sausage link was a very fine grind and mild and the meatballs, perhaps made the same as the meatloaf, could have used a little more browning before being added to the gravy as they were a little soggy. That was perhaps the most disappointing meal I've had. Their catfish has a heavier breading than I like but was okay otherwise; there are better places for catfish on the Southwest side as far as I'm concerned. Fried foods tend to have a very dark exterior but have not been over-cooked and dried out on the interior.



The fried chicken has been very good with a very thick breading, very moist and flavorful on the inside and very large pieces.

A sausage po'boy I tried once was different in that it used a thin sausage patty rather than a link. The bread was crusty but not up to the best po'boy bread I've had at Calliope. The gumbo here, a special on Friday, has a milk-chocolate colored roux and is very flavorful although somewhat thin. The one time I had it mine had whole tail-on shrimp, a blue crab claw and a skin-on, bone-in chicken wing. It was rather unique and very good. For some reason I failed to get a picture of either the po'boy or the gumbo.

Luke's has been discussed on HAIF's restaurant board and drew thoroughly positive comments. I was worried they might not make it, buried in the back corner of a small shopping center with inconvenient parking and barely noticeable signage, but I'm glad they have. Only one time have I seen dine-in customers...the place is clean and bright and cheery but a little lonesome for dining-in. My favorite soul food place in town is Just Oxtails on Reed Road, especially for the fried chicken and catfish, but that's a long way away and this is the best soul food I've found on the SW side.

JW's Original Cajun Boudin Hut

7719 Homestead Rd.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by The Linkster at The Boudin Link asking for some recommendations of locally produced boudin for him to review for his site. I'm not an expert on boudin; having found several that I like (Burt's, Boogie's, Crawfish City - all reviewed on this site), I seldom order it elsewhere. I've also tried most of the supermarket brands and a couple from Spec's deli and Hebert's. I sent him a list of all the reviews on b4-u-eat.com that come up when you search the site for boudin and also suggested he get in touch with Jim Gossen at his Great Southern Foods blog who probably would know more about where to find good boudin in Houston than me.

Since then, though, I've given some more thought to the subject and been more aware of it on menus. I tried the crawfish boudin from Poche's that I found at Spec's (didn't care for the pureed texture) and on a day trip to Galveston stopped off at Leo's Cajun Corner on Broadway at 32nd and tried both the crawfish and smoked boudins (didn't care for them much, either, again because of the texture and they were too mild).

I like a very firm textured link, firm enough to pick up and eat out of hand, with distinct grains of rice and bits of meat and whatever else is used, good and spicy and smoky. Burt's spicy/smoked is my # 1 choice.

One of the places listed on b4 that intrigued me was JW's Original Cajun Boudin Hut on Homestead, for which there were no reviews (but I found some elsewhere, on CitySearch I think).

I don't think I've ever been on Homestead Rd. in my whole life, indeed wasn't even sure what part of town it's in. It's on the far northeast side, of course, a part of town I seldom get to, but as fate would have it, recently I found myself having to make a trip up the EastTex Freeway and I decided to take a little detour and check it out. Serendipity, as they say.

JW's is located in a non-descript drive thru that has seen better days, perhaps several decades ago. There's a sign on the street but nothing on the building but an open sign and a note that Cajun deep fried turkeys are available, just below the drive-thru window. It is drive-thru service only; the only windows in the building are the drive-thru openings.

Despite that rather uninviting aspect, any misgivings were eased when I pulled up to the window and was greeted by one of the most pleasant ladies I've ever encountered in a drive-thru. I ordered some boudin; she asked if I wanted spicy or mild and I said spicy, of course. As she called out the order to someone behind her I inquired what else they offered, since there was no menu board. She cheerfully started to reel off a long list of dishes while handing me a take-out menu.

JW's serves a good variety of soul food and Cajun specialties including mild or spicy pork boudin as links or in cups, beef boudin, seafood boudin, and smoked boudin, mild or spicy. Unfortunately they were out of the smoked. Besides that there's a home made beef sausage, sausage on a stick, turkey legs, pork chop sandwiches and dinners, fish, gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, chili, red beans and rice and so on and so forth. She said there was just one item on the menu they don't make themselves; I think it was either the sausage on a stick or turkey legs but I'm not sure as I was having trouble taking it all in. She said the chili is not only homemade, it's made with 'real chili meat' and is good and spicy. It's a seasonal offering.



The link that I got for $2.65 was very impressively large; I calculated it to be about 11 or 12 ounces. There's not only no dining room, there's scarcely enough room for the drive-around and none to speak of for parking. Fortunately, all up and down Homestead are shuttered businesses and strip centers so I pulled in to a parking lot a couple of blocks away, put the car in Park and dug in.

The link was too hot to pick up in my bare hands but judging by the critical resistance-to-the-spork test, the casing had a moderate amount of snap, though it still was a little tough and chewy. The link was mostly rice but had full grains of rice through out plus identifiable bits of meat and red pepper. The heat level started out slow but built to a nice level and my mouth was happy for several miles down the road after I'd finished. I missed the smokiness very much and also the little bits of green onion in Burt's boudin, but I judged this one of the best I've had other than my aforementioned favorites. There seemed to be something else missing but I never could put my finger on it; maybe it was just the smokiness. It was a little on the dry side.

I think JW's is a neighborhood jewel and I wish it was in my neighborhood. As it is, I may never get another chance to try the food here but if I do, there are quite a number of dishes I'd like to sample. They're open Tuesday thru Saturday, 10a - 8p.

One important conclusion I've drawn from this little exercise is: Houston needs more drive-thru boudin huts.

The Linkster has not yet posted any recent reviews of Texas boudin but there are some older reviews of a few supermarket products and other Texas made links which you can check out just by scrolling down the list on the left side-bar on the site. He gave an A to DJ's, a Beaumont produced brand widely available in supermarkets here (it's the best supermarket boudin I've tried). He gave an F to a link he got at Central Market. It sounds like a case of mislabeled product to me but I've never bought boudin at CM.

Burt's Meat Market and Hot-To Go-Cajun Deli

5910 Lyons Avenue

After stocking up at Canino's and El Bolillo this week I made my way over to Burt's for the first time in quite some time. The place has been refurbished, new flooring, improved lighting, seemingly more space (I think they removed some of the display racks in the tiny grocery section). The biggest improvement is the menu, now on professionally printed placards hanging down over the counter. It used to be you had to wait until you were right at the front of the line before you could see the menu on pieces of paper somewhat randomly tacked on the wall to the left and had too little time to peruse it before it was your turn to order. It's still too much to take in. I had never known until a recent Press review that Burt's was known for it's pan sausage and I was looking for a pan sausage sandwich or something but didn't see one so I bought a pound and brought it home. That's some seriously good breakfast sausage.


In the spirit of the day I tried a couple of new things. My four course meal included a bacon-wrapped jalapeno sausage popper, spicy, smoked, loose boudin, a mess of greens, and chicken and dumplings. I've seen the latter before but always passed on it because I prefer drop dumplings but I thought I'd give it a try. It was good but I still would prefer drop dumplings so I'll probably not get that very often. The popper I don't think I'd ever seen before. One problem with Burt's is that things like that sit out under a heat lamp and may get dried out but this was not a problem - that sausage link (one Burt makes?) was very, very juicy and tasty. Not only that, the jalapeno was not stripped of seeds and was really spicy, putting my saliva glands into overdrive trying to cope with the heat. I should have fluffed up the boudin before snapping the pic - they stuff so much into the containers it got squshed down. The greens were from the bottom of the pan and included a huge amount of bacon; it took the server close to 5 minutes to fill that 2 c container as she had to drain each ladle of excess pot likker carefully before adding it to the container.

I picked up a business card which has a website listed, burtsmeatmarket.com, but I can't get it to come up.

Here's an earlier review on the blog.

Quick Bites

Hoang Banh Mi, 3509 Elgin @ Scott

I was tooling down Elgin and spotted the sign and thought to myself ‘Wasn’t that the name of the great banh mi shop inside the decrepit Hoa Binh mall on Milam?’ (also known as the Original Givrals). I pulled in for a quick banh mi thinking I might have made a big discovery. The Thit Nuong ($2.35) was smaller than I remembered but with more of the tasty grilled pork, or maybe it was just a relative thing. The baguette was very well toasted, a little over-done, but very good. I was in a hurry and got it to go but wish I’d gotten a little sriracha. The sign says Hoang Banh Mi, the business card says University Café with ‘Hoang Sandwich’ stamped on the back. On b4-u-eat it’s listed as Givral’s Vietnamese Bistro. Aha! So it is the same place and it turns out they’ve been open there for a couple of years - I just never knew it. I’ve had some great banh mi and beef noodle soup at the old place in the past and I’m glad to know where they are.

The Nickel Sandwich Shop, 5601 Lyons, just east of Lockwood

I’ve been intrigued by the Nickel, the old nickname for 5th ward where Burt's Cajun Meat Market is located, one of my favorite eateries. The old neighborhood is long past it’s prime and has been passed by (mercifully) by the chains except for a few of the fast food places. I’ve wondered if there are some more gastronic finds to be made amongst all the small, locally owned eateries, so when I saw the signs for fried chicken in the parking lot of this sandwich shop, I pulled in. It turned out they only do wings and breast strips and I’m not interested in them in my ongoing Chicken Fried Odyssey so I opted for a catfish po’boy.


It was on a store-bought multi-grain roll that was unremarkable but the sandwich was pretty good otherwise, so hot out of the fryer it burned the roof of my mouth. The fries were over-cooked and grease-sodden. Another customer told me the Trout Sandwich is good, too, and they also have flounder, plus barbecue (smelled good but I didn’t see any) and the special of the day was a Cajun Smoked Burger which I just may have to go back to try.

El Penjamo, 6110 Lyons, near Kress

I’ve developed an interest in exploring the regional variations in Mexican cuisine and when I found out the name of this restaurant seems to refer to a municipality in Guanajato I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve noticed the crowded parking lot during the lunch hour before when I’ve been to Burt’s just down the street. The restaurant is quite small and I saw no regional specialities of Guanajato on the menu that I recognized so I decided to try the Carnitas al Penjamo (they also have Carnitas Rancheras). The chips were fresh and oily with a fiery salsa verde and a very creamy one. The dish was delivered looking like a pile of fajitas and so sizzling hot the refritos were still bubbling but it was nothing like any carnitas I’ve ever had before and would have been more appropriately named Smothered Pork Chops al Penjamo style. Maybe that’s the way they do carnitas in Guanajato? It was good, just not what I was looking for. The sides - refritos, rice, guacamole, pico - were all good but were very small portions compared to the entree.

I did see Machacado (al la Mexicana, con Huevo and a Burrito) on the breakfast menu and the waitress said breakfast was available all day so I may go back to try that. Machacado (dried beef) is originally from Nuevo Leon, I think. Both waitresses spoke Spanish as a first language but both were very fluent in English.

Taqueria Mi Lindo Huetamo, taco truck on Hillcroft, 2 blocks south of Bellaire

Robb Walsh wrote this up on his taco truck blog last year and I’ve stopped by a couple of times. They were open New Year’s Day and I got an al pastor torta with their unusual marinated radish and onion salad. It was very good; the bolillo was soft and a bit spongy and only minimally toasted, the meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender and tasty, and there was close to a cup of creamy avocado in there. I prefer the bread crustier but this place is a real winner.



Taqueria Oaxaca - taco trailer squeezed into an already cramped parking lot in front of Variedades Puebla at 1833 Richmond, near Woodhead

In line with my interest in regional Mexican fared I checked this out. On the first visit I had a taste for a burrito.


It was huge, with rice, pork (tough), refritos, lettuce, tomato, avocado, queso, crema and a very good salsa verde and a lime wedge. A whole meal for $4, but burritos are probably not a regional specialty of Oaxaca. The menu on the side of the trailer lists enchiladas, huaraches, gorditas - I couldn’t wait to go back and try an enchilada and visions of a choice of moles danced in my head but, alas, they don’t do enchiladas, or huaraches, so I settled for a gordita with beef. It was very good, the best gordita I’ve had in a long time, but, again, not a regional specialty. I think the name on the trailer must have been from a previous owner. Almost no English was spoken by the senorita. The food was okay both times (the beef on the gordito was better than the pork in the burrito) but parking is a real drawback.

Burt's Meat Market

UNFORTUNATELY BURT'S IS NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED.  THE SAUSAGE MAKER, RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING PAN SAUSAGE AND OTHER VARIETIES, REPORTEDLY NOW WORKS AT HENDERSON AND KANE OFF WASHINGTON AVENUE.

5910 Lyons, between Lockwood and Kress

This is one of my favorite finds of the last several years. Burt’s is an actual meat market and small convenience store but they have a hot foods deli where they specialize in Cajun and soul food dishes and they do an excellent job on lots of things.

When you go in, you turn to the left and usually find yourself in a line, waiting to be served in the hot deli. Sometimes the line moves pretty fast - there are lots servers working behind the counter - but sometimes people (like me, for instance) come from across town to stock up not just get enough for one meal, and it can take a little longer. You’ll have to wait until you get closer to the counter to see the menu which consists of pieces of paper stuck on the wall to the left of the counter and get a look at the offerings yourself.

The gumbo is excellent, dark and rich, loaded with chicken and sausage. The first time I ordered it and saw the server deftly blending the rice and gumbo in the container I wanted to leap over the counter and grab it and gulp it down. Good thing I didn’t, though, it’s served piping hot. The greens are excellent, with a nice amount of heat, and the cabbage and sausages (+ bacon) is also excellent.

Then there’s the boudin which is sold both as links and loose, with the casing removed. It’s available either spicy or mild and it is without a doubt the finest boudin I’ve ever had. Of course that’s a matter of taste but I like that the rice is still firm, the grains identifiable, the burst of piggy-liver goodness on the first bite, the little, identifiable chunks of meat and even bits of green onion still having some of the texture of the raw vegetable. The boudin is also sold from the meat case to take home and prepare yourself and boudin balls are available.

The only things I’ve been disappointed in were the boudin balls and a piece of pie, I think it was supposed to be chess or buttermilk, which wasn’t much better than I could find at a supermarket. The boudin balls are precooked and under a heat lamp and tend to have absorbed too much grease in the cooking. One thing I’ve learned to look out for is if the server tries to drain too much of the pot likker off the greens or the cabbage, as mine did in the samples pictured here. They try to pack as much into the containers as they can and sometimes that means draining off too much of the liquid. I learned that too late for this report unfortunately.

There are many, many things offered that I haven’t tried but one unusual item I’ve had is the fried pork chop sandwich. I have an interest in the Pork Tenderloin sandwich common in the mid-west and very seldom seen on menus in this part of the country, but I thought I’d try Burt’s version of something similar. I’m not sure if this is a soul food thing or a Cajun thing but I’m guessing they don’t sell very many. The pork chops are already cooked and under the heat lamp - not an ideal prep, obviously. They’re quite large and served bone-in, even for the sandwich. The two times I’ve tried this it was prepared very differently but neither time did they have any ice berg lettuce. This is not a bad sandwich; not as good as an Indiana Pork Tenderloin (a credible version is served at the Little Bitty Burger Barn) or the fried pork chop sandwich at Sparkles’s Hamburger Spot (a review to be posted soon).

There is no eating allowed in the store and no place on the premises other than the front seat of your car but there is a small park behind the Tuttle branch of the library at Lyons and Kress, just a few blocks east. Other than that my only complaints about this place are: too many things to choose from and too far away. With regard to the latter, though, maybe that’s a good thing. If Burt’s was right around the corner from me I think I’d eat there far too often and I don’t think any of the offerings qualify as diet food.

For the sake of the pictures, I took the food home and put it in bowls; it’s served in lidded plastic containers and though the gumbo is so thick it’s practically forkable, all you get is a spork. The pork chop picture was taken in the front seat of my car. Here's a follow-up review.

Gimme them old-time burger stands - Sparkle's Hamburger Spot

Dowling @ Leeland, just East of 59.

A new contender for ‘best burger’ in Houston???? Well, not if you have to have fu-fu ingredients, white table cloth service (or service at all) and a see-and-be-seen clientele. Ever since I first saw this place I noticed it seemed to stay pretty busy and I had to check it out. I went expecting something like the burgers at Someburger on 11th street in the Heights or Jaime’s Dairy Treat in Richmond - thin, 50s style meat patties - but I was in for a big surprise.

The food took forever. I didn’t check the time when I ordered but I’m sure it was close to 30 minutes before I got my burger and I was getting quite frustrated. A few people had stopped in to pick up phone-in orders, on bicycle or on foot or by car, but only one of the other people in line in front of me had gotten their food in that time either. I wondered what in the world could be taking so long, and then I got the burger and beheld the patty and understood. The ‘patty’ was at least an inch thick and probably weighed 10 or 12 oz (I’ve since taken one home and weighed it at 10 oz). It was cooked too well done for my taste but was not too dry. There weren’t many condiments on the burger, a small amount of iceberg lettuce, onion strips, pickles, a slice of tomato, a generous amount (but not too much) of mayo and a small smear of mustard, about all that could be put on the burger and still leave it manageable. The bun was appropriately greasy and well toasted, probably necessary to keep this monster together until finished. The cheese was thoroughly melted across the top of the hand-formed patty. It was a sight to behold and it was very good.

The hand-cut, irregular fries weren’t very good, undercooked, a very pale golden color, but I didn’t care. This place is about the burger. I’ve tried the fries on another occasion and they were mediocre again. Unfortunately I’ve also gotten a burger to go one time that had been way overcooked and developed about a 1/4" crust on the bottom.

You can choose from bacon, cheese, chili, jalapenos, and hickory smoked barbecue sauce or various combinations of these as additional fixings but there is no bleu cheese or feta cheese, shitake mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts, raspberry vinaigrette, Brussel sprouts, radicchio or tender young salad greens or whatever it is they’re putting on burgers in trendy bistros these days.

There are turkey burgers and grilled or fried chicken burgers and a fried pork chop sandwich on the menu. The breakfast menu includes pork chops, ham, bacon, pan sausage or country links and eggs, tacos and grits. Cajun platters include chicken ‘n waffle or chicken ‘n pancake platters, available also with pork chops or catfish.

On my first visit I came to the conclusion Sparkle’s takes it’s name from the personality of the lady at the window, a delightfully pleasant young woman, but I’ve never seen her again on subsequent visits. It’s open 6a-6p on weekdays, 7a- 5pm on Sat and 8a-3pm on Sun, according to the signs.

Oh yes, the cheeseburger described above was only $3, the fries a buck extra. They also sell large, stuffed baked potatoes and chips and the fries also come w/chili and cheese, curly style, and as tater tots. None of these has proved to be as good as the burgers and the chili is ground meat with taco seasoning.

I picked up a copy of the to-go menu and always call in my orders in advance to avoid the wait. Obviously part of the reason it looks so busy is the long wait for the food. If it’s your first visit you might want to take a book!

Oh yes, on that fried pork chop sandwich. I’ve commented elsewhere on this blog on the pork tenderloin sandwich of the Midwest; the fried pork chop seems to be a soul food or Cajun counterpart and the one here is the best I’ve found. Though it’s just a cut of sirloin (boneless) its tender and very tasty, a real mess of a sandwich from the get-go, though, on plain white bread with just mayo, lettuce and tomato. I’ve thought pickles would be a nice addition but the tartness of the mayo is enough to balance the tastes for me.