Food & Drink Feb 5, 2014 at 4:00 am

The Creole Greatness of Restaurant Roux

Matt Lewis and Mike (aka Mikey) Robertshaw. Kelly O

Comments

1
This is 2000's not the 80's. Love your skill, not your abrasive "East Coast" ps. Signed. Been there, done that.
2
I cannot wait! The "Where ya at Matt" truck is so consistently delicious.

Also Bethany, this is particularly gorgeous food writing. I mean, you're always a joy to read, but this is even better than the norm.
3
Maybe a link so, you know, we know where the place is? Or are we not hip enough to go if we don't just automatically know where it is?
4
Restaurantroux.com
5
It's actually in the old Buckaroo location.

Bethany, can you do Brimmer & Heeltap or Bourbon & Bones next? Thanks!
6
Well, I was a little sad the other day to walk by and see the place looking all fancy and cleaned up. There's so many fancy places in Seattle these days, and all the weird gritty ones seem to be vanishing too quickly. But you've convinced me to give the place a try.
7
I have a question: What's a whippet in this context? I know it's a dog bread, but other than that the only food related thing Wikipedia lists is a Marshmallow cookie of some sort....

I'm pretty sure that's not what is meant in the "fizzy grapes" description, so I'm clueless!
8
How do you rate it next to Marcela's?
I am still learning my way about town and well Valentines Day is approaching

http://www.marcelascreolecookery.com/
9
When you write things like this, you're making a strong political statement, somewhere to the right of GW Bush. Not a word on the ethics of selling this stuff? Or where the products are sourced? Or how the animals were treated when alive? Or the health effects of consuming this stuff?

This article does not belong in a progressive newspaper. Neither does most of BJ Clement's previous restaurant writing.

A restaurant review that belongs in a progressive newspaper should not only write about the mainstream concerns above, that you'd find in USA Today, but also should write about actual progressive topics, like the workers' compensation and treatment, and impacts to the neighborhood.
11
@9: Oh, Shut Up. Have you not yet tired of your idiotically cliched persona, or is the thrill ( or maybe the money) of being the right wing's wetdream of a progressive too much for you?
12
@#9, just as not all Christians are intolerant young-earth creationists, not all progressives are strident, killjoy vegetarians.
13
@11 @12 -- Word. I do have some of those concerns but mostly I want to know how it compares to Marcelas!!!! Either of you been there?
Peace.
14
@2: Aw, shucks, and thanks so much!

@3: There's a light-green box near the top of the review that has the info and a link to even more info, including a map.

@5: Those are on my list for sure! Have you been to either yet?

@7: Whippets are when you inhale the nitrous oxide from a whipped-cream canister (or a balloon filled from a tank) to experience a momentary, probably brain-cell-killing high. People who work in the restaurant industry have good access to, ahem, experiment with different uses for nitrous oxide, and Roux's fizzy grapes are injected with it, making them fizzy inside, which is momentarily very strange and pretty great when you eat them. Maybe a little bit like doing a whippet... who knows.

@8 and 13: I put a link to my old review of Marcela's at the end of the article, and here it is again for your convenience:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-m…
I haven't been there in a long time, but I'd say the food at Roux is much better—almost all hits compared to the occasional misses at Marcela's. But goodness, the Marcela's guy is charming, and it's fun to be there for sure... very pretty Pioneer Square room, and even the REALLY awful mural is fun in a weird way. We should support them too.
15
@14 thanks so much!
16
@14: Thank you! It was a delightful review, and now I have learned something about fine cuisine too!
17
Having just been there, I agree that the food is rather tasty, (and they can actually make collards properly, which is awesome) but good lord, why do they (and why does the author enjoy) leave the head/all the shell on the shrimp? Especially in the case of the shrimp and grits where they are covered in sauce. Its just so unnecessarily obnoxious and messy.
18
@17..cause you supposed to eat them.
19
I second that @18! I've had them and we ate the whole thing. Just like shell-on fried shrimp- they are crunchy and delicious and SUPER sweet from being so fresh and kept intact. Yum!
20
"Gizzards are for true-blue fans of weird-meat-bits."

What an idiot.
21
#17. "why leave the head on the shrimp"

Because a shrimp without its head isn't half as tasty. Pull it off. Place hollow to your lips. Suck. Enjoy. Welcome to the world of seafood!
22
@5: Bourbon and Bones, great spot, but they forget to season they're food!
@9 Shut your hole with an Alligator Wing.
Peace.

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