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ReviewCajunPacific

Page history last edited by Mark P 15 years ago

I've been to Cajun Pacific twice: once on an official dining club outing on 2007-11-01 and once with other friends for Hawaiian fish night on 2009-03-21


Cajun Pacific 2007-11-01 Review

 

Cajun Pacific served us fairly good food in a variety of styles, including Cajun and European bistro.

 

Cajun Pacific is a quaint, cozy one-room restaurant, with five tables and a short bar. Everything was full when arrived--there were all of eighteen people there. Funky lights hang from the ceiling along with mardi gras beads, and eclectic paintings, sketches, and mirrors hang on the walls.

 

Only three people appeared to work at Cajun Pacific: the chef, the hostess/waitress, and the dishwasher. The waitress was nice though not efficient. It took a while to order and the food arrived very slowly. In fact, despite starting not long after some other tables, everyone else was gone before we finished our entrees. Still, we forgive her because of her comment early in the evening, "I have cornbread in the oven for you." Incidentally, the cornbread was hot and good: quite respectable.

 

We were amused to notice that few of the dishes we ordered could be easily divided among the three of us. In the review which follows, keep an eye out for the number of items in each serving and you'll understand.

 

We had four appetizers: 

  • Sausage and chicken gumbo with rice. Arriving steaming quickly after we ordered, it received reactions such as "yummy" and "I'm happy." It was a mild dish of chicken and sausage in a broth with rice. Neither meat nor broth had any kick and thus I didn't like the dish as much as my compatriots. We were all surprised the rice worked here; generally rice in soup ends up soggy and tasteless. Here, it soaked up some flavor and didn't even seem that soggy.
  • "Salad of mixed organic greens with pomegranate, persimmon & blue cheese in a Dijon balsamic vinaigrette." I was reluctant to order this contemporary salad at a purportedly Cajun restaurant. My friends convinced me, and we were happy I acquiesced. Although not perfect, we all enjoyed it. The mild blue cheese was in just the right quantity. The not immediately ripe persimmon added some slight astringency.
  • "Deep fried pumpkin raviolis." Because these five triangular ravioli were like wontons filled with mashed pumpkin, they actually made us think of Chinese food. Although an interesting dish, only one of us was a fan.
  • Crab cakes. The two small circles smelled strongly of crab. And we were pleased to discover they were buttery and the scent did not mislead: they were amply filled with crab. This was definitely a hit, and was my favorite appetizer.

 

We also split two entrees. 

  • Creole crawfish pasta. I really liked this, but the others who weren't in the mood for a (spicy pepper) cream sauce didn't find it appealing. Fusilli (bowtie) pasta tossed with crawfish. (These crawfish looked like shrimp, but don't taste like them. I liked their unusual taste.) Lots of black pepper on top.
  • New Orleans barbecue shrimp. Eight shrimped sauteed in garlic and worcester sauce. Although we knew the ingredients, we found the taste surprising. Reasonably decent. We got two sides with it: (ten) green beans, and vinegared collard greens (not really traditional Southern collard greens).

 

We ordered the one dessert they had: bread pudding. It pleased people who usually don't like bread pudding. Chocolate. It consisted of a pastry (like the texture/style of a cinnamon bun), pudding around/inside, and a sweet sauce. Although supposedly a whiskey sauce, I didn't detect much whiskey flavor.

 

The total was $31/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

 

Original Announcement

 

Due to Halloween, we're doing dinner on Thursday this week. Happily, this allows us to go Cajun Pacific, a Cajun seafood restaurant in the outer sunset. I've been wanting to dine at Cajun Pacific for over two years but never had the opportunity because they're only open on some Thursdays, Friday, and Saturdays.

http://www.cajunpacific.com/

 

Comments from Other Attendees

 


We didn't get to order some highly recommended dishes such as the crawfish monica and the jambalaya because they weren't on the menu during this trip.

-mark



Cajun Pacific 2009-03-21 Review

 

I returned with compatriots to Cajun Pacific for its Hawaiian fish night on Saturday, March 21, 2009.  I'd wanted to try this for a while.

"Aloha! This weekend's menu showcases Chuck's Pacific inspirations as he prepares fish from the pristine waters of Hawaii. He hopes you are as excited as he is with all of these very special fish and preparations. This weekend's dishes are prepared with flavors from the Pacific Rim, and traditional Asian dishes -- such as poke -- become our own with the additional Cajun seasonings."

 

It was pleasing, but rarely amazing (though also never merely okay).  (I think my reaction is roughly the same as on my previous visit.)

 

One friend started with gumbo (a soup with rice, sausage, and shrimp).  I tasted it; it was decent, though I'd prefer it with a bit more kick.  Another friend added tabasco sauce to his.  The sausage was the gumbo's best feature.

 

We shared a quite good "big eye [tuna] & tombo [tuna] poke (fish salad) topped with Japanese seaweed salad."  A classic Japanese presentation, this was probably my favorite dish of the meal.

 

Around this time our free spicy cornbread, which included whole kernels of corn, arrived hot out of oven.  Decent.

 

We also tried "tako (squid) poke (fish salad) kimchi style."  The squid decent but unremarkable.  The kimchi was respectable.

 

Our last appetizer was fairly good glazed spare ribs.

 

From my entree and what I tried of my compatriots, I can say Cajun Pacific does a respectable job grilling fish.  And the cuts of fish are big!  For my entree, I selected the dish of grilled walu (a.k.a. escular/escolar) with udon noodles, chinese long beans, pineapple, and potato (?) in a red miso broth.  It was good, and I had none of the negative effects described on the wikipedia on escolar (nor have I had the other couple times I've eaten it).

 

As for my friends' dishes and the side dishes, the macadamia-nut crusted tombo had a nice crust.  The side of "five spice fried sweet potatoes" were terrific: small cubes, crisp in places on the outside, soft inside.  I wish I ordered these as my side!  They'd have been the highlight of my meal.  Instead, I had the wasabi-mashed potatoes.  The potatoes still had some skin, giving the dish character, but the potatoes as a whole were too creamy for me.  Nevertheless, I compliment the chef for balancing the wasabi well--I'm sensitive to wasabi but there wasn't too much for me.

 

The service was slow, perhaps because the restaurant is family run: one waitress (the wife) and one chef (the husband).

 

We were sad they were out of their one dessert: chocolate bread pudding.  Too bad, I was looking forward to having it again.

 



 

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