My Southern belle has taken me to Cajun school many times this year with various downhome dinners to local Louisianna-focused restaurants, so during our recent vacation to Tulsa, we decided to go the most Cajun place outside of Oklahoma City – Cajun Ed’s Southern Scratch Kitchen, 2101 E. 71st.
Notorious for their fanciful turducken recipe and other cajun delights, the place – much to my surprise – also includes a small market featuring tasty goodies from the actual kitchens of the Big Easy.
After snagging a table and placing our orders, we waltzed to their storefront market to explore the offerings.
Featuring a levee full of rouxes, bases, powders, and other dark-brown ingredients, as well as a couple of freezers full of fresh Louisiana meat, my girlfriend bought around $100 of witchy-woman groceries, all set up in her cooler case.
I tried to haggle a deal for the semi-lacquered gator head stuffed with Louisiana-imported candy, but my offers were rebuffed like a Bayou resident stonewalling a true detective.
After the Cajun shopping spree that just about broke us, we found our dinners waiting and – ow-wee, wee-chaw, and other explosive bayou ramblings – did it smell good!
My girlfriend had a very traditional meal of Stuffed Chicken ($12.00) with crawfish jalapeno cornbread stuffing, as well as corn maque choux and fried squash. As the generic smooth jazz played overhead, the dish immediately brought a passionate brogue about her.
The sweltering chicken was stuffed with the spiciest jalapeno cornbread available, but the sides were packed with bayou flavor you can’t find anywhere else in Oklahoma, especially the corn maque choux.
An amalgam of Creole and Indigenous food that I have never before tried, the corn, pepper, and bacon grease-backed dish was simply heavenly, making my taste buds sweat like a humid night in the swamp.
As she adored her dish, I dived into the hearty Cajun-Mex ($15.00) special. It came packed with two fried crawfish tacos loaded with cabbage, pico, and house-made rouille, the latter of which is made with egg yolk and olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron, and cayenne pepper. For tasty giggles, it also included three spicy crawfish tamales to taste. Aye chihuahua!
I was not ready for this. The crawfish, especially the fried variety on the tacos, was simply amazing, making me want to hop on an airboat and live in the swamp for eternity, while the rouille was liquid gold, casting a sheen on the crawfish tacos and the tamales. The dish was inventive and innovative, and something any Tulsan should be proud of.
With my belly stuffed, I wanted more, and to be fair, should have ordered more to take home, but with our budget broken, I simply bought an extra pecan praline for the road, and theistically thanked Cajun Ed for the marvelous lunch.
Cómpralo ya!
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