Chef Dan's Southern Comfort

Food Truck

@ChefDansIndy

Chef Dan's Southern Comfort

My sincerest apologies for the hiatus. Where I thought I would have time to blog more during the holidays, they were much busier than I had planned. You can't put a price on spending time with the family. I would rather be doing that, than blogging. Also, I got a new phone and I lost all my pics, so the next couple posts will be picture-less. Luckily I enjoyed both places, and will return.

We had Chef Dan's Indy come to the office one day. Since this occurrence doesn't happen very often, I decided to keep my soup and sandwich in the fridge for Chef Dan's. Since it is a food truck, I can't really go in depth on atmosphere. The truck is Southern Comfort themed. There is a painting of some New Orleans streets on the side of this bright orange trailer. The service was great and the lady taking the orders was really friendly. Our food came out in less than ten minutes. There was only one other customer in front of us.

They had a special going. For $10, you got your choice of Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich or Pulled Pork, choice of side (slaw or Cajun fries), a drink, and banana pudding. I asked which was better, and I was told there was only one chicken left, so I went with it. Also, I figured you can get pulled pork pretty much anywhere and it wouldn't be a good gauge of true southern cooking. I think I made a pretty wise decision. The chicken was pounded to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick and it was bigger than the bun. The chicken was juicy and had big Cajun flavor. It had a pretty mild heat to it. The breading was pretty light and had a good crunch. I had it topped with lettuce, tomato, and onion. There was a Cajun aioli as well. There sauce was was a nice creamy compliment to the crispy fried chicken. The Cajun fries were also nice and crispy. The seasoning had a pretty mild heat. I forgot to grab ketchup packets when I went back upstairs, but ketchup is unnecessary. There is enough flavor in these fries, you really don't want to dip them in anything. They stand well on their own. They ran out of banana pudding, so my meal was dropped to $9. For my drink, I ordered the swamp water which is 1/2 sweet tea and 1/2 lemonade. I think the past 10 years of only drinking diet drinks has ruined sugary drinks for me. I always get a headache now when I drink anything with real sugar. My coworker ordered the andouille sausage Po' Boy. I had a couple bites of the sausage and it was delicious. I think I would opt for the Po' Boy next time. There was an ample amount of sausage, tomatoes, lettuce, and the perfect amount of aioli where you wouldn't feel guilty eating this sandwich, unlike the one at Papa Roux.

"When engaged in EAting, the brain should be the servant of the stomach." - Agatha Christie

 

Lunch on EAting Indy: Papa Roux

The winner of the lunch was @autajay1855. We spun the Urban Spoon app and it chose Yats. We had been there so many times, we used it as a guide and stuck with the Cajun theme and went to Papa Roux. Yats is still on the top of my list for favorite Cajun in the city. This is most likely because it was the first Cajun restaurant I have had so every other restaurant gets compared to Yats. Based on other reviews, one would think that Papa Roux is the epitome of Cajun food in the city. Here is an example of one review on Google: 

"Just the best food ever. Makes you happy the rest of the day" -Ben on March 31, 2011

Well Ben, I will have to disagree with you. It is nowhere near the best food ever. It is pretty average. @autajay1855 and I both got Po Boys ($7.50). I ordered the pulled pork and he got the pulled chicken, both full size sandwiches. If you dine in, you can order unlimited sides and free iced tea. When you want more sides, you just stick this card in the holder and a waitress comes by to take your order. I'm positive we ordered all the sides. The best was the red beans and rice, corn bread, and apple sauce. They were the most flavorful. The red beans and rice were a little on the salty side, but it did not taste cheap like the other sides. The corn bread was moist and I love where there is actual corn kernels in the bread. As for the apple sauce, I haven't had an applesauce that has disappointed me. The etoufee was thick and creamy, so the texture was there.  But it tasted like a can of cream of mushroom soup with hints of garlic and cheese. The tomato creole was kind of a conundrum. It started out sweet, but then it had a lot of heat. I usually like the combo, but it was just confusing. We were split on the bread pudding. I really enjoyed it and I'm not a big bread pudding fan. @autajay1855 thought it was missing something, like it needed more sweetness. I thought it tasted better than the cherry chocolate bread pudding at St. Elmo's. I will have to admit that the full sandwich was huge. I probably should have ordered the half. It is soft French bread with your choice of protein, cole slaw, and "vouxdoux mayo". It is touted as being over one pound of total weight. It sure felt like a pound when I was 3/4 done with the meal. I have never felt so gross and unhealthy after eating a sandwich before. The vouxdoux mayo overpowered the entire sandwich. Each bite tasted like the mayo plus the sauce from the cole slaw. I had to take the sandwich apart to try to taste the pork. The pork did have good smoky flavor and was very tender, but it was lost in the toppings. It would have been a star if it was not accompanied by his friends saturated fat and calories from the slaw and mayo. The bread was pretty disappointing. It was not very crusty and it became soggy throughout the meal. Let me preface my next point by saying, "Thank you", to all of our policemen for protecting and serving our city. Now let me tell you a little story.  There were two cops at the table eating at the table before us. Our waitress said that they ordered SIDES of the vouxdoux mayo and mixed it in with their sides. She said she had never seen anyone eat that much mayo before. I almost took a trip to vomit town when I heard that. By no means am I supporting crime, but if I were some sort of hooligan, I would perform all my mischief on the Eastside. The fuzz there have belly fulls of Papa Roux and vouxdoux mayo, and I would have no problem running away from the Five-0. As noted above, our friend Ben said he felt happy the rest of the day. Well, I felt slow and fat the rest of the day. 

There are aspects of the restaurant that in theory are good, like the unlimited sides and free iced tea. The service was very good and it took them little to no time to bring out our side dishes and refills on our drinks. If you plan on going on the weekend, be prepared to wait for a seat. We had to wait about 20 minutes before we had the chance to sit down.  In the first picture, I attempted to let you gauge how small the dining area is. We were sitting in the back corner of the restaurant and there are about 10 more tables. I saw two strangers sitting together at the two-top tables just so they could eat sooner.  I will make another trip there to try their seafood Po Boys, as they bring in fresh seafood from the gulf. 

For Super Bowl XLVI, Indianapolis has came out with a list of the Super 46 sandwiches. Some restaurants are local, others are a bit of a road trip (Evansville, Fort Wayne, Bloomington, Terre Haute). Papa Roux is on this list for their Po Boy. 

"My favorite animal is the mule. He has the more horse sense than a horse. He knows when to stop EAting -- and he knows when to stop working." - Harry S. Truman