It was a tip to The Food Show from a long-time listener that made me drive to Destrehan to eat at a little place called The Indigo Cafe. It is part of the shop on the property of Destrehan Plantation, which is on the River Road to the left of where the 310 off-ramp meets River Road. The scenic route would be to turn right just after Rivertown. This little spot is merely10 minutes past Kenner.
The cafe is part of a chop in a cabin to the right of the main house. Inside the shop is quite a collection of interesting things to buy: books, clothing, woven baskets and other housewares, and general collectibles. It’s exactly the kind of shop I love to discover on my travels, and I will return here for lunch again. This time I'll include some shopping. The occupants of the cabin (the shop and cafe) are separate from the house. While most people are part of a tour it is not necessary to visit the house to eat and shop at the cabin.
Service is fast casual with a menu of breakfast and mostly sandwiches at lunch. None of this is especially inspired but it is tasty enough. Desserts are in a case on the counter and a wall of Zapp’s chips is there to offer a near dizzying number of chip flavors as accompaniments to the sandwiches. There are other sides on the menu as well. And gumbo.
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We ordered gumbo as well as a toast. Those went to my companion and I got the club, and a roast beef poor boy to split. We also got something out of the dessert case. A big wonk of what looked like a chocolate chip cookie caught our eyes. It was described as a “Brookie,” a combination brownie and chocolate chip cookie. We had to see what this was.
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The gumbo was a large portion. It was Cajun chicken gumbo with rice. I liked this. It had a nice consistency with enough “stuff” to satisfy. More chicken than sausage. Good basic flavor. Not too spicy or too smoky.
The toast was interesting. My companion wanted this. I would never order toast on my own. This one, though, I have to admit was special. It was Greek-inspired, with feta cheese, tomato, lettuce and bacon. The bacon was very good bacon, very well cooked, but maybe a bit out of place on this toast. Still, I have to admit it was tasty.
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The poor boy wasn’t really a poor boy, but it tasted like one. It was a panini on panini bread and the inside was housemade roast beef mostly debris, with the requisite dressings. Everything about this was a poor boy in the traditional sense, yet it was pressed. Still, if one closed their eyes they would swear it was a poor boy. Only Leidenheimer would object. It was not their standard Poor boy bread.
What I missed in ordering the club was a description of it. A club sandwich to me is a 4 part, 3 slices of toast sandwich filled with ham, turkey and bacon as well as cheese, mayo, and fresh dressings, except pickle. Here it is called a Club Royale, and it contains roast beef. When I asked for the roast beef to be removed we had a few discussions about this. I remained puzzled about this until the food arrived, and the roast beef was in a separate liquid styrofoam container.
I just assumed that the roast beef was cold and easy to remove. It didn’t even occur to me that the roast beef would be hot. Huh? A club sandwich is never hot. I am annoyed when I get one. There should be a fair warning if such a thing is coming to the table. Otherwise, this was a very nice club. It had the proper amount of meats, dressings, and condiments. No avocado (a travesty in my opinion, though I love avocado,) and no American cheese. I liked this roast beefless sandwich very much as well.
The “Brookie” was mystifying. It was exactly as described. It was a blanket of cookie over a brownie and it tasted exactly like eating both. Never a bad thing, but what’s the point?
It was a nice little lunch as tourists came and went throughout our meal. I’ll be back here on another pretty day, to explore this little place more thoroughly.
