You Love Gumbo... dontcha?

Whenever any of my friends travel to new places in America, I invariably receive a text or a phone call about places to eat. Of course like any Traveljunkee, I have my favorite restaurants scattered across the map, places I make it my business to visit whenever I can.

     Back in 1998, while visiting the French Quarter in New Orleans, a rainstorm caused me to duck inside of a restaurant located at 630 St. Peter Street. It was a life-changing experience. The hostess sat me at a window seat, which allowed me to watch the world walking by. Tourists, locals, musicians, street performers, strippers on their way to work on Bourbon Street, and lovers holding hands. It was an eclectic mix of humanity that I witnessed my first time at 'The Gumbo Shop.'

      In the twenty years since my first visit, I've been there at least thirty times. I've introduced it to friends, an ex, and my family. Even though the menu offers something for everyone, and even though I always swear I'll order something new, my selection never changes. I always order a shrimp Po' Boy, and a bowl of seafood gumbo. It is unbelievable, incredible, delicious, mouth-watering, and awe-inspiring. Succulent shrimp, French bread, a tomato-based remoulade sauce, shrimp, rice, okra, and a perfectly blended roux. Sigh. 

     Gumbo is probably one of the five best dishes ever created. Vegetables, shrimp, Andouille sausage, chicken, crab, the perfect roux, and dozens of other ingredients which make gumbo absolutely spectacular.

      I wonder if people recognize the gumbo of America in the dish I just described? The music, the food, the history, our culture, and our ideals, ain't nothing but gumbo, something which has been created by the abundance of different cultures and ideas. Think about it. Pay attention and don't let anyone fuck up the roux, because the gumbo is worth it.

     Oh, and if you find yourself in the Vieux Carre' check out 'The Gumbo Shop.' I highly recommend it...