Zydeco's

We like The Cooking Channel and Food Network.  We often will turn the TV on and leave one of those on as the background noise.  We don't watch much else on TV except sports and the occasional HGTV.  One of our favorite programs happens to be Guy Fieri and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Now, that we'll sit down and actually watch.


We're not exactly Guy Fieri groupies, but we have hit a few places he has visited and he has been pretty much spot on.  We've been to Hodad's in Ocean Beach, CA, Scully's Tavern in Miami, and The Taco Bus in Tampa.  I have also been to Zest in Indianapolis and Triple X in Lafayette, IN.  We just love local places (rather than chains) and Guy manages to find some off the wall (or as he says, off the hook) places and we have found it fun to take his recommendations and visit.


About a week ago, (before the flu!) we got to go to Zydeco's in Mooresville IN.  We went to meet with two friends who live there.  I have heard about Zydeco's as it has been written up in the Indianapolis press and I love, love, love authentic Cajun food.  Connie looked them up online and, what do you know, Guy had them on the show just last October.  That settled it.

In an old building on Main Street in Mooresville, there is this absolutely wild restaurant.  Connie called for reservations and the friendly and amusing person  and who took the call portended how the evening would proceed.  My guess is that because of Connie's accent (or, as we say, the fact that he doesn't talk nomal - minus the r) she thought she had some Super Bowl visitors on her hands.  The atmosphere is very casual, the service (from Amanda) was superb and the menu delightful.


We ordered much more food than we should have attempted to eat, mostly because Amanda suggested that we sample off the starter menu.  Connie locked in on the BBQ Shrimp with Tasso.  Tasso is smoked pork with a great coating or rub.  We also ordered Half and Half, a combination of Gumbo and Jambalaya, Garlic Soup, a Muff Wedge (wedge of lettuce with a muffaletta dressing) and Blonde Jolie Pasta.  WOW!  Our dining partners had Poached Catfish smothered in Crawfish and Maque Choux, a corn chowder - along with some duplicates of dishes we sampled.


Everyone shared in the BBQ Shrimp and it was the hit of the night for Connie.  He was sopping up the sauce it came in with the fresh bread they provided.  Surprisingly, the Muff Wedge came in second with Connie and first with me.  It was fabulous!  Little teeny onions, black and green olives, yummy!  And again surprisingly, because neither one of us think much of iceberg lettuce.  The pasta was delicious, however I concentrated on the other stuff and most of my half came home with me.


I think regular readers know this, but Connie and I split everything.  We look at a menu, pick two or three things we would like to try, and agree on what to order, so we can each taste, or more correctly, eat half of each order.  Tonight we got a little carried away because the menu looked so wonderful.  It did not disappoint.  I loved the Garlic Soup although this was not Connie's favorite.


One last thing.  The decor is, well, garish comes to mind.  It is an old, old building with impossibly high ceilings and New Orleans stuff everywhere.  Beads wrap the silverware/napkin setting (I am still wearing mine as I type).  Blinking lights, a swordfish over our heads and relentless reminders of the Saints and LSU Tigers.  All that detracts nothing from the food or the delightful people we met, including chef Carter Hutchinson, who signed a copy of a cookbook I bought there (shocking, as Connie would say).

Anyway, for those of you here in the good old state of Indiana, head to Mooresville and visit Zydeco's.  For those of you who haven't had the opportunity, trust Guy, he keeps finding places we love to visit and Zydeco's is one of them.