Sometimes you just need some good jambalaya.
Fortunately for Baton Rougeans, newly opened The Cast Iron Kitchen is able to deliver just that.
Upon walking into the colorful restaurant, the first thing I saw was a huge jug of homemade lemonade on the counter. I’m welcomed by staffers with a smile and greeted with a Southern twang. It felt like home, Louisiana-style.
|
|
|
That homey feeling is reflected in the restaurant’s menu, which features south Louisiana favorites like jambalaya, red beans and rice, crawfish etouffee and seafood gumbo. Hearty daily specials cover everything from fried pork chops to seafood mac ‘n’ cheese. But, the most popular items on the menu are the more creative concoctions: jambalaya balls and pastalaya.
First out of the kitchen were those massive spheres of deep fried jambalaya. The restaurant calls them appetizers, but the three jambalaya balls I received were a certified meal in themselves, not to mention delicious. The crispiness of the exterior combined with the moist, savory jambalaya with chicken and andouille smoked sausage on the inside to make one heavenly dish.
The real star of the show, though, is the pastalaya, which swaps the rice for penne pasta. The dish, with andouille smoked sausage, chicken and a good dose of Cajun seasoning, was cooked so well that I might now prefer it over traditional jambalaya—I am also a pasta lover, after all.
I washed everything down with the sweet, homemade lemonade. At that point, I could’ve closed my eyes and envisioned sipping it on my grandmother’s big, country porch swing on a Sunday morning.
|
|
|
With a down-home atmosphere and great eats, The Cast Iron Kitchen is lunch money well spent. It may be a bit farther away for some, hidden in a corner of Jones Creek Road, but it’s certainly worth it.
The Cast Iron Kitchen is at 5441 Jones Creek Road, Suite H, and is open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Fast Break is a 225 Dine series that celebrates lunch in Baton Rouge. Follow along as we tour different lunch spots around the city.