Cajuns Christmas Camp 2014!!

   This weekend I got to spend an afternoon at Cajun’s Warf in Little Rock at their Christmas Camp for the Arkansas Woman Bloggers. I met some awesome bloggers that are the faces behind the blogs that I read throughout my week. It was an awesome time with lots of delicious food and lots of drinks.

   I arrived about 20 minutes late because we were buying a new truck and paperwork takes forever, but when I arrived they gave me two things, a bag full of free swag and a glass of wine.. let’s just say I like these people a lot ;).

They are located right on the Arkansas River
and has spectacular views!

   I have never been a wine fan but am now in love with AtoZ Riesling, thank you Cajun’s for introducing me. They have over 200 kinds of wines that you can get at any time. That is a lot of wine!! Dan, who we dubbed the wine man, told us about the different wines that we were trying and even brought us out another Riesling from Kung Fu Girl that was also delicious. Who knew I would be able to find a wine I actually want to drink, and really want some more of.

    Before we started lunch Mary Beth the owner and chef came out and told us about the products they use. Everything is made from scratch that day, with fresh no chemicals seafood, and local produce. That is so awesome to know and it really made a difference in the taste of the food. I love when a locally owned restaurant uses products from the area and knows that it is fresh and good quality.

   Then we got to order off their lunch menu, which is a new thing for them and they are good at it! That’s right Central Arkansans Cajun’s Warf is now open at lunch time, and you should totally hit it up with some work pals! They have quite a selection from salads, sandwiches and burgers to fancy pants entrees all cooked to order and brought to you by a wonderful helpful staff.

Here is snapshot of their lunch menu.

   For the appetizer our wonderful waiter brought out a large sampler of their most popular items and a plate of fresh oysters.  The Blackened Chicken Egg Rolls are to die for, odd sounding but many many things are delicious when put into a wonton wrapper and fried. Also the Crab Au Gratin was awesome with huge chunks of fresh amazing crab meat. Crab is one of the only seafoods I will eat and I’ve had quite a bit but the flavor of these chunks is probably some of the very best I’ve had. I ate it with the bread first then when that ran out I just ate it with my fork, yummy!

Clockwise starting with the bowl: Spinach Artichoke dip,
Crab Au Gratin, Shrimp and Crawfish Cakes, Oyster Bienville,
Blackend Chicken Eggrolls

   I went for the Pork Grillades and Grits for my main dish. I picked this for a couple reasons, 1 I went to a seafood restaurant while not being a big seafood fan, and 2 the words Goat Cheese Grits were included. I was intrigued and thought why not give them a shot. They did not disappoint at all. They were creamy and hot and delicious. With the Cajun brown gravy poured over the pork pieces that were sitting on top of the grits, it was a great combination and a genius idea for whoever came up with it.

My Pork, it was awesome

The Paninis looked great, The fries were
delicious.

Their Gumbo

Fish Tacos

   For desert our waiter knew the way into 10 woman’s hearts was with a huge platter of decadent options. My personal favorite the Oreo Cheese cake…no surprise if you know me you know I will eat anything that says cookies and cream.  This one had a special surprise though there was a coffee ganache layer at the base that added an extra level to the deliciousness.  Another Favorite was the Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Ganache, it was very tangy but the chocolate help cut it perfectly. They were all delicious though.

Starting at left going clockwise: Pumpkin
cheesecake, Coconut Cream Pie, Chocoloate
Creme Burele, White Chocolate Pudding,
Oreo Cheesecaeke, Key Lime Pie

   After lunch we headed to the open kitchen area where Mary Beth gave us a cooking demonstration and tips for the holidays. She showed us how to make Mussel and Clams with Tomatoes soup. It’s a very simple recipe that I will share with you at the end of this post. Now remember earlier I said not a big fan of seafood, well I ate a thing out of a shell… yes I did it. I won’t say I loved it but it was interesting I’m pretty sure it was mussel. I also ate a clam piece that was not in the shell while cooking that was quite delicious. The soup itself tasted very good.

   Mary Beth gave us some great tips for the holidays and the best way to make a turkey. She is on the Brining side of the ongoing debate between chefs. Her method leads to the whole bird being done and the breast still moist, and you don’t have to watch it all day. My Favorite tip is something that makes sense and you have probably thought about doing it after its too late. Prep all your ingredients for the recipes that you need to make a couple days ahead. So Tuesday before thanksgiving assemble all your recipes and prep all the ingredients you need for each one so that on Thankgsiving morning all you have to do is assemble your recipe. Now I would typically think of this that morning while wishing I had done it earlier.

   After we got to eat our soup we headed over to the dance floor area in the bar. They have live music Wednesday thru Thursday every week. There we got to do a whiskey tasting.  They just wanted to keep us tipsy all day I’m convinced. We tasted four different kinds all from Nashville. These all had interesting flavors, I am not a whiskey drinker and found them all much too strong for me even after I added water to them.

   After the tasting we headed to the bar to taste some of their holiday drinks and pizzas. First let’s just talk about these pizzas. The Philly Cheesesteak pizza was amazing I ate almost a whole one by myself. The Mexican chicken pizza was also pretty good, it had corn on it, I love when corn is added onto things. They have a wood fire pizza oven and the crust is so crispy and delicious. It’s a great way to soak up the alcohol that’s been ingested.

Perfect right?

   We then tasted the Christmas Martini, it’s lovely with a base of pomegranate juice, pomegranate liquor, and vodka (lots of vodka). It had a good flavor but was much too strong for me, plus I was going to drive home soon.

(single and group)

   Then we tried this little number, the Holly-de-HO-HO a play on their signature Play-de-Do. It was basically sangria, it was delicious as well.  Made with fruit soaked in wine, bourbon, and other goodies for a few hours. We were served in a moderate size glass but their Play-de-Doo s are served in large mason jars that you get to take with you when you drink it all. We got one in our swag bag woot!

   I had such a great time at Cajun’s the owners, chefs, bartenders, and staff were wonderful and dedicated to their restaurant.  I will be back for sure, it has the perfect atmosphere for dinning with the family or hanging out at the bar. By the way the bar has its own menu with similar appitizers and some great small finger foods along with the pizzas.

   I loved getting to meet some of my fellow bloggers. I am so grateful to be a part of the Arkansas Women Bloggers and for the wonderful ladies who set these events up. Thank you Cajun’s for inviting us in.

To see what is happening check out Cajun’s website, Facebook, or Twitter.

Chef Mary Beth also owns Capers and Coppers Grill

All of us together Dan the Wine man is on the far left by me and Chef/Owner Mary
Beth is in the center and their partner is on the far right.

   Have you ever been too Cajun's or any of the other restaurants? If you are in the area I would recomend stopping by sometime. I hope to go back this weekend!