I love Cajun food. I don’t know if it’s because of my Louisiana heritage, or because it’s a rare commodity in this part of the country. Either way, my friends and I were itching for a low country boil this past weekend, and we got one!

When my friend, Sarah, first mentioned having a low country boil, I was stumped. I hadn’t heard of any place around town that offers that menu option, so I e-mailed my ever knowing former boss, Brian Brodrick at Jackson Spalding, to see if he knew of anyone.

Like always, Brian came to the rescue, and recommended the Big Easy Cafe in Watkinsville. Wat-ville represent!

The Big Easy Cafe

Phone: 706-769-3030

E-mail: itsmillrtime@att.net

Hours: Monday, 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Tuesday-Friday, 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m.; Saturday, 8-11 a.m. (breakfast only)

Owners: Tammy and Scott Miller

I called the Big Easy Cafe and talked to Tammy, one of the restaurant owners, who is actually from Louisiana. I told her we wanted to have a low country boil for a tailgate before the baseball game on Friday, and put the plans in place.

We met Tammy and her husband, Scott, and their two children at the parking lot below the baseball field on Saturday afternoon, and they already had the water boiling and the potatoes cooking. Woo hoo!

There were about 15 of my friends, my dad and me included, but I was nervous because there were a few low country boil connoisseurs in the midst. My friend, Rachael Sharpe and her daddy (pictured in the post) are from South Carolina, and they are shrimp experts! After we ate, though, Mr. Sharpe said the LCB passed his test, and that made me happy.

If you’re looking for an easy catered meal, try this! It was only $13.50 a person, and we had shrimp, andouille sausage, potatoes, and onions (they forgot the corn). Once the food was done, they put it in some big alumninum pans, dumped out the water, and headed out. It’s so easy, and the clean up is even better. The $13.50 included cocktail sauce and crackers, so that was nice. We decided to go BYOB, and it was so perfect. A good beer and some good shrimp? You can’t get much better than that.

My only wish was for more sausage. The people who came in line last didn’t get any, so maybe make sure to ask them to make a bigger shrimp::sausage ratio. Other than that, the taste was great! It wasn’t too spicy, and everything was cooked perfectly. The shrimp didn’t taste tough, so that was nice.

I’d encourage you to drive out to Watkinsville and check out the Big Easy Cafe. It’s been open for about four years, but Tammy and Scott have been in the restaurant business for a while. Tammy went to culinary school, and Scott has a degree in restaurant management.

Put April 24 on your calendars because the Big Easy Cafe is having its annual crawfish boil in front of the restaurant. They’re having 1,000 pounds of crawfish driven up from the Louisiana coast just for us! It should be a good time.

Verdict? Yummy.

Going back? You betcha.

Thank goodness, Big City Bread has come out from under its sketchy little hole.

I feel like they’ve been hiding under a rock since they stopped their commercial bakery, but I think they’re back in business now!

I found their new Web site: www.bigcitybreadcafe.com today, and it’s great!  The menu, bakery options and catering options are all listed- a huge upgrade from their last Web site.

So props to you, Bread people!  I will remember to use this the next time I’m looking for a fantastic breakfast.

Today I got to go to Five Points Deli for lunch! I was meeting my friend, Kelly, and we decided this would be a wonderful way to wrap up our semester.

In case you haven’t heard of Five Points Deli, here’s some basic information:
Location: On South Lumpkin Street, right through the Five Points light
Phizzle Nizzle: 706-546-8915
Web site: www.fivepointsdeli.com
Reservations: No
Price: plan on spending at least $7 for a basic sandwich. It’s more if you add chips and a drink.
Best meal: definitely lunch
Open and close: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; at their Epps Bridge location, they’re open until 8 p.m.
Group friendly: kind of; it will take a while to get your food, but they have enough space to accomodate.

Today’s special was a rotisserie chicken sandwich with cheese and mayo on whole wheat bread. That’s what struck Kelly’s fancy. I was feeling the veggie sandwich, and it was the best veggie sandwich I’ve ever had. Being suckers for toasted sandwiches, we both asked for ours to be put under the grill. They actually forgot to toast mine, so I had to take it back. Easily fixed, though!

My veggie sandwich was so fun. Hummus, banana peppers, green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce and tomato were squeezed in between two pieces of whole wheat bread. I think provolone came in the original recipe, but I asked for it to be left off. Cheese and hummus didn’t sound appealing to me.

In addition to my sandwich, I asked for a fruit cup. I think I like Five Star Day’s fruit cup better; the one from Five Points Deli had the fruit juice in the bottom of the cup, and I don’t really like the juice. Maybe I should ask them to scoop it with a slotted spoon next time.

Kelly’s sandwich was good, too. She said it was a great combo of flavors. FPD is famous for their rotisserie chicken, and I think putting it on a sandwich was a great idea. She also had a bag of Zapp’s Jalapeno potato chips.

You can see we clearly enjoyed our meal- members of the clean plate club, we are!

Since it was so warm today, there were a lot of people sitting outside on their patio. We opted for the inside seating, but it was fun to people watch.

I have some other favorites from FPD I thought I’d list: seafood salad, black eyed pea salad, the supreme chicken salad (not the regular, it’s too plain) and the cracked sunflower seed bread. It’s good on any sandwich!

So, whether you’re already planning for tailgate season, or you’re looking for a fun lunch outing, FVP is a tried and true favorite. I haven’t been to the Epps Bridge location, but I’ve heard it’s nice!