Report: Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Kitchen

[Kent Wang]

Millersus, her husband and I got there early and we watched a 15 minute documentary a UT film student did about Lola and the history of the restaurant. It was very touching.

Then Misplaced_Texan and his wife arrived with reinforcements of Shiner Bock. We began the festivities with a Belgian ale from my cellar, an Affligem Tripel (BeerAdvocate review).

On to the meal:

We started with a big basket of onion rings. People have different tastes in onion rings, but I like this style the best: thin strips of onion and flaky batter. My favorite basket of onion rings in the city.

I had the chicken po' boy, which is really huge. You have to eat half of it first before you're able to close it and eat it like a sandwich. The chicken is well-seasoned and very juicy.

Millersus had the shrimp po' boy, which featured some huge pieces of shrimp. One common gripe I have with cheap comfort food-type places is that they skimp on the ingredients to keep their costs low -- not so at Lola's -- the portions are always generous.

Fried catfish, red beans and rice, green beans.

It was a pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you everyone for your donations to the Society.

Let's have the next one maybe two months from now.

[Misplaced_Texan]

Millersus, her husband and I got there early and we watched a 15 minute documentary a UT film student did about Lola and the history of the restaurant. It was very touching.

Then Misplaced_Texan and his wife arrived with reinforcements of Shiner Bock.

It was a pleasure to meet everyone. Thank you everyone for your donations to the Society.

Let's have the next one maybe two months from now.

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Sorry again for getting there a bit later than I had hoped. Next time we'll be early.

It was a great pleasure to meet everyone as well. Lola's was everything I expected and more, thank you Kent for putting the event together.

I've gone ahead and nabbed a url for the food blog I mentioned, so it'll only be a matter of weeks before I get started. Pray for my sanity!

[Chris Amirault]

Looks very tasty indeed! What is the condiment on the po' boys?

[millersus]

Looks very tasty indeed! What is the condiment on the po' boys?

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The shrimp poboy was great. I think there was some sort of honey/lemon/mustard sauce on the shrimp. The bread had mayo and either a mild remoulade or thousand island. Speaking of the bread, is was nice and fresh. I bogarted some of the hubby's red bean and rice and absolutely loved it. Best I've had.

[millersus]

We had such a nice time. Misplaced Texans were really fun. Kent is surprisingly full of fun facts and food info. Misplaced Texan has a great blog idea, can't wait to read it.

Lola's decor has to be experienced to be appreciated. She really has her heart and soul on the walls in that place. The documentary was well done and so touching. She is pretty amazing and has a powerful ministry.

[Misplaced_Texan]

We had such a nice time.  Misplaced Texans were really fun.  Kent is surprisingly full of fun facts and food info.  Misplaced Texan has a great blog idea, can't wait to read it.

Lola's decor has to be experienced to be appreciated.  She really has her heart and soul on the walls in that place.  The documentary was well done and so touching.  She is pretty amazing and has a powerful ministry.

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You guys were a blast too! I'm just really excited to finally meet up with some folks that are just as passionate about food as I am.

The blog will be built this weekend I think, or maybe sooner if I can find the time.

We can't wait to meet up again!

Edited October 9, 2007 by Misplaced_Texan (log)

[Ling]

One question: I read online that they're open continuously from lunch til dinner--is this correct? I was hoping to go there in the afternoon sometime so we wouldn't have to wait so long for our food. (Not that I mind, but my friends might mind waiting an hour for their plate.)

[Kent Wang]

She's not always open during the day, and is even closed on some slow weeknights -- despite what the posted hours are. I would recommend calling ahead.

There really is not much of a wait, unless your group itself is more than six people. I remember going with eight people once and it took a while for everything to come out. It's possible that if another large group arrives at the same time, they would slow your orders down but that has never happened to me.

[jscarbor]

Had dinner at Queen Lola's after driving in from Houston on Friday. It seems as if the eastside has gentrified up to about Genes po boys but the gentrification stops there with Queen Lolas down the street a little from Gene's. Not a lot of activity in the area really, it was pretty quite for the most part. Walking into Lola's is certainly an experience, I certaintly would not take many of my non foodie friends, I did however take my wife who is not as enthusiastic as I am when it comes to food but she does trust me. Luckily I trusted Kent Wang, whom I have never met but have noticed his enthusiasm for food on this board for a little oer a year now. We walk in and notice Lolas daughter writing on a chalk board and NO other customers in the place at 7pm on a friday. Lola everntually arrived from the back to greet us and I have to tell you the look on my wifes face was priceless! Lola came in wearing a white tank top, black bra, pulled back yellow hair, and rings coming out of her mouth, ear and nose. Thats not bad but the dirt and grime on her tank was not a pretty site. I had to look at my poor wife and smile. I told her it would be fine, you have to trust Kent. After asking for permission I opened a beer and Lola described a few menu items to us. She also had said she was thankfully out of gumbo which was a little disapointing to me. My wife decided on the catfish with red beans and mac and cheese and I went with the chicken wings with mustard green and corn. I chatted Lola up a bit so she decided to put in one of the documentaries on the dvd for us to watch while she was in the back cooking. After the documentary my wife was sold, she liked what ole Lola was about. She cam out and talked about her struggle a little. To be honest I think its a little bit of a show in order to get bigger tips but the show is good and I really do believe what she has to say.

The food finally arrived steaming hot. To say that the food is highly seasoned is an understatement. Its not overly spicey just a lot of seasoning. The catfish was fried perfectly. The crust was a mixture of flour and a lot of spices, moist tender catfish filet was underneath the nearly perfect crust. A real winner. The red beans and rice could have used a little less seasoning but they were good. Mac and cheese was a nice balance since it was good ole fashiloned relatively bland dish. Next was my steaming hot pile of full wings. The dusted on coating was fried to perfection and the chicken was moist and tender. This might well have been the second best fried chicken I have ever had outside of my mother in laws cast iron skillet fried chicken. I would have preferred to have the chicken on a second plate because all the juices of the corn and mustard greens were running onto the chicken. It really didn't matter that much because the crust still stayed in tact despit getting a vegatable soaking. the greens were great and the corn just fine. I also need to mention the almost dessert like corn bread. What a moist tasty treat it was. After dinner we thanked Lola for a great evening. We ended up tipping $25 on top of our $15 bill. My guess is it would not be waisted, it would help feed the homeless sunday afterrnoon where its all good.

Lolas is not a restaurant, its an experience.