Tag: cajun

Food Review: Copper Mule Table & Tap in Bryant

The Copper Mule Table & Tap is a relatively new, exciting, and popular restaurant in Bryant, AR. It’s been on my list to try for a couple months now and I had a wonderful experience last night! Here is the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

The Copper Mule is located in a new shopping center and isn’t anything too fancy.

It’s modern with the beams showing and metal chairs, and I love that they serve their food on metal trays. They have two dining areas and a bar.

 

MENU

Drinks:

   

There is a large menu of signature drinks: different versions of Arkansas mules and then their own specialty cocktails are the main event.
There is also Happy Hour Tues- Friday from 4-6, where the drafts and mules are $1 off and the specialty cocktails are $2 off.
We went during happy hour, of course!

Food:

The menu is mostly Cajun fare, including jambalaya, voodoo pasta, crawfish mac and cheese, etc. However, there are a few sandwiches to choose from as well, such as po’boys, fried bologna, and burgers.  There are also fried baskets of all sorts, including fish and chicken strips. There are salads, but not too many options. What sounded the most exciting to me are their starters, which include fried boudin balls (mule balls), fried pickles, fried crawfish tails, and more.

 

FOOD and DRINKS

Head Hunter ($7 during happy hour) and Blueberry Mojito ($6 during happy hour)

The Head Hunter is two different rums, vodka, blue curacao, lemon, lime, pineapple, and Demerara simple syrup. It was delicious and tropical, just like I imagined.

The Blueberry Mojito was exactly what you’d expect. It had rum, simple syrup, club soda, lime, mint, and blueberries. It was good, but nothing too unique.

Strawberry Basic Mule ($8 during happy hour)

This drink was our favorite of all three. It has strawberry vodka, basil vodka, ginger beer, grenadine, lime, and strawberries. It packed great flavors that really worked well together to make a nice, refreshing drink.

Fried Green Tomatoes ($7, or $10 if add spicy crab on top)

We voted to get ours plain and these were pretty good. Perhaps a little greasy, but come on, we are eating fried green tomatoes. The remoulade sauce was so delicious, though! We kept the leftover sauce to put on whatever other food was headed our way next.

Fried Berkshire Chop with Lemon Caper Sauce plus Fried Okra and Greens ($18)

This was the best meal of the evening. Everything was so good, but especially that massive, perfectly fried bone-in porkchop. It was very thick, and cooked perfectly. It was so juicy and flavorful. The crust was perfectly crunchy. Though, the sauce gave it that extra punch of flavor that I loved. It was so big, I took half of it home.
The fried okra wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t greasy and that is a good thing!
The greens had almost as much pork in them as they did greens, but that doesn’t bother me. There was so much porky flavor, it was delicious.

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo Bowl ($12)

This bowl was massive! It came with two scoops of creole potato salad, like they do in New Orleans. Overall, it was good, but it needed more seasoning for sure. It was a little bland. Thankfully, not only do they put salt and pepper on the tables, but there’s also a house spice blend you can sprinkle on whatever you like. We put all three on this one and it was much better.

Fried Shrimp Basket ($12)

I didn’t get to try this, I was too full from everything else. Though, my mom enjoyed it. The shrimp looked perfectly fried with a light batter and crispy. Again, nothing was greasy here. It came with that delicious remoulade sauce, so that made it worth it no matter what.

 

OVERALL

The whole experience was great because the service was top notch. Our waiter was so kind and friendly and knowledgeable about the menu, both food and drink. There wasn’t a hiccup all night and our food came out with perfect timing, piping hot and fresh.

I think this place is a real winner and have no doubt they’ll be around for a long time. I will definitely be back, probably to get that pork chop again.

Recipe Experiment: Healthy Cajun Shrimp Boil with Interesting Ingredients

Drew and I are trying to eat healthier: more protein, less carbs and sugar, blah blah blah. Anyway, we love doing a cajun shrimp boil with potatoes and corn cobs pretty regularly at home. To make this a healthier meal, we decided to scratch the potatoes and corn, and experiment with a few new vegetables. Spoiler alert: most were terrible. Here’s the breakdown:

First off, I always use a bag of Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, & Crab boil, with 8 cups of water, in a very large pot.
While I have made my own crab boil recipes, I simply can’t get any to taste as spicy and delicious as this brand. I’m sure its because of all the extra salt. Either way, make your own, use what you like, just make sure you have enough seasoning to fill about 8 cups of water.

INGREDIENTS:

*Forgot to grab a snapshot first, my apologies*
The first ingredient we had on the list was turnips. Turnips have a similar texture to a potato, though they are a little bitter. However, nutrition-wise, they are awesome. Here’s a comparison of the same size (1 cup) potato vs. turnip:
Potato:                                  Turnip:
Cal: 60                                   Cal: 18
Carbs: 13.5                         Carbs: 4

I cut off the top and bottom of the turnip, but left the skin on. Then, I quartered each medium-sized turnip, using three turnips total.

Other ingredients included:
-half baby portabella mushrooms (~2 cups)
-small brussels sprouts (~3 cups)
-fresh green beans (~3 cups)
– 2 lb large shrimp, tail and shell still on. (You don’t have to use this
much, but I love cold, leftover spicy shrimp to snack on.)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Add packet of seasoning to 8 cups cold water. Add the turnips and
turn heat on high until it boils. Once boiling, turning it down to
medium-high to keep a steady boil is best. (Keep the lid off the
entire time, this will help the turnips release some of the gasses
that make them bitter.)
2. From the time you put the pot on the heat, 15 minutes after that,
add the frozen shrimp.
3. 9 minutes after this, add the mushrooms.
4. 2 minutes after this, add the brussels sprouts and green beans.
5. After 5 more minutes, everything is ready to be drained from the
water and eaten.

*Bonus*
After I removed all the food and turned the heat off, I dropped an egg in for a poached egg. It fell apart a little, but after just a minute, the most perfect soft yolk came out. It was flavorful and perfectly cooked- winner.

RESULTS:
What did we think? Well, I have some strong opinions here.
– Shrimp: Absolutely perfect as always. Tender, easy to peel, and just
spicy enough to give it great flavor without burning your mouth.
– Turnips: The texture was great, a little more al dente than a potato,
which I liked. However, the bitterness overwhelmed the cajun
spices, and I was not a fan.  I read online one suggestion is to add
just one potato to the mix to help it catch some of the bitterness.
So, I’d give that a shot if I were to do this again.
-Mushrooms: Ugh, that rubbery texture! The flavor was great, but
the texture I could not get past. If you like boiled mushrooms, you’ll
love this. If not, stay away.
-Brussels Sprouts: I just hate the flavor of brussels sprouts. The only
time I have eaten them and enjoyed them was the fried ones with
bacon and pecans at Table 28. These, while that first bite was full of
good, spicy flavors, also fell into the “fail” category for me. Their
bitterness comes through after a couple chews.
-Green Beans: These were great! I would have cooked them a
minute less because I like a little crunch left in them. But the flavor
was very good. Just a little spicy, no need for any additions such as
butter or bacon grease. I will definitely use green beans in our boils
from now on.