Papa Roux - A little bit o' Nawlins in Naptown

   We heard somewhere through the grapevine that this place was pretty awesome, I can't seem to remember for the life of me where on the vine that was...so I apologize to whoever suggested this place to us!  But, please do let me thank you!  Because of said glowing review, and in hopes of getting our serious nosh on, we made our way over to Irvington last week and hit up a taste of Nawlins at Papa Roux.

The joint


   This is not an area of town we venture to often, and there was some interstate and gps use involved in our getting there.  When we arrived, it was not near the only other restaurant I've been to in the Irvington area.  It was a little more rough looking than I expected...and I immediately was very excited.  This hole in the wall might be just the kind of thing I love to discover!

The big bold "Papa Roux" and the oh so familiar sign of NO, the fleur de lis, on the outside of the building let us know we had arrived.  We walked in and approached the counter and said "Hello, 2 please."  Clearly, we had not been here...yeah, your order at the counter.  They have kind of a cool, and different way of ordering here.  You choose what you would like off the menu and then find yourself a seat.  Once your sitting, each table has a little placard, which when you decide, you place in a car holder on the table indicating you would like to order your sides.  The service is super fast.  They see you putting that card up and they are already there!  It was crowded and everyone there looked like they were really enjoying their meals, they were stoked to be eating their po'boys in Indy.









The food

The menu speaks for itself.  You can get po'boys, sandwiches or stews, Hubs' favorite, Zapp's potato chips.  Once you decided your order is accompanied by all you can eat sides that come free with your meal and are served to you as you see fit once at your table.  The picture shows my choice, which was a roast beef po'boy sammich and a side of cornbread and Zapp's chips.  The roast beef was sooooo delicious.  It was real hearty and so tasty.  Underneath, you can't really see the cole slaw, which if you remember from some previous blog posts...is not my favorite food.  I went with the go to eating at new restaurants theory of "listen to the chef" with this one though.  I am glad I did because the cole slaw was a necessary addition to this sandwich.  The roast beef was really moist, but the cole slaw really added something to it.  It was a perfect combination, complementing each other with meaty goodness and creamy, sweet crunchiness from the slaw.  The sides were also uh-mazing.  They have a bunch of choices and many of the patrons were going crazy with them.  They ask you to order two sides per person each time you put up your placard (so as not to waste food, I guess).  Good idea.  I only ordered one...cornbread.  Hubs scored some bread pudding and excited enjoyed his Zapp's.  Also, for his entree his ordered a Muffaletta, which is one of his favorite things to eat ever.  He's always talking about this amazing Muffaletta he had in New Orleans on time and never finds anything that matches up outside of that crazy city.  So, him saying that this Muffaletta was the best darn one he's had since then is saying quite a bit.  He was pleased friends.  And, I was pleased with not just my sandwich, but those sides were supa yummy.  We both were doing some ooohhhing and ahhhhing about the bread pudding!  For me, 2 sides and the sandwich was plenty of food.  I guess you can get crazy, but to enjoy it, leaving there feeling satisfied but not on the verge of explosion, that combo did it.  I will be wanting to try the etoufee next time...and let's just go ahead and say awwwww yeah, there will definitely be a next time.  I can't wait to take some visitors to Papa Roux's.  It's the perfect kind of restaurant to show off how cool and diverse your city is :)

The wrap


   I think I said it, I want to show off how awesome Indy is based on restaurants like this.  It's fun and different and the food is really good.  There are no frills and I love that about it.  The food speaks for itself, no fanciness or gimmicks needed.