Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Kitchen... Austin.

This is a tough one.

First, because all the good things there are to know about Lola are already spread all over the internets... how she closes her restaurant down on Sundays to give free meals to the homeless, and that she was the first person in Austin to throw a benefit for the victims of Katrina who were bussed into the Convention Center in September of 2005.

Many Austinites can also recount Lola's hardscrabble backstory - homeless for two years, she got back on her feet and scraped together the money to rent out a small home on Rosewood, in Austin's East Side, where she opened Nubian Queen Lola's after continued donations to buy equipment. 

That's why this is tough - how do you review a small restaurant like Lola's, where the story is almost more important than the food?

Ah, the food...

We went to Lola's for a late lunch last week.  Pushing the door open, we were unsure what we'd entered - we saw no menus, no other people, no particular indication that this was a restaurant beyond a 7-Up cooler sitting in a corner.

We waited at the counter for just a moment or two, and Lola herself came out to greet us warmly.  (I say "herself" like this isn't, at most, a two-person operation.)  She turned around, peered over her shoulder into the kitchen, and said "Well, let's see what I have.  You know, Mondays I don't do a lot of sides."

That was fine - there were still more than enough items on the spoken-word menu to make us happy.  I settled on the fried fish and shrimp platter, with sides of yams and collard greens, while Husbear ordered her shrimp po'boy.  Plus a small side of gumbo, to share.  Lola said if we were willing to wait a while, she'd have a smothered pork chop, but we declined.

We settled in and read the copious notes tacked all over the walls - reviews, letters of thanks from schoolchildren and fellow churchmates, exhortations to prayer for families in trouble.  And hanging above us, mardi gras beads.

After a few minutes, Lola emerged from the back to tell us she'd forgotten to list smothered okra as one of her sides.  I immediately tried to change my order from yams to smothered okra, and she said "Honey, you don't wanna do that.  Those yams are the bomb.  I'll see if I can give you a half-spoon of greens, half of yams, and half of the okra."  I asked if I could just get a seperate side of yams... I wanted whole servings! 

Another few minutes go by, and Lola comes out with the gumbo side.

This gumbo was delicious.  A real, slow-cooked roux, heavily shot through with peppers, and with good spicy sausage and fall-apart tender chicken.  This was one of the spiciest gumbos I've been served in a restaurant, which was more than enough to make me happy.  The cornbread was buttery and sweet and perfect with the stew.

Then, we sat.  A small group of whiteys came in and sat down (hey, like us!) and had some trouble parsing the menu.  Lola took their order, but had to run back to the kitchen several times to make sure her smothered pork chops weren't burning.

We sat some more.  I read the inspirational cards on the table - as seen on Oprah!

More sitting.  Husbear and I decided it was a good thing we weren't in a hurry. 

Then, from the back,

Lola appeared once more with my enormous lunch.  I've gotta say, she was right about the yams, though they were swimming in enough butter to grease the whole table.  Sweet, toasty, yummy.  The fish was also outstanding, perfectly fried with a crispy batter that was perhaps a touch on the salty side.

The okra and greens?  Well, I'm a sucker for Southern-style vegetables, and these were they.  Long-cooked with pork, they were at the point where they tasted more like bacon than anything else, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I love long-cooked okra and greens.

The shrimp, I wasn't so crazy about.  It was a little overcooked, and the batter was sort of soggy - not crunchy.  I think that's supposed to be a sign of oil that's too cold or too new, but then it's odd that the fish was perfect.  I don't pretend to understand this.

When Husbear's po'boy hit the table, we both gaped.  Lola laughed.

Yeah, that's a sandwich.  French bread, split open and layered with mayo, fried shrimp, fried onions, pickles, lettuce, cocktail sauce, and pepper jelly.  Plus a side of red beans and rice, for good measure.

Husbear was a little taken aback by the enormous pile of sandwich sitting before him, but he gamely pushed the halves of the loaf together and took a bite.  He tried to put it back down, but the sandwich threatened to lose all structural integrity and explode all over his plate, so he elected to hold it for a few more bites.

He then pronounced it the craziest po'boy he'd ever seen.  He thought the cocktail sauce was eh, and the fried onions were maybe overkill, but all in all, it made him very happy.  As did the red beans and rice, stewed with more meats and veggies than you normally see.

Delicious.  And $18.  We're pretty sure she added that up wrong, so we overtipped.  We'll be back, though not necessarily on a day when we have pressing afternoon engagements.  An additional note - neither of us were capable of eating dinner that night.  And if you know us, you know that's very, very strange.

Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Kitchen, 1815 Rosewood, Austin.  512.542.9269.  Open Monday-Saturday, 9-9.

In other news, we tried to take Fatty to a no-sedation groomer today, and they were unable to shave him.  Huh.  Husbear is at a whole-hog butchering class run by Dai Due, where they're making pates and sausages and bacon and all sorts of stuff, and I get to go to the dinner tomorrow!  And that's our news.

Comments

[Chris]

Aaaah. Now I'm jealous. Screw Vietnam...

CJNFD4EVR

[Boots in the Oven]

Looks like you've found the perfect license plate! Might be a little long, though...

[auntie]

As soon as I read that she offered you OKRA !!! I knew you'd be adjustin' your order. Is this somewhat like the great little place we went to in Savannah? (name escapes me). Where the lady shut down at 2p 'cause she also was a cook at Burger King? (I mean I know that she hearded people in by the dozens and was a big production by the time we found here, but.... even the outsides look similarly personalized and tiny....

ap

[Boots in the Oven]

Yes, it's very similar to the place we went in Savannah... Mrs. somebody's eating house? Or something? And yeah, I'll choose okra just about always.

[natoya eason]

thats my moms place, i was delighted to see your review .

[girlie]

Natoya, thanks for commenting - your mom runs a seriously wonderful place and seems like quite a lady.

[Tom]

Lola's is amazing. Ya I do admit its not a get in get out fast place but I personal love that about it. It helpd you slow down from the day to day fast paced life. just come in sit down and enjoy. Me and my girlfriend go weekly just to be able to relax play a game of checkers and enjoy home cooked food the likes we never get anywhere else. God bless you lola!
(shes moving shop to Salina and 12th at some point she told me today)

[Tom]

Lola's is amazing. Ya I do admit its not a get in get out fast place but I personal love that about it. It helpd you slow down from the day to day fast paced life. just come in sit down and enjoy. Me and my girlfriend go weekly just to be able to relax play a game of checkers and enjoy home cooked food the likes we never get anywhere else. God bless you lola!
(shes moving shop to Salina and 12th at some point she told me today)

[girlie]

Totally true! Thanks for commenting.