Midtown Lunch

Ever since Tokyo Kitchen closed Cajun Maggie’s has become the last remaining dodgy place to eat on the block of John St. between Nassau & Broadway. They are even classy enough to have someone handing out samples outside the store, just like at the mall. I knew Kevin went there to try out the oh so Cajun specialty of bourbon chicken, but I was interested in their take on some other actual Cajun items on the menu like shrimp etouffee and blackened fish. I wasn’t going in with high expectations of having the food transport me back to New Orleans but would it even be vaguely passable?

The menu says they have crayfish seasonally, but I feel like they just never have it. The two items I was most interested in were the shrimp etouffee and blackened fish. They also have jambalaya rice but a look at it on the steam table showed it was basically just yellow rice with some vegetables and a smattering of shrimp thrown in. No thank you. Instead I went with the brown rice, which actually turned out to be more like fried rice. So Cajun, this place!

I ordered up the two item combo with both the shrimp and fish ($7.95) that also comes with two sides. I went with fried potato disks (kind of like a giant version of home fries) and some green beans. There were some red beans but they were not looking like anything you’d find in the bayou. The most entertaining part was when I got to the end of the steam table where the proteins were and asked what one murky looking container was. It was bourbon chicken sauce. Just the sauce. In case you wanted it dumped all over everything. Is this a thing people do?

The blackened fish was good, even though it was just some sort of white fish with Cajun seasoning on it. The shrimp etoufee was more like a few shrimp in some sort of tomato sauce  with a whole lot of celery. It was OK, but mostly served as something to mix with the rice. The green beans were normal and surprisingly not from a can and the potatoes were plentiful and actually really good. Of course they also had a good sprinkling of Cajun seasoning on them.

This was a ton of food for $8 and must have looked pretty good because a middle-aged be-suited guy sitting by me and my co-luncher outside asked where we had gotten our food from. If you go to Maggie’s I would just stick with the fried meats in gloppy sauces although the fish was good as were the potatoes. Just don’t be expecting anything even of Popeye’s caliber.

Cajun Maggie’s, 12 John St. (btw. Nassau & Broadway), (212) 577-2668