Review: Fat Tuesday's

The crawfish etouffee. (Credit: Leah Starnes)

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Looking for some delicious and authentic New Orleans-style Cajun dishes? Then you are in luck with Fat Tuesday’s.

The Thames family has been in business since 1991 and brings a long culinary history to their restaurant. You will find some of the best service, friendliest staff and most inviting atmosphere around, and you will feel you just stepped into a Louisiana or coastal eatery.

The food: Lunch crowds flock to Fat Tuesday’s for the daily lunch specials of fried chicken, red beans and rice, hamburger steak, pork chops, spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken and dumplings, chicken pasta, and, of course, fried catfish on Fridays. For a mere $7.50 with tea and two sides it is a treat and makes for a definite hot spot for locals.

They serve plenty of starters, and trying the comeback dressing with crackers will have you putting the dressing on whatever you chose for your entrée. Hot tamales, fried green tomatoes, fried crab claws, fried cheese sticks, fried mushrooms, fried pickles, homemade onion rings, hot wings, crawfish pie and comeback shrimp are just the beginning of a feast of offerings.

The gumbo is some of the best in the area, with fresh blue crab, lump crab meat, crawfish tails, scallops, shrimp, and the family secret ingredients served with rice that will have your taste buds popping and ready for more. Then there’s the red beans and rice (again with secret ingredients), served up with some juicy smoked sausage, which is another local favorite.

Poboys are served on New Orleans French bread fully dressed and it is difficult to choose from the large number of sandwich offerings. These include, ham, turkey, roast beef, hamburger, chicken tenders, smoked sausage, catfish, crawfish, shrimp, oyster or soft shell crab. If a regular burger is your favorite, okay, they have those too, yet skipping a poboy shouldn’t be an option.

Hungry for a salad? Well they have plenty of options with chef, ham and turkey, grilled chicken, fried chicken tenders, fried crawfish, fried shrimp, fried oysters, grilled shrimp or salmon with plenty of salad dressings.

After 5 p.m. they kick it up with some additional entrees full of that Cajun twist. Crawfish etoufee, shrimp Creole, fried catfish, crawfish tails, oysters, and shrimp are served up to perfection and extremely fresh.

Still can’t make a decision? The Peacemaker is a combo of fried shrimp and oysters, the seafood platter brings in catfish and soft shell crab or if you need to shy away from the fried items, there’s grilled snapper, tuna, salmon, or a nice beef filet or rib eye cooked to perfection.

Dessert hungry? Then check out the apple pie, lemon ice box pie, pecan (the good old Southern kind), grand slam pie or New York cheese cake—all will round out your evening just fine.

The drink: Fat Tuesday’s serves up plenty of beer and wine by the glass or bottle. Then of course there is plenty of delicious fresh brewed tea, soft drinks and coffee to compliment your meal.

The scene: Situated on Old Canton Road in the heart of the reservoir area you will find a friendly, family-owned and operated venue that is definitely aiming to please. Welcoming, efficient, and hard working service is what the Thames family is known for.

A regular stream of diehard fans come in at lunch with co-workers or clients, and at night and on weekends the place churns up some good eats for the entire family. The décor is definitely Mardi Gras themed, with plenty of Southern and Cajun ambience to make you feel welcome and right at home.

The bottom line: The Thames family is definitely in the restaurant business for all the right reasons. Their entire family plays a vital role in the operation of the business. The Thames Foods line of their bottled Comeback Dressing is a standalone company that offers you a true taste of the south with their dressings being bottled in Oxford, MS and available on line, or at over 50 restaurants in the tri-state area.

The slogan “Table sauce of the South” is quite true as I know it’s some of the best I have tasted and it goes well on just about everything. If you haven’t tried Fat Tuesday’s they are definitely worthy of a visit for a delicious meal and plenty of comfortable surroundings.

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