Exciting Cuisine from an exciting city

NEW ORLEENS is the way silly tourists pronounce New Orleans. Natives pronounce it N’aw-lins, with a nice roll.

If it does not matter to you how you pronounce the name, and if you want to experience a little of New Orleans in Manila, try a place called Kidd Creole. It is a restaurant-bar serving Creole and Cajun dishes. Creole dishes have tomato as ingredient, while Cajun dishes do not. Also, Creole cooking is characterized by battering up and deep frying anything, as in anything edible.

"Kidd Creole presents New Orleans cuisine in its authentic taste. No dressing up, no fancy names. What we have is Creole cuisine as it would be in the South," says Miguel Besa, one of the owners of Kidd Creole.

It is easy to miss Kidd Creole because it is tucked in a part of Greenbelt 3 (Level III) where pedestrian traffic is not heavy. It is away from all the wonderful shops where beautiful people go to be ogled at and to see other beautiful people.

But do not make the mistake of missing Kidd Creole next time you find yourself in Greenbelt 3. Go look for it.

One of the joys in locating Kidd Creole is its outdoor bar called The Deck, overlooking Makati Avenue, where the likes of Affinity, Blue Note Funk and Wally Gonzales and friends are featured. For neophytes, powerhouse Affinity has been described as a jazz group with "rock energy, solid groove and New York style." Acoustic band Blue Note Funk with its saxophone and percussion plus solid vocals should not be missed for its renditions of Sade, Basia, Incognito, a flavor of Santana and a touch of Clapton. Anyone who dabbled into learning serious guitar in the 1970s should still remember Wally Gonzales, famous for his fabulous and awesome electric guitar tricks. The young ones should be introduced to his brand of Pinoy blues-rock guitar.

Last Valentine’s Day guitarist Reuben Reyes played his renditions of romantic flamenco and Spanish, Brazilian and jazz music.

Another splendor of Kidd Creole is its liquors and spirits menu, which I would hazard to say is one of the best in that part of town for its wide-ranging contents and for its affordability. Amazing that it has the liqueur Pernod. Not bad that it offers Cointreau and Sambuca. As for aperitifs, surprising that one can choose between Martini Dry Vermouth or Martini Sweet Vermouth.

Red wine-lovers would have a field day in Kidd Creole. Take its Spanish red wine selection ranging from Atrium merlot, Gran Corona, Gran Sangre de Toro, Carramar Estate shiraz, Carramar Estate merlot, Vina Brava and Corona. France is represented by fine Bordeaux wines.

But back to the food. For starters, we tried Maw Maw’s Gumbo, with lots of okra, chicken and andouille sausage. This is also known as "The Best Gumbo West of Mississippi." When the Kidd decides to cook, he whips up Gambas Gris-gris Cajun style. In simple English, this is shrimp, crawfish tails, andouille sausage, mangos, peppers, onions and garlic, butter, Creole spice and a dash of Louisiana hot sauce.

A trip to New Orleans will not be complete without eating Jambalaya. Kidd Creole’s version is called Jedd’s Jambalaya, which has lots of smoked ham, prawns, crawfish tails and rice cooked in spicy tomato Creole broth and served on a hot iron skillet.

The famous Bourbon Street is brought to the plate via the Bourbon Street Belly Buster, or porkloin chop stuffed with andouille sausage, cheddar cheese, cornbread and sweet corn filling and served with "dirty rice" and vegetables.

If you are feeling adventurous, try the Da’sa Dawn Gud Dark Etouffe, a real N’aw-lins classic gravy made from Creole seafood, tomato and vegetable broth with dark brown roux served with lots of rice.

The Red Beans and Rice is a good way to end a trip. This dish is the traditional beans stewed with Da Trinity, smoked ham and andouille sausage served over clean rice.

So if you want a little of New Orleans–whatever way you say it–and much more, go find yourself lost in Kidd Creole.