Cajun cooking is one of those categories of regional cuisine that conjures up strong feelings. You can start a nostril-flaring argument with a real Cajun over which gumbo or jambalaya is best as quickly as you can by taking sides in the regional BBQ wars.
For Cajuns, what's right is probably a matter of how Mom did it. For the rest of us, it's a mystery.
I've eaten in white linen, dining-with-the-stars restaurants in New Orleans and alongside Cajuns in overalls and baseball caps in diners along Interstate 10 in rural Louisiana.
They weren't the same, but I liked some of each. And it calibrated my taste buds about the range of spicing and ingredients.
The red-beans-and-rice diners along I-10 were probably closer to what the Louisiana locals think of as home cooking. It was comfort food, perhaps a bit heavy on the fat, but fresh and flavorful.
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Don's Bayou, which opened early this year in a former plant nursery near the northwest corner of East Tanque Verde Road and Catalina Highway, leans toward Mom's kitchen.
Owner Don Garrot said he grew up near Baton Rouge and that his family goes way back to French land grant days. He's got a copy of a property document dated 1603 that makes reference to a relative on his father's side of the family. So, he's not some poseur.
Don's Bayou is a humble, but attractive place open for lunch and dinner every day, except Monday. It has walk-up counter service. You will probably see Garrot cooking right behind the counter when you order. (Your order and drink refills will be delivered to your table.)
The menu is a list of Cajun hits - gumbos, red beans and rice with sausage, jambalayas with chicken and sausage, a catfish dinner plate, crawfish etouffee, and catfish, shrimp or oyster Po' Boys. But there are also a couple of surprises, things you don't always find at every place that hangs out a Cajun shingle - turtle stew and fried frog legs.
Garrot also has seasonal items, crawfish for the boiled crawfish dinner ($12), and blue crabs, when each is available. Garrot said he gets most of his seafood flown in from a seafood market in Baton Rouge. Right now, he's getting oysters from Washington State.
There are a few tables inside, but several tables are outside on the covered patio, including some with umbrellas for shade out on the desert-landscaped yard.
It would take a case of Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager and John Fogerty's imagination to make you think Don's was on the bayou. But the food will take you partway there - or at least take your mind off the traffic noise from East Tanque Verde Road and Catalina Highway.
Although everything is served on disposable foam dishware, the regular-sized serving of seafood gumbo ($9 regular; $16 large) presentation was interesting because there was half a good-sized blue crab rising out of the thick soup-style dish like a miniature sea monster. There was also a generous helping of shrimp and oysters swimming in the dark roux with sweet peppers and onions.
The sweet and hot combination of the cake-like jalapeño corn bread (one of the sides, but also available for $1) went well with the gumbo.
The catfish Po' Boy ($10) was made with a big piece of farm-raised fish perfectly fried in a light, spiced breading. It was firm and meaty, not mushy like some farm-raised catfish. It was served on a fresh white roll with a dab of a spicy red sauce with a nice, delayed kick.
The red beans and sausage over rice ($6 regular, $10 large) was very mildly spiced, made with firm beans (avoiding that mushy texture that sometimes ruins pre-cooked dishes) and served with a generous helping of sausage slices. The sausage, too, was on the mild side, a bit tame compared to most versions I've tried.
Don's chicken and sausage jambalaya (regular $7, large $12) was more lively, thanks to use of a spicier sausage than that served with the red beans and rice. The only drawback was that it wasn't heated evenly, with a few cold spots.
The bourbon barbeque pork sandwich ($7) was served on a fresh hamburger bun, with a good-sized pile of chopped pork. The chopped, rather than pulled, pork seemed to have been cooked in a moderately spicy sauce, permeating the meat rather than served on top afterwards. It came with one side, a choice of Don's coleslaw, french fries, corn bread or Cajun potato salad.
The coleslaw, crisp and fresh - possibly with a hint of nutmeg or some sort of seafood seasoning - was a natural with the BBQ, or any of the seafood. But it was worth paying extra for an unauthorized side to get the fried pickles. ($2.50)
If the Feds find about the fried pickles at Don's Bayou, they soon could be a controlled substance. You, or at least I, couldn't eat just 20. They were done with a battering so light you can see through it. I'm not sure what it is, but it's got crunch, yet you can see green through it. And there's a dusting of cayenne that will activate the beer-grabbing reflex.
And, speaking of beer, Don's has a nice selection of brews, including some for fans of the hops, the delightful Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. All beers are $3.50, even the microbrews and premiums, including local favorite Nimbus Brewery's Old Monkey Shine. And for those seeking Louisiana authenticity, there's Dixie lager and the aforementioned Blackened Voodoo.
There's also a bargain-priced list of decent red and white wines. (Bogle chardonnay for $5 a glass, Little Black Dress pinot grigio and Little Black Dress Cabernet Sauvignon for $4.50 a glass, Red Rock merlot for $6 and Gascon malbec for $7).
The house-made pecan pie ($3 a slice, $24 for the whole pie) was a rare combination of crisp nuts in a decent crust, without too much of that gelatinous mystery goo that ruins most pecan pies.
Tucson restaurant review
• What: Don's Bayou, 8991 E. Tanque Verde Road,
• Hours: 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
• Family call: There's no kids menu, but there's room to wander outside in the fenced yard. The building is a former plant nursery with a fountain and plenty of vegetation.
• Noise level: Moderate, with recorded blues at a reasonable background volume, and some traffic noise outside.
• Vegetarian choices: Not much. Not unless you consider alligators, crabs, crawfish, shrimp, frogs and turtles to be vegetables.
• Dress: Relaxed.
• Prices: Entrees range from $6 (red beans and rice with sausage, or gumbo with chicken and andouille) to $16 (large seafood gumbo or turtle stew).
• Wine list: By the glass from $4.50-$7.
