It wasn't all that long ago that gastronomical delights from the Louisiana Gulf Coast were easy to find in the Old Pueblo.
If you wanted a snack, you could pop into the French Quarter and nibble on some alligator meat or a delicious Po' Boy sandwich between frosty mugs of beer.
For a more formal dining experience, Tucsonans went to Nonie, a restaurant that featured seafood pastas and pecan pie with certain menu recipes handed down to original owner Chris Leonard from his grandmother.
The French Quarter is still around, but Nonie closed in 2006, leaving a void on the fine-dining side of Louisiana cuisine.
The Bayou Cafe on North Oracle Road could change all that.
Owned and run by Louisiana transplant Nicholas Pavloff, the Bayou Cafe — which is open for breakfast and lunch, with plans to expand into dinner service — gives the feeling of an upscale restaurant with menu prices that won't fleece you like a pickpocket at Mardi Gras.
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As with many of Tucson's newer restaurants, the Bayou Cafe hermit-crabbed its way into a strip mall on Oracle, setting up shop in what used to be the popular Paco's Tropical Cafe.
No remnants of Paco's remain. With pleasant, cream-colored walls and paintings depicting scenes from the Deep South, the new digs offer up a higher level of elegance and class.
The restaurant hasn't officially advertised, Pavloff said, so it is still fairly easy to get a table. Our Saturday morning visit saw only three other parties the entire time we were there.
The restaurant is a perfect place to hold a conversation at normal decibel levels with your lunchmates or catch up on some work if you are looking to eat solo.
"Spicy" is a fairly common word used to describe many Louisiana dishes.
There are certain entrees associated with the Gulf Coast that could make Ultimate Fighting Champion Tito Ortiz weep like a little girl.
Despite that common perception, we found our meals to be extremely tasty if not a little light on the heat.
There was no eye-watering or excessive reaching for our waters while chowing down on the shrimp creole plate ($6), five juicy shrimps swimming in a tomato-based sauce with chunks of celery, peppers and onions on top of a pile of tasty, Creole rice.
Nor did our tongues beg for forgiveness after tasting the Bayou Devil Dog ($7), a thick, grilled andouille sausage served in a corn dusted bun with thin slices of pickled cabbage on top and a side order of dry-yet-delicious, lightly breaded okra.
Both meals were abundant in flavor and filled our plates as well as our stomachs. It almost made us regret getting a cup of "Debris" ($3.50), an incredibly rich stew full of roasted beef chunks, mushrooms, onions, potatoes and celery with a mouth-watering red wine sauce, before our main courses.
• Where: 5819 N. Oracle Road.
• Hours: 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. 408-3498.
The bill
• Cup of "Debris" — $3.50.
• Shrimp Creole — $6.
• Bayou Devil Dog — $7.
• Two Iced Teas — $3.
• Total, before tax and tip: $19.50.
