Happy Hour: Tuesday – Friday 4:00 -6:30
Food:
$3 Fried Okra, Fried Grits, Hushpuppies, Red
Beans and Rice and Garlic Fries
5$ Boudin Meatballs, Bib Shrimp and Grits,
Chicken Wings, Nachos, Andouille Sausage
Drinks:
$3.50 well drinks, beer, house wine
$5: Cosmo, Lemon Drop, Mojito,
Margarita, Whiskey Sour, Up Martini
Louie's Cajun Kitchen & Bourbon Bar Website
Louie's Cajun Kitchen & Bourbon Bar Website
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Julie's Review
I like the
ambience of Louie’s Cajun Kitchen on Church Street. The restaurant formerly known as Clouds has transformed
into a New Orleans hot spot. The walls
are covered with colorful murals depicting jazz musicians and mardi gras décor. The owner, bartenders and waitresses wear
Mardi Gras beads. It’s a lively engaging
atmosphere with a full bar.
Josephine was
already there when I arrived. I was
really glad that the happy hour lasted until 6:30. It can be really difficult to get to a place
before 6:00 when you are coming from over the hill. That extra half an hour can really make a
difference.
Louie’s
offers some reasonable prices and interesting dishes. The
well drinks, beer and wine are only $3.50.
I asked the owner who was taking our drink order if I could get a well
bloody mary at the happy hour price and he said sure. Now, I love a place you can get a bloody mary
for $3.50 – that’s cheaper than the Crow’s Nest!
When Josh, our bartender, brought over a nice
tall spicy bloody mary, I knew I was going to like this place.
When the food
arrived we were not disappointed! Jo
knew the BBQ shrimp over gouda grits was too sweet for her taste, but I loved
them. The red beans and rice were a
little bland for me, but luckily they have a wonderful selection of hot sauces
– all my favorites.
I loved the fried
okra – I would definitely get that again, though I wasn’t as impressed with
Jo’s chicken wings, though she liked them and she is picky about her
wings. We dug in and completely enjoyed
the food.
Next I
decided to try one of their specialty drinks so I had a Lemon Drop, rimmed with
sugar and a nice twist of lime.
Delicious. Josephine was enjoying
her wine. We talked and laughed and got
that nice happy hour buzz.
The service
was not very attentive. It was steady,
but not that busy at the bar. I was disappointed that we weren’t offered Mardi
Gras necklaces. Really? The J & J don’t get necklaces for the
blog? Since our motto is "show us
what you got, we’ll give you a shot” I usually expect superior service. I liked everything else about Louie’s
however.
They give you
that extra half hour until 6:30, (though I am always in favor of one weekend
day, say Sunday). The prices were great;
just what you want for happy hour and the food was interesting and
delicious. Love the ambience of the
place and the drinks were great. Give
me a necklace and I will be back for more!
Julie’s
rating: 4 shots!
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Jo’s review
Louie’s Cajun Kitchen and Bourbon Bar, located in
downtown Santa Cruz, is the place to be if you’re looking for a taste of New
Orleans. It has all the qualities of a fun New Orleans restaurant. This place
use to be Clouds restaurant, known for their specialty Martini’s, but the owner
wanted to change it up a bit and it seems to be working for him.
As soon as you
walk in the place is full of color and flair. Beautiful and colorful designs of
masks, singers and musicians cover the walls and the piano at the front is
ready for action. The lively jazz
playing in the background gets you set in the mood to party, and at any given
time you’ll see someone at the piano playing away.
They have a good size bar
and tables in front and around the bar for light dining, an elevated dining
area, and more tables in the back. Everyone seems very friendly and happy.
I arrive before Julie so I start clicking away on my
phone. It is the first time I’m using my
phone for the picture taking, I usually have my camera so I apologize for the
quality right off the bat. Though the place screams have a Hurricane or choose
something from the 50 different bourbons they have I go for wine. The happy
hour deal which is Tues. – Friday 4-6:30 offers well drinks, beer, and house
wines for $3.50, $5.00 Cosmo, Lemon
Drop, Mojito, Margarita, Whiskey Sour, Up Martini and appetizers for $3.00 and
$5.00.
My usual bartender is not working today which is a real
dis-appointment, I always like visiting with Jeff, but the other bartender Josh is very friendly and
willing to have his picture taken.
Julie arrives and we quickly start looking
over the appetizer menu and Julie starts off with a well bloody mary. I was
surprised to see it arrive in a full pint size glass, nice. Julie asked for
water as she always does but I did not have to ask for mine, it came at the
same time the wine came, a plus. For food we decide on fried Okra, chicken
wings of course and I opt for fried instead of buffalo style (gotta go with the
theme), shrimp & creamy smoked Gouda grits, and red beans and rice with Andouille
sausage.
As we are catching up on each other’s lives the food
starts to arrive. The fried okra is a generous portion, bite size pieces with a
very tasty spicy light breading and a spicy Cajun aioli sauce. All of the
portions are pretty generous for appetizers, the shrimp and grits look great,
could use a few more shrimp but it has a tangy bbq sauce on it and yummy grits.
The wings are good, very moist light and airy with a light breading on them.
The red beans and rice are good, the beans are a little mushy, I would of liked
them to of held up better but good flavor and a good amount of sausage.
We were munching away and working on our second drink by now, Julie switching to a vodka sour. Enjoying ourselves very much.
We were munching away and working on our second drink by now, Julie switching to a vodka sour. Enjoying ourselves very much.
So all in all it was a great happy hour, the food was
good, and drinks were good and the folks working very friendly. Louie’s is a
great place to hang out and have fun at.
Jo’s rating: 4 shots
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