Pappadeaux
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
I remembered eating at Pappadeaux a long time ago, and the one thing that had stuck with me was their large sized portions. That was incentive enough for us to have another go at it. We went to the one in Richardson, east of 75 between Spring Valley and Belt Line. 
The outside of the restaurant was pretty humble looking, nothing fancy. What it did have was a large shaded patio dining area which I thought was pretty cool…half literally because you get decent protection from the merciless Texas sun, and there’s a nice cool breeze every now and then.
Once inside we were treated to an interesting surprise. While the exterior drew little attention, the interior of the restaurant was a bustling of activity and a melting pot mix of cultures and classes. Imagine taking your local sports bar and combine it with a 4 star restaurant in a Southern theme park at an international event where English was the general spoken language. That’s pretty much what it was. I saw sharply dressed people waiting for their table like everyone else, probably with BMWs and Benzs parked outside. Then there were the guys at the bar with beer in hand watching the NBA playoffs and cheering loudly for their respective teams. I saw a waitress carrying a tray with martinis and other mixed drinks squeeze herself past the burly guys to her table, passing another table where a family of father, mother, and kids were enjoying their meal together. Borders were blurred as different cultures coexisted under the same roof.
After about half an hour we got our table, which was pretty fast considering the number of people waiting in line. We started off with a fruity margarita to get our appetite going, and pretty soon our alligator appetizer arrived. 
It isn’t everyday that you see alligator in a menu, so we wanted to get it to see what it tasted like. Its texture was softer than chicken but tougher than fish. The crispy fried morsels paired quite nicely with our beverage and the complementary bread.
We were still enjoying our alligator when the entrees were served, and lo and behold they were huge! I’ve never seen plates so big before, at least in recent memory, and I nearly burst out laughing from disbelief. 
Our first dish was the Pappadeaux Platter which was a motherload of fried seafood that consisted of shrimp, oysters, catfish fillet, stuffed shrimp, and stuffed crab piled on top of a generous mound of fries. Other than a small slice of lemon, there were no sauces for dipping, but it didn’t matter. The seafood inside the batter were some of the biggest and juicest I have ever tasted.
Our second dish was the Blackened Catfish Opelousas Fillet served with a lemon garlic butter sauce that had large pieces of shrimp, blackened oysters, and crabmeat in it, and a big heap of dirty rice. The catfish was so tender it pretty much melted in my mouth. The large chunks of shrimp and oysters in the rich, thick sauce made it seem more like a gumbo than a sauce. The flavor was so intense and savory that when we ran out of rice to eat with the sauce, we used whatever we had available to mop up every last bit of sauce.
The final entree we had was the Pasta Mardi Gras consisting of linguine tossed with crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage, and crimini mushrooms in a marinara cream sauce topped with jumbo grilled shrimp. Even our pasta experienced no shortage of seafood as every stab of the fork into the creamy pasta sauce produced at least one succulent piece of shrimp or crawfish. Though it seemed like a daunting task at first, we kept at it until every last bit of food on our giant plates were devoured. Only then did we heave a sigh of accomplished relief and leaned back in our chairs to give our stomach room digest.
Our waiter came and asked us if we wanted any dessert. Immediately my eyes darted to the two dessert connoisseurs in our group. 
Surprisingly they declined claiming that the huge meal we just had left no room in their stomach. But I knew better judging from the slight hesitation in their reply. So, we got a Creme Brulee with fresh fruit to share, and it turned out to be a perfect closer to our evening meal.
All in all, Pappadeaux didn’t disappoint. Portions were extravagantly huge, flavors were intense, and ingredients were fresh. It’s no wonder why people from across the spectrum are attracted to this place. If I HAD to say something bad about my experience it would be the noise level, but even that was stretching it because when you’re enjoying yourself, it’s just natural to get a little rowdy to stir the crowd up.
Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
725 S. Central Expressway
Richardson, TX 75080
(972) 235-1181
Website: http://www.pappadeaux.comAmbiance: 8
Food: 8
Service: 6
Cleanliness: 7
Value: 8
Overall: 7.6
Tags: cajun, seafood, restaurant, review
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, Cajun | 1 Comment »