Mini-Review

Robbie’s Cajun Kitchen

Friday-Saturday, 5:30-11pm

Robbie Greig’s Cajun home cooking has been a favorite of local and visiting blues and R&B musicians since he operated Mama’s Money next to the original Antone’s nightclub on East Sixth Street back in the Seventies. The Port Arthur native and his childhood friend Clifford Antone appreciated the blues, and for years, in one location or another, Antone provided a showcase for the all-time greats of the genre, while Greig gladly fed them. These days, when you visit Greig’s new joint, Robbie’s Cajun Kitchen, the walls are decorated with evocative photos of the many blues and R&B stars who’ve feasted on his good cooking over the years, and their music is playing in the background.

The 4-month-old restaurant is located in an artfully refurbished frame house on a busy commercial stretch of West Sixth. While the attractive, inviting space is a little more upscale than Greig’s previous venues, the food remains the same: authentic, heartfelt, homestyle Cajun/Creole cooking prepared by a man who loves to feed folks. The Kitchen offers a lunch menu designed to eat in or take out: traditional po’boys (shrimp, oyster, catfish, andouille sausage) fully dressed, rich gumbos and étouffées by the cup or bowl, lunch baskets of fried seafood or burgers with fries, and a selection of salads are all flavored to please the palate. The shrimp po’boy ($7.95) here is as good as they come. A handful of big butterflied shrimp is piled on a toasted baguette dressed with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and tangy tartar sauce. Paired with a heaping cup of creamy red beans and rice ($4.95, bowl $6.95), it’s a lunch that’ll keep you going all day.

The dinner menu expands on the same theme, featuring the lunch items as well as a full list of mouthwatering appetizers, a choice of Creole Italian pasta dishes, plus steaks and seafood from the grill. You can’t go wrong with an order of Corn Maque Choux ($9.95), Robbie’s twist on a traditional bayou classic in which the sweet, spicy creamed corn is topped with four grilled shrimp and doused with his signature dark, piquant Taylor Bayou Sauce. Janie’s Shrimp ($10.95) offers Greig’s rendition of the Crescent City favorite known there as barbecue shrimp, plump shell-on crustaceans cooked in a decadent blend of butter, garlic, and Worchestershire and served with warm bread for mopping up every last drop of the outrageous sauce. After stuffing yourselves with too many appetizers, entrée choices will be difficult to make, but be sure to sample the crawfish étouffée ($13.95 bowl, $6.95 cup): Succulent little mudbug tails and aromatic vegetables are sautéed in a rich butter sauce and served over fluffly white rice. Another worthy choice is the Shrimp Mytilini ($13.95), a Creole-inspired dish Greig picked up during his stint as chef at the famed Hilltop Cafe near Fredericksburg.

Due to a long chain of permit and construction delays, Robbie’s Cajun Kitchen was 32 months in the making, paying rent every month. After waiting all that time to be back at home behind his own range, Robbie Greig is eager for Austinites to belly up to his table. Go hungry and remember to pace yourself, because food from Robbie’s personal bayou is rich and spicy. Given the chance, he and his very friendly staff will feed you like a member of the family.

This article appears in July 26 • 2002.