406 4th Ave
Olympia, WA 98501
(360) 915-9492
The state's capital is home to a cornucopia of interesting restaurants and cuisine; Thai, French, South American, Indian, Mexican, Greek, home-style American, and Italian are just a start. Last fall saw the addition of Cajun Creole to that list with the opening of A2 Cajun Café. The space that formerly held the Clubside Café has been jazzed up with a painted mural of parading musicians and dancers that evoke thoughts of Mardi Gras. Owners Billy Roberson and Lisa Smith, who also co-own Cicada Restaurant and Lounge up the street, offer a menu of loosely traditional Cajun dishes concocted from recipes that obviously are not shy on herbs and spices - or afraid of making it hot. Shared seating at long picnic tables and benches mean rubbing elbows when the café is busy.
French derived orange remoulade held plentiful whole bay shrimp. We would eat cardboard if served with A2's tangy remoulade. We wanted to lick the plate.
Thier signature dish of jambalaya wa slight orange in hue, the green onion garnish provided a complementary color contrast. Though flavorful, the dish bordered on too hot due to an overpowering taste of pepper. It was cloying. The tart and sweet house made lemonade provided delicious relief.
Pan-fried, braised pork chops were boneless and tender but slightly dry. Since it was sitting in a pool of reddish-orange sauce, it made it easy to forgive this.
Red beans and rice were riddled with ham hocks and pieces of andouille sausage. Beans were fully cooked - thank the man in the sky - as was the scoop of white rice plopped in the middle of the saucy beans. Overall this dish gets a C. It wasn't awesome; it wasn't awful. It was just all right.
Bread pudding was ultra light. We're guessing it's made with the same sourdough or French bread that was served toasted with each of our dishes.
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
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