Bud's Louisiana Cafe

After what seemed like a very long wait, Bud's Louisiana Food Shoppe has reopened in, of all places, Tierrasanta. You may have to look carefully, but you'll find it, right there past the Roundtable Pizza.

Like the previous incarnation of Bud's, this is a fairly tiny restaurant, and even though the tables are crammed in fairly close together, I think this location is much more relaxed.

The menu is pretty much the same, from the Cup'a-Cup'a-Cup'a (a cup each of Gumbo, Red Beans & Rice, and Jambalaya) to the various Po Boy sandwiches. The prices for the sandwiches are about a buck more, but the entree prices have remained the same.

Since I just finished watching Memento for umpteenth time, I think we'll work a little reverse chronological thing here, and start with my latest meal. It was a Fried Oyster Po Boy($9.95):

A good amount of cornflour battered oysters, fried to perfection, crisp, and mildly "gritty", with a nice soft, molten center. The baguette was good, crusty with a bit of "chew". I'm not a big fan of the "Jalapeno tartar sauce" at Bud's, I find it a bit too runny, but in this case it did no harm. This is probably my favorite sandwich at Bud's.

Man, did I enjoy this, even at close to ten bucks. And I was glad to have eaten at Bud's on that particular day. Why? Well, because the Missus And I had lunch at Bud's a week earlier......

On that day, I started with a cup of the Seafood Gumbo ($4.95):

There was a good amount of seafood in the gumbo, though the flavor was a bit "flat".....I added a bit of Crystal Hot Sauce, which pumped up the flavor a bit. All good except the okra which was too slimy.

I had thought about the Oyster Po Boy, but with the Missus's "encouragement" went with the Fried Catfish Po Boy ($9.95):

The perfectly fried catfish was quite good, moist, with a nice, crisp crust. And with none of that muddy flavor which I'm not fond of. Everything else was not so good. There was too much of the runny tartar sauce, which ran out of the sandwich creating a little pool in the bottom of the paper liner. The bread was hard, and, well, hard....it seemed to be a bit past its "due date".

The Missus went with the Crawfish Etouffe ($11.95), which looked marvelous:

  The dish had a ton of crawfish tails, and was quite rich. In fact, I'm sure that this version used a good amount of butter. It would have been a wonderful dish except for the disturbing starchy flavor that left a rather unpleasant aftertaste.

If this had been our first visit I may have never returned. But we'd been to Bud's several times at their old location, and I thought I'd give it another go. Or maybe, like the main character in Memento, I suffered from a case of Anterograde Amnesia? If that was the case, I'm glad I did.

Bud's Louisiana Cafe
10425 Tierrasanta Blvd
San Diego, CA 92124

Lunch:  Tues, Wed, Thurs - 11am - 3pm

Dinner: Thurs, Fri, Sat - 5pm - 9pm

Comments

[Sandy]

I tried Bud's for lunch recently; I had never been to the old location. I had been tempted by the crawfish etouffee, but I opted for the Cup'a x3. The gumbo was too spicy for me to finish, but I liked the red beans & rice. The jambalaya was just ok.

Considering that I had a banh mi the day before, I couldn't justify paying $10 for a sandwich that came with no sides.

The parking lot in this section of the strip mall is pretty narrow. You're better off to park toward Starbucks to the east and walk over to Bud's.

[GF/moowiesqrd]

Hey Kirk... I could not get through Memento to save my life. In fact, all I can remember are those tattoos he used to remember stuff. Anyway, great writeup on Bud's... we always intended to try it, but never did before the Little Italy location shut down.

Oh, and it was great bumping into you at Sab-E-Lee. Couldn't believe I met you in person!

[howie]

That's too bad about the etoufee. It sounds like they didn't cook out the roux enough. That oyster po boy looks like it's worth the price of admission though.

[Kirk]

Hi Sandy - Yes, the parking is kinda "sparse", but it sure beats the previous alternative...which was the street.

Hi GF - It was a pleasure meeting you all....sorry I couldn't hang around...but I had a hungry Missus at home!

Hi Howie - You know...I was going to say something witty like, "they roux-ined it." But I thought that would've been unnecessarily snarky.

[kat]

everything looks good! too bad no cajun here.

[Carol]

Hey Kirk! I could go for that fried oyster po-boy right about now. Too bad on the etoufee since that's my favorite. I think you and I have similar taste in movies.

[Andy]

I recall eating at the old location on India St???? and it was yummmmy!

[Andy]

certainly, the old location looked much nicer from the outside

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - At least we have a few cajun/creole choices here.....

Hi Carol - I think we may have similar tastes in movies...to the detriment of our spouses!

Hi Andy - At least there's parking here...the old location was on Kettner. It's so good to hear from you again, don't be a stranger, ok?

[abc123]

I think they must have really improved since your visit.

I have been there twice in the past two weeks, and was impressed both times. I had the Etouffe and it was delicious. We also had the gumbo, red beans and rice and fried shrimp. All was great, and the service was prompt and friendly. They also have a home-made house spicy sauce that is delicious. All in all, better than some meals I've had in New Orleans.

They don't have a liquor licence yet, so BYOB.

Enjoy, and please give it another chance.....

[Kirk]

Hi abc - Actually my last meal was the Oyster Po Boy, which was pretty good. It's good to know that they are hitting their stride.

[Bruce T]

Bud's has moved yet again, this time across the 15 to 4320 Viewridge Ave., in an office park. It's somewhat bigger than the previous location, with some tables outdoors.

[Kirk]

Hi Bruce - Thanks for the heads-up. I read that a week or go. I still have to make it over. Thansk for thinking of me; and I hope all is well.