Cajun Cove, a new restaurant featuring many of the dishes popular in New Orleans, is finally open – a couple of months later than originally planned – and has become the first Vero restaurant to specialize in this type of cuisine since the old French Quarter.
On an initial visit to the latest eatery to open on Royal Palm Pointe, we were quite impressed by both the authenticity and quality of the dishes.
The buildout of this restaurant, in space that once housed an optical shop, is beautiful. The attractively decorated dining room, with both tables and booths, has colorful New Orleans street scenes on the red walls, and along one side of the room is an inviting bar.
Headline news: The Cajun Cove is open daily at 7 a.m., offering New Orleans specialties for breakfast and lunch, as well as serving dinner until 10 p.m. nightly. Quite an ambitious schedule for a restaurant breaking in a whole new staff.
Look & Feel: From a décor standpoint, this restaurant would be right at home in New Orleans. We did not have the opportunity to test the noise level because Cajun Cove was not very full on the night we visited.
Food: On our initial visit, our party of four sampled four of the appetizers and four Cajun Cove’s entrees.
For starters, I ordered the fried green tomatoes and grits ($9), my husband tried 6 fried oysters ($6), one of our companions went for the Cajun calamari ($10) and the other opted for the crab-stuffed mushrooms ($12).
The fried green tomatoes were served fresh and hot on a bed of creamy grits. The mushrooms were stuffed with crab cake, and topped with a pepper jack chest. The lightly dusted and perfectly fried calamari were served with the Cajun Cove’s marinara dip, and the fried oysters were served with a bayou cocktail sauce. All very tasty.
Then for entrées, I went for the crawfish and andouille jambalaya ($22), my husband chose the bourbon marinated grilled salmon ($32), one companion went for the sautéed shrimp and grits ($28), and the other opted for the chicken and peeled shrimp jambalaya ($22).
The jambalayas were both perfectly prepared renditions of this classic dish. The shrimp and grits were also rated one of the best around, and the bourbon marinated salmon was grilled medium rare – exactly as it should be – and was extremely tasty.
For dessert, we shared an order of New Orleans bread pudding with bourbon sauce ($7). Sinfully good.
Drink: Cajun Cove offers a full bar, as well as beer and wine. The wine list at this point is fairly short, and wines are very aggressively priced.
Service: On our visit, we had a good server who appeared to be still coming to terms with the notebook computer used to take down dinner orders. Hard to tell what service would be like on a busy night.
Prices: Appetizer prices ran mostly in the $9 to $12 range, with entrée prices starting at $18 for etoufee and climbing quickly into the high $20s and $30s. Of the three specials offered that night, one was priced at $35, one at $38 and one at $40.
Initial impressions: Will people be willing to pay Commander’s Palace and Antoine’s prices for Cajun cuisine in Vero? The pecan crusted trout was $38 at Cajun Cove, while the pecan crusted gulf fish at Commander’s palace is $36. A marinated chicken breast was $35 at Cajun Cove, while the grilled chicken breast Rochambeau was $28 last week at Antoine’s.
Bottom line: The food is awfully good, but the prices seem a bit steep for our community.
We’re hoping this gets sorted out and Cajun Cove makes it, because it’s nice having the tastes of New Orleans here in Vero.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
