Bistro La Roux

My traveling companion of 20yrs and countless scenic gastro eccentric tours agreed to another off the beaten path adventure.
Worth the trip!
We sampled the blackened cat, fried green toms and their Saturday special of sautéed alligator. We also split an order of etoufee.
All was fantastic, but the alligator was by far the best I’ve ever had! Tender, seasoned well and prepared to perfection.
Chef Tim spent some time with us discussing his methods and goals and we were certainly in staunch support of his ideas!
Great place! Go here if you’re looking for great flavor, great value and a fantastic experience!
We’re back on the road.

Chris C. summed it perfectly — if this place was in Uptown there would be a two-​and-​a-​half hour wait for what can only be termed the best cajun cuisine in the TC. Plus they have a great beer selection. Don’t forget to save room for the beignets!

Friday night dinner club. Timing was perfect, got right in. Waiter was great, made beer suggestions, took the time to explain the flavors of beers. Some of us tried the milk stout, very refreshing, great flavor. Checked out the menu and it was hard to choose from so many interesting items. We all tried different things. I had grilled shrimp and grits, with smoked Gouda and bacon bits, the only negative I have is that it was served on a platter and the outside edges were not as warm as the center, but the flavor was incredible and the shrimp were cooked perfectly. One of the guys had a shrimp po boy and Parmesan fries, he said the sandwich was excellent but the fries were «ok» and the other had on oyster po boy with regular fries. The decision was the sandwiches were awesome, the fries, so so. Then there was the jambalaya, that was also very good with a nice heat to it. You must try the fried green tomatoes with the honey drizzle, they are thin slices of tomatoes, lightly battered and fried, incredibly delicious. For dessert we had the bread pudding, and beignets, very good… both of them. Brought home plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. We will definately be back. If we lived closer it would be my go to place for comfort food.

While visiting friends, we wanted to try something a little different and found this place on Unilocal with some pretty great reviews — so we thought, sure lets give this place a try. We were here for lunch, so there were a few items we wanted to try but couldn’t since they were only offered for dinner, so that was a bummer, but the food we did order was delicious. Most of us ordered the étouffée, which was so good. Lots of seafood and a great flavor. One person ordered the jambalaya, which was quite a bit underseasoned, which was unfortunate because I think it could have been very delicious. The portions were also gigantic — definitely more than you need to eat in one sitting. We also ordered some beignets which were very delicious — definitely enough in an order to share at a table. I think it can be very hard to find a good Cajun/​Creole place outside of Louisiana, so I gotta give this place 4 stars.

Never had jambalaya before today. I ordered a half size which happens to come with their jalapeño cornbread… oh my damn! Pretty sure I inhaled most of it in less than 5 minutes. I literally mean that when the nice server, Alison, came to check on how the food tasted, my plate was almost cleared. It has a little bit of heat (read: spicy) but it is very flavorful, not just hot. I’m still recommending this to people that I know. Still very much a fan. Next time I have to try their desserts. I’m sure I was a beignet in a past life :)

5 Stars for the food. The fried oysters are like velvet pillows of all oyster flavor. Okra is is a guilty pleasure done right served in a deep fryer basket lined w parchment. Seafood gumbo a must esp if you like some heat. Craft beer selection is decent. The young staff needs some educating on timing between apps and entrée. Again, food makes it all worth it!

I ordered the oyster po boy and seafood gumbo. The gumbo was good – flavorful and I could easily detect seafood in it without any expensive laboratory equipment. The po boy was quite good. The bread was fine – soft enough to wrap around the contents, strong enough to absorb juice without leaking, obviously fresh. The oysters were juicy enough to demand absorption from the bread and weren’t covered with ridiculously thick breading. Also, they were seasoned enough to bring out the flavor. Overall, a very nice lunch, though about twice as much as I needed to eat. The sacrifices we make for Unilocal.
They’re having a shrimp and crab boil Saturday that sounds interesting. The ingredients are being flown in fresh. Apparently they have a crawfish boil in the spring and one of these every few months.

Lurking in a strip mall between Subway and Dominoes tucked within the trailer parks of Circle Pines you’ll find this gem. Didnt even know I lived a few miles away.
Food was really good and affordably priced and service was great. I think if this place was in Uptown or something there would be lines out the door. Cajun food here? All we have is sod farms and liquor stores in this town.

I have no idea how this amazing restaurant can be only five minutes from my home and I’m just now discovering it.
Better late than never, so I’ve made up for it by eating there six times in the last two months.
What can I tell you…
I’ve had both shrimp and catfish Po’boys, Étouffée’, Ya Ya Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Shrimp & Grits. Along with…
Jalapeño Cornbread, Fried Green Tomatoes, Gouda Grits, Vegetable of the day, and…
…that wonderful New Orleans beer on tap: Abita Purple Haze.
Terrific items all! Consistent food presentation, taste, and service.
Restaurants this good have troubled life-​spans in Northern Metro suburbs. Looks like La Roux has good take-​out going, so I’m hoping that side of their business, plus their marvelous quality and variety, keep them around for a while.

My friend told me about this place a while back and I finally tried it. Wish I would’ve tried it sooner. This place is awesome. The food is like no other. You can’t find this stuff anywhere else in Minnesota. Also, very friendly staff and service. A gem in Circle Pines.

We live in uptown, but came out here to visit our favorite nursery, Tamblyn’s. We Unilocaled for a local joint to try out, and based on reviews, and the novelty of Cajun food, we found La Roux.
We had the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer, delicious, drizzled with honey, very good. We had the shrimp and grits, also quite delicious, with the sauteed shrimp. We had the étouffée and the jambalaya. I preferred the étouffée. The cornbread was perfect door doing l dipping in it!
We had a flight of beers and the bread pudding for dessert. The bead pudding was ouey and gouey, and just right, maybe could have had an a La mode option to round it out to utter perfection.
The waitress was helpful, smiling and had a great attitude.
We will definitely be back… The po boys need to be tried next.

This really was worth the drive from my neck of the woods. The only thing I wish would’ve been different is the thickness of the fried green tomatoes — otherwise I finished every bit of the shrimp platter (the vegetable of the day was an amazing cauliflower dish which I had for my second side) and I definitely recommend the Beignets!!!

GO HERE RIGHT NOW!!! This place is legit delicious spicy wonderful Cajun food at it’s finest. Trust me… I lived in New Orleans for nearly 5 years. The food would be right at home in any N.O. restaurant. it’s the best cajun/​creole I’ve had outside of Louisiana.
I had the ettoufee (omg I almost cried when I tasted it. Took me home), the shrimp po boy, the Cajun fries and fried green tomatoes and a side of remoulade. Everything was great. If there is one complaint I can make it’s that the bread for the po boy is too dense but finding the right bread for a po boy up here is like trying to find a pink flying unicorn. The flavor of the ettoufee was ON POINT!!! Creamy, buttery, savory and just the right amount of heat. I forgot I was in snowy MN while I was eating it. If my waistline and wallet could handle it I would get this weekly. Now be prepared this stuff is not for the typical MN taste bud. The spice is straight up Louisiana. Not fry your tongue hot but it’s definitely got a kick. Can’t wait to come back for the shrimp and grits! Only downside was that by the time I got home with my takeout the crisp on the fried tomatoes and french fries was gone. Didn’t affect the flavor though so no biggie there. Loved the honey on the tomatoes. Unexpected surprise but fantastic.
It is a bit of a trek but it’s completely and utterly worth it. The chef sources many of his ingredients from N.O. (which makes all the difference) and was born and raised about an hour outside of the city. The man knows what he is doing. Go here. Indulge. Cry at the authenticity.
This is one of those places that if it were closer to downtown would be packed every single night. Enjoy it while it’s still somewhat of a secret.

I had a really hard time picking a restaurant for dinner tonight because nothing was appealing to me… until I stumbled across this place on Unilocal.
I started with oysters from the coast of Maine that had a clean, briny taste and no odor whatsoever — probably about as fresh as you can get without actually being on the coast. Served with a little bit of finely sliced green onion and a very mild cocktail sauce. The green onion was an interesting addition that I enjoyed but the cocktail sauce needed more horseradish because the flavor was lacking that pop that you get with a good cocktail sauce.
I asked for a little taste of their grits with gouda. Creamy and smokey, quite possibly the best bite of the night.
Étouffée was good but not great. The shrimp were cooked perfectly but on the small side, probably somewhere in the 60 – 80 count range. The crawfish tails were also a lot smaller than I’ve seen elsewhere. The sauce was good and rich but lacked the kick I was hoping to get so it came across as a bit flat. Tasty but still lacking finesse and a depth of flavor that I’ve had in other étouffée.
Two concerns:
My soda refill arrived in a cracked glass. When I pointed it out to my waitress she immediately went and checked the whole rank of glasses but it seemed as though that was one that should have been caught before it reached the table.
Silverware and napkins are in a bin on the table. Given the way some people let their kids act in a restaurant (and the number of times I’ve seen adults leave the men’s room without washing their hands) this seems like an iffy practice at best.

Madness here at the Mardi Gras party. They’ve been open 45 minutes and the line is out the door.

Service: amazing. Prompt, helpful, and played with our two year old!
Food: delicious! The sauteed shrimp Remoulade salad was just what I was looking for something healthier to complement my sweet potato fries! The salad was delicious with just a bit of a kick and their delicious sauce on the side. The same sauce equally as delicious on the sweet potato fries. I tried some of the catfish po boy too which hubby said has a good amount of zip/​heat and also is HUGE.
Ambiance: clean, bright, not very busy when we were there at 11:45am on a Saturday, but was picking up. So I hope this review will help spread the love so more people find out about Bistro La Roux.
Beverages: various beer, coke, etc. I’m impressed they have Hammerheart on tap too, from just up the road!

What a tremendous surprise to find this place tucked into a strip mall in the hinterlands.
Being a pasty white northerner, I don’t have a reference for what étouffée should taste like — all I can say is I was blown away with the depth of flavour and subtle pervasive heat.
There is a short but complete local beer list, and the sides I sampled (parmesan fries, poutine, and fried green tomatoes) were nicely done.
Dropped one star for a sort of odd space, sparsely decorated, in a strip mall, north of everywhere. Go there for the food, focus on what’s going on in your mouth, and you’ll be very, very pleased.

Um, YUM. Seriously, yum.
My husband has such an obsession with Cajun food that you would think that his mother lived in New Orleans at the time that she was pregnant with him since Boston isn’t exactly known for this type of cuisine. My point to this little tale is that I have been forced to go to a lot of Cajun restaurants and none have impressed me quite like Bistro La Roux upon first dining experience. When we found out that this place was close, we decided to give it a try for takeout on a cold Saturday night. It’s in a strip mall, so you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t necessarily see it.
I can’t eat shellfish because it makes me really, really sick, so my experience with Cajun cuisine is more limited, but I was very happy with my Andouille sausage Po’Boy. The french bread was nice and crisp, there was a slight heat to the sauce, and the pickles in the sandwich added a nice crunch. I upgraded from the chips to the fries as my side and they came with a really nice remoulade sauce for dipping. The sandwich was also gigantic.
My husband LOVED his gumbo. This is where I was sad because I would have loved to have tried it because it looked fantastic. The sausage was perfectly cooked and there was a good level of spice. We shared the fried green tomatoes and they were some of the best ones I have had in quite a while. The batter was light and not too crispy and they almost melted in your mouth when eaten piping hot. The only bummer was that he didn’t get the cornbread that was supposed to come on the side. I am holding off on a 5 star review until we eat here at least once more which will sooner rather than later. I’m looking forward to trying the jalapeño cornbread next time and also the red beans and rice (which they only serve on Monday’s).

GO HERE!!! I work with a lady for New Orleans who said this place was the best Cajun she’s had outside of Louisiana. My girlfriend and I came here and couldn’t be more impressed. I had some jambalaya is was the perfect heat. Simply beautiful, wonderful flavor. I also ordered the Gouda grits. Amazing. My lady had the catfish platter. First, for price what an amazing portion. Here you will not go away hungry. It’s truly a Southern tradition.
The owner came out and talked with us, the sign of a person that actually cares about quality. Whoever wrote a two star for this place based on the service has no concept of service. This place has great service.
I will definitely be back here.

The long expected offspring of the Cajun 2 Geaux food truck has arrived.
They have built a nice place in what is admittedly a nondescript retail corner in the Circle Pines /​Lexington area. its at the NW corner of Lake Dr and Lexington Av
I wouldn’t know authentic Cajun food if it came up and bit me. So I figured the best strategy was to bite first.
I had the Jambalaya served with Jalapeño Corn Bread. I found it to be delicious, with plenty of Andoulie sausage mixed in.
My wife had the catfish po’ boy. It was delicious with a spicy tartar. it was also ginormous with two filets of catfish. The roll it is served in is about 8 – 9 inches long.
We also had a side of sweet potato waffle fries. Very good.
They also have some good beer. I chose Indeed Sweet Yamma Jamma. Very nice
They just opened, but service was relatively smooth. Paying the check by Square at the table is also nice.
its a great place to go if you are in my neck of the woods.