Monroe, Louisiana: Warehouse No.1 Restaurant
I mentioned in the post about Waterfront Grill that I had my heart set on food at a particular restaurant… Well Warehouse No. 1 Restaurant happened to be the place I wanted to eat that day for lunch. Why was my heart set on this place? Well of course I read they had Cheddar Jalapeño Cheese Grits. Yup, I had my heart set on eating those grits. Grits is something that I associate with the South and I’m surprised this was the only restaurant that offered them for where we ate.
When we arrived they asked if we wanted to eat indoors or outdoors. We said outdoors because at home we don’t get that option. Maybe looking in hindsight we should have eaten inside because it was hot, but hey… why not be a yes person :).
I loved all the history behind this restaurant but having my agriculture background and love for farming, the one that really caught my attention was the fact that this was an old cotton warehouse. Bam, I’m sold! Oh and the fact that anytime the Ouachita River floods, this place at least did if not does too. And the building was just soooo soooo soooo cool!
Oh and these hushpuppies. Slap me on the bum and call me suzie. I have no idea why I just typed that but holy cow were these awesome. Pardon me while I try to quit laughing at my previous statement. Yikes! Anyway, these were jalapeño hushpuppies. Oh yes you read that correctly! And they were flipping out of this world. I really want the recipe but oh well.
On a sad side note, I read somewhere while down there (maybe the internet and you know everything you read on the internet is true) that most restaurants use a mix for their hushpuppies. Well if that’s the case, they doctored this one up, so it’s all good!
So this was our view. I really wish the blinds wouldn’t have been drawn, but I wonder if it wasn’t to try and keep the sun off the back deck some? I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I can also state that we were the only ones to brave out the outdoors. There was one couple when we first entered but they left and then there was us. They brought a few people out to be seated but then wound up taking them all back inside to eat dinner.
Salad. Mmmmm salad, right? Who takes a picture of their salad? Oh, that would be me. And here’s another fun fact because I’m full of fun facts today apparently… Julia Child’s husband Paul took pictures of her and all of her food long before it was thought to be a thing or to be cool. So I guess I point that out because a lot of people make fun of me, but hey, if Paul Child did it, why can’t I?
Mom had the Ouachita River Special. It included Southern-Fried Catfish, Jumbo Shrimp, Lump Crab Cake, & Gulf Oysters and a dry baked potato as a side. She said it was all excellent. I must mention, I didn’t try any of it :).
Abug got Chicken fingers and french fries. Yup, we broke away from the Mac & Cheese for once :). I took a bite of a tender and they were pretty darn tasty.
But mine was my favorite. Blackened Chicken breast and Cheddar Jalapeño Cheese Grits. That was after all the lure to bring us here. OMG, they were excellent and so worth it. Abug maybe didn’t agree, but hey, she did try a bite. That’s saying something! And that chicken breast. Oh that Chicken Breast. YUM!
After dinner I walked around outside and snapped a few pictures because as I mentioned, we were the ONLY. ONES. EATING. OUTSIDE. 🙂 So it’s totally allowed 🙂
As the sun went down.
And this picture shows just how much this building has endured between floods and tornadic type weather, etc. How cool is this old building. I’m in love :).
