Lunch at Roux – Tampa, FL

 

I went out to lunch on Sunday with my parents, my brother, David, and his girlfriend, Laura, at Roux.  I had only been for dinner, so it was nice to try out their lunch menu. 

 

My parents actually went THREE days in a row that weekend.  They had already booked dinner there for Valentine’s Day on Saturday.  Then plans to meet with friends a few weeks ago got postponed until Friday.  And when they asked David where he wanted to go out to lunch, he said Roux, which meant they went Friday – Sunday last weekend!  They only live a block away though, so it’s the most convenient restaurant for them to eat at – it probably takes them less time to walk there than to drive down the garage of their condo and find a parking spot. 

Even though it was just after noon, we decided to each have a sangria (besides David, who had a beer…)  It was garnished with blueberries and very sweet.  It was probably even a little too sweet for me – I prefer the Columbia or Ceviche’s sangria.  The cocktails I had last time at Roux were amazing – I just thought noon was a little early to have absinthe or gin…

The thing they emphasize on their lunch menu is the Po’ Boy, which is a 9’ long, full-pound sandwich on French bread.  My mom had the soft-shell crab version and David had the fried shrimp, both with Cajun fries. 

 

 

David and Laura split a bowl of the soup du jour – lobster bisque.  For Laura’s meal, she ordered their fried chicken salad, but substituted for shrimp.  It looked really fresh – with apples, Swiss cheese, praline pecans, cornbread croutons, and a mayhaw vinaigrette (a mayhaw is a berry native to Louisiana).

I also had the lobster bisque, but with a side of the skillet cornbread.  It’s baked with cheddar and Monterrey jack cheeses and has a brown sugar crust, served with Steen’s cane syrup butter.  It paired perfectly with the bisque – and I had plenty of cornbread to bring home. 

Dad had the Muffuletta sandwich – with marinated olive salad, salami, mortadella, ham, mozeralla, and provolone.  It was gigantic – about 8” diameter – but our server tells us that when they first opened, it used to be almost twice the size!  Dad also got the red beans & rice – which has Andouille sausage, and smoked ham hocks cooked with the beans & is topped with a mound of white rice. 

Everyone left very full.  Eating Creole cuisine was the perfect way to kick-start this Mardi Gras week! 

Roux is located at 4205 South MacDill Avenue, Tampa, FL 33611 and is open 11:30 – 2pm & 5:30 – 10pm Tuesday – Thursday, 11:30am – 2pm & 5:30 – 11pm Friday & Saturday, and 11:30am – 2pm and 5:30 – 9pm on Sunday (they are closed on Mondays).