McAdoo's Seafood Company - A Review

This is my first ever restaurant review. In general I've found it difficult to find reviewer's who share my tastes and sensibilities so I don't read many of them. And my tastes are sufficiently off the beaten path to make writing a review somewhat an exercise in futility.

But my own experience this past Friday, having a meal at McAdoo's Seaford Company in downtown New Braunfels, left me....inspired.

May 20th was a Friday afternoon. The sun was hot but the air had a hazy quality, which wound up being helpful later in my excursion. My son and I had gone in search of our supper and we'd both been curious about the new seafood place in town. I'd heard that it was a bit pricy, but that the food was good. So we parked on Castell Street, walked the few steps to the restaurant, and asked for the first available table. As luck and fate would have it, first available was on the patio.

Walking through the main body of the restaurant, I was convinced that we were in for an experience. The old wood and brick of the original post office has been preserved, and the physical structure, the building itself, is as impressive in it's own way as the Grist Mill, which is still my favorite restaurant-conversion. The diners were clearly enjoying themselves, and the meals that I happened to see as we were led through the main dining room on our way to the patio seemed quite promising.

We were seated and I chose the seat facing West as, at that moment the sun was still fairly high in the sky, and unlikely to be in my face any time soon. I joked with the waitress that if I sat here long enough, the sun might be a bother. Yep.

Perusing the menu, I was quite impressed. If I had to describe it quickly I'd call it high end Cajun. Po Boys were on the menu, but you can order a side of Asparagus instead of red beans and rice if such is your pleasure. To put things in a general perspective, draft beers are $6.75. Boudain was not to be found which seems strange.

As were were each famished, we ordered an app. The "McAdoo’s Seafood Fondoo" sounded promising, so that's what we ordered along with beer for me, and tea for my son. The drinks and the app came out fairly quickly, and I have to say, the "fondoo" was good. If they'd gone whole hog on the fondu concept, and left the various tid-bits of sea food out of the cheese, as fondu was meant to be enjoyed, the dish would have been improved. Half the fun of fondu is skewing the particular morsel that seems most tempting, dunking it in the cheese, and savoring the combination. When everything's awash in cheese it can seem more of an exploration to figure out just which lump corresponds to which type of food, as the skewing is taking place. As I said though,it was quite tasty and as we finished up, he main course was arriving.

I had ordered the dish that I've found to be most effective in gauging a Cajun place; red beans and rice, with a bowl of gumbo. If they get that right, they'll probably do alright on the rest of it. My son ordered a fish entree. The red beans and rice were excellent. Savory, filling, and just in general excellent.

Then I got to the gumbo.

Here's the thing about gumbo. There are a billion and one ways of cooking a gumbo. Seafood gumbos are a wild and vivid part of the gumbo universe. Then there's sausage, chicken, duck, and any number of other categories that live comfortably under the umbrella of "gumbo". But, the degree to which a cook is serious about a gumbo being of a particular character, is reflected in just how the seafood, duck, sausage, or whatever, is introduced into the stock. Add your seafood early to get the maximum flavor into the gumbo. Same for any other ingredient. Add it late and, well, it's an afterthought.

If you plan on using the same basic gumbo for each variation, be it duck or flounder, you'll make the basic gumbo as a generic sort of thing with oil, flour, powdered file and so forth, and then add the protean. Doing it that way, the basic soup doesn't have had time for the character of the defining ingredients to infuse the broth, and you lose a little of what makes gumbo such a comfort food. Such was my impression of the gumbo at McAdoo's. It was OK. There was a lot of good seafood such as crab, shrimp, and scallops. The flavor of the crab, shrimp and scallops just didn't seem at home there in the bowl.

Dinner to that point had been right on the money. Good food, pleasant atmosphere, and a fine beer in the late afternoon sun. What could be better?

Then the screaming started.

Now I know that there are lots and lots of oblivious parents in this world. I have seen more than my share of screaming infants, shepherded by slack-jawed parents too numb to the noise to take notice. But when you go to a nice place for dinner, there was a time that a degree of decorum was assumed. Clearly that time is long past at McAdoo's.

More time passed. The screaming continued. I noticed other tables starting to turn and stare. Well, what do YOU do when everybody in a public place is looking in one direction? You look. And there, chatting an carrying on without a care in the world, was a young couple, their infant, and a friend. The child's seat was apparently out of reach of something that the red-faced howling infant held dear, as he or she was lunging forward in the high-chair making faces and scrabbling for, I don't know, probably a pack of crackers.

Anyway, while this was going on, the two waitresses continued serving. People came and went with food, and to all outward appearance, there may not have been anything loud and irritating going on. The restaurant staff seemed to be under orders such as those impressed upon the guards at Buckingham Palace that they are in no way react to their surroundings. Among the other diners, nobody was talking. Nobody was enjoying themselves or their meals. They were listing to some kid bawl his head off while mom and dad kicked back and had a couple of brews.

Here's where things went South on the whole dining experience. I just don't pay the sort of money that they were asking for at McAdoo's, to be this irritated. I would expect for a floor manager to at least make an appearance at the howling infant table, and ask if everything's alright. I've witnessed heroic restaurant staff even tell parents that the screams and howls of their youth were less than edifying for the other guests, and that perhaps they should see what they could do about lowering the noise level just a tad. I've seen it done, so I know it's within the realm of the possible.

Anyway, the problem took care of itself. After a considerable period of time, mom noticed everybody in the restaurant staring at her. She put two and two together and finally decided to take said squalling rug monkey for a brief bouncing jouncing please-be-quiet stroll. And then there was peace. People returned to their meals. The background noise of pleasant conversation returned. And after quite some time so did our server. I asked for the check.

Time passed. The sun fell lower in the sky. More time passed. It had been over an hour and a half since we sat down. I had had my nerves jangled by the child's screaming, the service had been extremely slow, the food had been largely mediocre with the exception of the red beans and rice, and now the sun was in my eyes. By the time she got back with the signature copy of the check ($72 and change), I was prepared to give somebody a piece of my mind.

But, she didn't ask if I'd enjoyed my meal, and I felt that my opinion was best expressed through my tip strategy, and this blog. Certainly no manager had showed his face to see how things had been. My son went through the restaurant to get to the car as he intended to tell somebody....But he never saw a manager. I exited to the sidewalk by the side entrance, and was just happy to be out of there.

To make a long story short, I'll not be returning any time soon, and I recommend that If you're in a mood for Cajun, try Evangeline's Cafe on Brodie Lane in Austin. I was in and out of there in 45 minutes during lunch that very day, had an exceptionally tasty and filling Oyster Po-Boy with a really well done cup of red beans and rice. The check, served by an attractive and prompt waitress, was $8 and change, and best of all no howling infants.