Eating at the Crooked Bayou

In honor of today being Fat Tuesday, I borrowed a restaurant review of the Crooked Bayou in Downtown Orlando from my Watch Me Eat Blog. With Jockamos out of business, Crooked Bayou is the only restaurant that I know of in the Central Florida area that specifically specializes in Cajun food. Crooked Bayou is a tiny little place on Central Blvd that seemed to be more bar than restaurant. They had some cool stuff in the tiny space like a big tree made out of bent rebar in the center of the restaurant and a window to an old painted advertisement on the neighboring brick building.

I started by ordering a cup of Jambalaya. It was really good, with plenty of chicken, andouille sausage, and shrimp along with the rice. According to Wikipedia, this was Creole Jambalaya since it was tomato based rather than Cajun Jambalaya that is tomato free. It was definitely some of the best Jambalaya that I've eaten.

I ordered a Cajun Crawfish Po'boy to follow the Jambalaya. The crawfish were tiny, but the sandwich was still really tasty. There was plenty of seasoning on the crawfish, which were placed on pressed french bread with lettuce, tomato, and tarter sauce. A pickle and potato chips were served with the sandwich.

Universal Studios Mardi Gras Parade

On February 23, I went to Universal Studios for their Mardi Gras event and the Third Eye Blind concert that night. They have a parade each Saturday before the concert where they throw out thousands upon thousands of beads and a smaller number of coins. It's a whole lot of fun, but riding on a float in a parade is even more fun. I didn't think this would happen this year when I saw this, but it turns out I managed to get a ride in the parade without paying (technically, shouldn't they be paying you?) by being at the right place at the right time.

You started out by walking to your float, passing by all of the rest along the way.

You then got to the assigned float and boarded.

The fun part began once you started moving through the streets of the park having thousands of people begging you for cheap plastic beads.

And in what seems like no time at all, the parade was over. I missed some of the concert, but all is good. I rode on a float...

Leaving the park I saw these people. Is it possible to go overboard when collecting the beads? I wonder if any of the beads were thrown by me?

Sanford Mardi Gras

Sanford, Florida had a Mardi Gras event nine days too late. Their event took place on February 14, 2008. Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras day, was on February 5. If you follow the “official” rules of Mardi Gras, all of the celebrating goes on up until Fat Tuesday, and after that all partying ends with the start of Lent. I guess the organizers of the event don’t follow the rules. I’m glad…

Sanford’s Mardi Gras was part of their Alive After Five event that they do each month where everything in Downtown Sanford stays open late, along with additional vendor setting up, and you get samples of food and alcohol for five dollars. The whole Mardi Gras theme consisted of people handing out beads, Cajun inspired food, and some bands playing somewhat appropriate music. I remember hearing advertised a few years ago that Sanford had a Mardi Gras parade, but not this year.

Here are a few pictures from the event…


Shrimp, corn, and potatoes boiling…


Cool old firehouse, now converted to offices and apartments.


Art for sale from India...


Art for sale on the street corner.