Blue Bayou — Restaurant in Lake View Township

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚: 𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚.

(𝟏) 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 (𝟏.𝟓/𝟐.𝟓): 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞-𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐚—𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐟. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨’𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐰𝐲.

(𝟐) 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (𝟐.𝟓/𝟐.𝟓): 𝐈𝐟 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫—𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦.

(𝟑) 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝟐.𝟓/𝟐.𝟓): 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝: 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐀 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩 (𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞) 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝—𝐤𝐮𝐝𝐨𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦.

(𝟒) 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝟏.𝟓/𝟐.𝟓): 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬...

Was excited to see a new but classic spot open up on South Port and the resurrection of that classic neon sign. Was also glad to see it was New Orleans inspired to!

Atmosphere - was cozy and classic but felt more bar than restaurant which in my opinion is better. (Great spot to watch the game.) They also have an upstairs area to which is great.

Food - as others have mentioned the jambalaya soup is a MUST TRY. I also tried the catfish poboy sandwich which was unique and was glad to see it on the menu however maybe just get the shrimp poboy instead. Homemade chips were perfectly crafted and came with the sandwich. Overall I feel like the food leans more bar-like and less New Orleans which I would’ve love to see things like fried alligator bites or oysters Rockefeller under the appetizers part of the menu.

That being said I think it’s a nice addition to the area it’s very approachable casual solid bar food and would be a great spot to drink at. It’s not hip and pricy it’s cozy and classic. Worth checking out for a quick bite and a...

They're baaaaaaack. After being closed for 10+ years, Blue Bayou has returned to Southport in the same space, recently revamped by Last Call Tavern Group.

The space itself has two levels, downstairs a plethora of tables and long bar with plenty of seats and TVs. Upstairs is slightly smaller, but the balcony over Southport remains and the facade has a garage-style window that looks to open up to overlook the street in warmer weather, ala Bourbon Streen in NoLa.

Food was excellent, and service was great though you need to come with patience as they're clearly working out some kinks. On weekends they offer a $25 bloody/mimosa option, and you can switch back & forth (tho mentioning the kinks above, they ran out of OJ during our visit and a manager had to run to a store to replenish - guess they underestimated how many mimosas we can drink haha).

Glad to see them back, and look forward to...