The Real New Orleans Style Restaurant really does make you think you just might be eating out in New Orleans rather than Round Mountain, Texas which is just 16 miles north of Johnson City Texas on US Hwy 281. [Set your GPS to: 10541-B US Hwy 281 N. Round Mountain, Texas 78663].

The menu is relatively large with a good amount of very authentic sounding NOLA dishes listed. What I mean by authentic is that many eateries cook “Cajun style” food but the The Real New Orleans Restaurant IS Cajun style food. If you have ever spent enough time in New Orleans to have not eaten at the tourist restaurants and instead spent time eating where the locals, eat you know what I am talking about.

I chose the fried catfish with crawfish sauce for my lunch. I chose green beans and the macaroni and cheese for my sides. Wow, I was not disappointed either. The plate looked great when it was served. The fish was perfectly cooked, pan fried, moist and with a perfect coating of caramelized spices. Even more impressive was the crawfish sauce over the fish. It was a perfect complement of flavors and Cajun spices with large chunks of crawfish tails in a béchamel sauce made with fish stock, butter and cream. It was so rich I am not sure which was feature attraction, the pan fried catfish or the crawfish sauce.

The mac and cheese was made with spaghetti like noodles and a white cheese sauce. It was smooth and creamy. The green beans, well… they kept me in compliance with my “must have a green vegetable at every meal” rule. And, if they were out of a can (I cannot honestly tell you they were not) it must have been a very high quality can. They were cooked southern style (soft) and the seasoning was just right. The toasted parmesan cheese bread was a nice touch (I also have a “bread at every meal” rule).

The desert menu was short and it disappointingly listed the old reliables like chocolate cake and bread pudding (which in all fairness you would find on any menu in New Orleans) and only three other items. I was looking for something unusual though. What caught my eye was the lemon pie. I know what I was thinking when I ordered and that was Lemon Meringue Pie(like you get at 80% of the places on this planet).

But, what I received was something different and surprisingly wonderful tasting.  Turns out that lemon pie was more of a lemon tart, something akin to what you might get in Europe.

The filling was obviously made with fresh lemon juice. Even better it was a true custard pudding filling made with fresh lemon juice placed in a tart shell and covered with a wonderful whipped cream flavored with coconut and vanilla. Flavor packed and visually great to look at, I found the portion of lemon pie to be just a bit small for my gluttonous appetite.  In all honesty I must say that I was completely satisfied at the end of the meal and had no more appetite.  Too many people use volume of food as a cover for lesser quality.  One of the earmarks of high quality food is its abilty to satisfy one’s appetite with a reasonable amount of food.  So I think the amount of food was close to perfect. 

Diners will find the atmosphere very casual to almost homelike.  Like many New Orleans eateries service varies from friendly and compliant to highly personal depending on the frequency of your business and how well they know your personal tastes. A complete meal with desert and drink will run $15-20. The Real New Orleans Style Restaurant is open Monday thru Saturday, closed Sunday.