This time it was the New Orleans-themed meal. Crowd of 75. And a happy crowd, too, starting with the seafood gumbo served as a first course. Lots of wonderful shrimp. Lots of wonderful sausage.  Nutshell: the best seafood (or any other kind of) gumbo I’ve ever had. It was so good that I was almost sorry that I couldn’t just get more of that and more of baker Kelley Whatley’s great bread instead of moving on to other courses.

Had a tasty lunch there today. Friday is Cajun Day at the Pie Lab, something I hadn't realized until earlier this week. I think I know where I'll be spending a lot of Fridays now. Today it was crawfish étouffée, and let me tell you it was delicious! It was served in a crisp but delicate pie shell and accompanied by a salad of romaine. When I was paying, I told the co-chef Kelley Whatley that if the multi-course New Orleans meal scheduled for the evening of January 27 was half this good, it would be worth the price. Kelley said just wait, it'll even be better!