New Orleans Haus

While I was waiting for friends to arrive at Schönefeld Airport recently and paging through an EXBERLINER(Berlin in English) magazine, I noticed an article about a new Cajun restaurant, boldly named New Orleans Haus and located in Kreuzberg. Having lived in southeast Louisiana for 12 years until relocating to Berlin in 2008 you might imagine that my taste buds began to feel hopeful. At the same time I have found that many attempts to prepare this cuisine a long way from the source have not produced stellar results. I am not a chef but my guess is that this has much to do with availability of the original recipe's ingredients. The article assured the reader that Berlin finally had the real deal and I suddenly felt a sense of urgency to take a chance.

We arrived at the New Orleans Haus for a late lunch around 1:30 PM. The neighborhood looked a little funky but some really good food can be found in similar neighborhoods in the city of our restaurant's name. I think it is safe to say that one could actually draw significant parallels between post-Reunification Berlin and post-Katrina New Orleans. They certainly both have a vibrant Bohemian lifestyle. Our waitress showed us to a table near the bar. She told us that they had only been open for 4 weeks and that the owner and chef had somehow landed in Berlin after Katrina and decided to open a restaurant. A tall cold draft of Pilsner Urquell was a good start. My wife ordered a bowl of Chicken and Andouille Gumbo with cornbread. I ordered a cup of the same gumbo and Crawfish Etouffee. The gumbo alone was worth the trip. The sausage was wonderful. The traditional dish had the signature dark roux base with fresh okra and a nice blend of spice that provided the slow flavorful burn that I remembered. The sweet cornbread was a great match to the gumbo. The Crawfish Etouffee was also tasty, evidenced by the empty plate in front of me. Dessert was out of the question today. We were very content.

The New Orleans Haus menu also includes Red Beans and Rice with or without Andouille, Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya, and Shrimp Creole. They also had a Macaroni and Cheese Cake with a three-cheese sauce. Last but not least they have homemade lemon bars and dark chocolate brownies for dessert. I think we have good reason for a return trip. Oh, I took a large carry-out gumbo home with me for our resident chef and son-in-law...a method to my madness. The city of Berlin is really starting to strut it's stuff now. Let the good times roll!