If you don’t know where this place is, you could easily drive right by it. They’ve been around a long time, part of that older generation of seafood restaurants that includes Mike Anderson’s and Ralph & Kacoo’s. Way, way back they had a seafood market next to the restaurant and, at the time, they served up the best boiled crawfish in the city by far. Now there’s no signage, no advertising, no billboards–not gone, not quite forgotten, but sometimes hard to remember it’s a place you need to stop by.
The interior is not run down at all, but it still suffers a bit from that old school generic feel, kind of like the inside of a McMansion where they hired an interior decorator looking for their home to make it into a local magazine or newspaper. There are some nice pieces on the walls, but the quality and originality isn’t consistent, and the good pieces seem lost in a sea of so-so pieces. The staff, however, has been there and done that, and you know right away you’re in a real seafood restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and that you’ve come to the right place, darlin’. But I’m pretty sure the place wouldn’t still be around if the food didn’t continue to carry the show. Water and hushpuppies from the backwaiter hitting the table as soon as you’ve placed your order definitely reinforces the old school practice of taking care of guests and making them feel at home.
I was almost diverted from my purpose when I saw the stuffed flounder on the special board (Drusilla still has that stuffing that has a hint of herbs like sage and tarragon which most stores have abandoned over the years for Tony’s and black pepper) but I stuck with my decision to go get a shrimp remoulade from Drusilla Seafood as the heat fell from 95 to 85. When summer finally starts to let go I do want to cook gumbo, but I also think of everything I should have ordered this summer and didn’t, thus, shrimp remoulade. I don’t think there will ever be a remoulade as good as the one that didn’t make it back onto the menu at Pinetta’s when they reopened. The sliced green olives and red onions and jumbo boiled shrimp sliced in half lengthwise and the marvelous dressing garnished with horseradish sauce will always be there in my dreams, but somehow wasn’t included when they brought back most of the old menu. This one was good though, fresh boiled 70/90 shrimp, mixed greens with romain, purple cabbage, and carrots, and a milder non-mustard sauce that went well with the greens as well as the shrimp. Often a problem with remoulade sauces, they work well with the shrimp but not the salad. This one worked, like everything else at Drusilla. If the place felt a bit haunted, that’s probably just me, or the proximity to All Saints Day.
