Badeaux's Cajun Kitchen

Oh man, what a dive!  Located just off VA State Route 40, this bar/restaurant is one of the only places to eat for miles around.  The signs out front boldly proclaim the virtues of their "authentic cajun po boys" and BBQ.  Good enough for two hungry travelers with nothing else in sight.

Oh my.  Oh. Oh, my.  We've made a horrible mistake.

Don't be deceived; this is a redneck bar.  It bills itself as a N'awlins style Cajun restaurant but from what I can tell, the only overtures to the Big Easy consist of some beads and flimsy Mardis Gras masks strung along the wall and some po boy sandwiches on the menu.

This place has it all.  Decrepit pool hall in the back.  A thick cloud of cigarette smoke penetrating every crevice.  Gap toothed hillbillies staring at you and practically mouthing the words "we don't take kindly to your type 'round here."

We could vaguely see through a porthole in the kitchen door, and the appearance, hygiene and general demeanor of the cook did not inspire confidence.  We had legitimate cause at this point to worry about food poisoning.  But damn it, we were hungry!  So we pressed on, sat at the bar and ordered some lunch.

I ordered the burger with fried okra.  Medium-well.  I usually order medium-rare, but I think you'll understand why I called an audible in this situation.  My wife ordered the pulled pork BBQ sandwich.  That was a horrible choice and I would have told her as much if I had been able to hear her ordering over the jukebox which had started blaring country music.

After our server disappeared into the kitchen with our order, he reappeared a moment later with a metal bowl in hand.  He proceeded to fill the bowl from an unmarked bottle of amber liquor and disappear once again into the kitchen.  Some mysteries are best left unsolved.

The food was predictably bad, although my burger was at least palatable.  It's best if we don't discuss the slop-on-a-bun that presented to Emily.  Ick.  On the plus side, neither of us contracted food poisoning.  For defying expectations, +1 star!  Hurrah!

-1 star for the sediment visibly floating in nearly ever bottle of liquor and wine behind the bar.  Booo.

The moral of this story is that if you should find yourself hungry and traveling down VA SR 40, you should completely exhaust your stash of Power Bars, trail mix and the grit under your finger nails before stopping to eat at Badeaux's.