Gulfport’s Louie and the Redhead Lady serves up New Orleans fare

Fans and regulars of Louie and the Redhead Lady, whether from their Louisiana or Bay St. Louis days, will be excited to know the restaurant is again serving up classic New Orleans dishes with hometown flair.

The couple’s new restaurant is in Gulfport off 30^th Avenue. It maintains all the homespun charm of the earlier location, with chalk boards filled with New Orleans favorites and a section set aside to show off the jewelry creations of Ginger Finnin, the Redhead Lady.

The eatery is focused on breakfast and lunch, and sports a recently expanded Sunday brunch menu. Items on the breakfast menu can be simple, such as a “Blue Collar Special ($3.99), which is two eggs, grits, toast with bacon, ham or sausage added ($1.50) or they can be divinely decadent, such as the Bananas Foster Pancakes ($7.99), a specialty of Chef Louie Finnin.

Other appealing breakfast options include the Eggs Buras ($13) which is a traditional eggs Benedict surrounded by six flash-fried oysters. Even more rich and flavorful are the eggs Nouvelle Orleans ($16.99), two crab cakes topped with poached eggs and drenched in a creamy Hollandaise sauce.

My dining partner decided our favorites where the fried green tomatoes ($11.99) and the eggplant Algiers ($14.99), which the menu claims as the No. 1 seller at Louie and the Redhead Lady.

The fried green tomatoes were lightly crispy and came topped with boiled shrimp, a welcome addition to the four slices of well-seasoned green tomato. The ability to add a bit of lemon juice atop the creamy Hollandaise made for a nice contrast of creamy and acidic flavors.

The eggplant Algiers came as a skewered tower of fried eggplant layered with boiled shrimp, a crab cake and crab meat, all covered in a deep and rich sherry cream sauce. The sherry cream sauce came with extra boiled shrimp and had an excellent balance between rich seafood flavor and the creamy sherry base.

Louie and the Redhead Lady just added a brunch menu, which serves as kind of a greatest hits collection, picking some of the favorites from the breakfast and lunch menu. Unique to the brunch menu are the beef filets, seared pork chops and a red fish Galvez ($22.99), which comes topped with a smoky bourbon sauce.

Overall, the meal was a welcome treat for lunch that was served in a timely manner by a friendly server, and although my dining partner and I arrived just before the lunch rush, no one seemed to have to wait too long, and it certainly seemed people left satisifed.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Gulfport’s Louie and the Redhead Lady serves up New Orleans fare."