Purple Goose fare colorful, but falls short
Open since March, the Purple Goose Pub and Grub hasn’t gotten around to putting up a permanent sign on the building. We wish that this indicated that all of the attention has been given to the kitchen.
Nobody should confuse bar food with five-star cuisine.
Traditionally, it is robustly flavorful — not necessarily heart healthy — but hearty and satisfying. Based on our recent visits, the Purple Goose has some hits and misses on its menu, and the misses are more memorable.
We started with the boudin balls ($7) — as traditional a South Louisiana appetizer as there is. These, however, were anything but conventional.
The five boudin balls were larger than expected, but when we cut into them, the filling included shredded pork, which gave them an odd texture.
As well, they could have used more seasoning, although the dipping sauces (horseradish, ranch or honey mustard) provided plenty of kick. The waiter said the restaurant was experimenting with boudin ball recipes; the kitchen Edisons need to continue to tweak this one.
There are a few varieties of hamburgers, some of them exotic: peanut butter and bacon on one, a fried egg on another.
Our spirit of adventure was at a low ebb on our initial visit, so we went with the more basic version ($7), but adding grilled onions and bacon ($2.50 for the combination), both of which were piled high atop a burger that already included a tomato slice, lettuce and melted cheese on a wheat bun.
We thought our waiter might ask how we wanted the burger cooked, but he didn’t, and the meat was cooked well and was a little dry. It would have been much juicier and more flavorful if cooked to medium.
Overall, a pretty good burger, which comes with a large serving of fries.
If you’ve never heard of serving chicken and waffles ($9.50) together, you’re not alone.
One of my guests was vaguely familiar with what, in some parts, is considered a Southern/soul food specialty, so he ordered it. (And received a text from his North Carolina-raised wife expressing envy at the opportunity.)
He liked it: The waffles were thick, soft and sweet. The chicken, drizzled with a honey mustard sauce, was crispy, well-seasoned and juicy.
Together, the sweet waffles with syrup and spicy fried chicken made for an interesting and satisfying taste combination.
The Cali Club ($8) was tasty, the turkey moist and the bun fresh. It could have used more turkey than the two slices provided. It was definitely a good sandwich, but not a very hearty one.
On a dinner visit, we made a better appetizer choice, the pulled pork nachos ($8.50). Smoked pulled pork is piled atop tortilla chips and accented with barbecue sauce and parmesan cheese. The pork was quite good, and would have been so without everything that made this a nacho dish.
When we ordered the chicken quesadillas ($7.50), our waitress — the wait staff was attentive and pleasant on both visits — said this was a favorite item among Purple Goose patrons.
It seemed pretty ordinary to us, with strips of chicken breast, cheese, sour cream and a tame pico de gallo.
This, however, was much better than the fish tacos ($7.50). This item featured grilled fish with banana peppers and bacon-bleu cheese cole slaw, which sounded interesting, but imparted surprisingly little flavor but added so much liquid that one of the three flour tortilla tacos fell apart as we tried to eat it.
We assume that the Purple Goose Pub and Grub intends to be more of the former than the latter.