Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen Review - April 8, 2019

From time to time we also get out of town, on occasion we go to Tampa. On this particular day we happened to go to a wonderful little spot in Brandon, Florida known as Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen. 

They have three locations in Florida.

• Winter Park - 2203 Aloma Ave
• Altamonte - 494 FL 436
• Brandon - 1721 West Brandon Blvd. (the one we went to)

They do not take reservations at this time.

From the street it doesn't look anything like what it is inside. It's a big, exciting, highly decorated restaurant sitting behind two unassuming doors.

From the street you'll see this sign over some shuttered windows. 

Along side this sign. Which tells you where their priorities lie.

As you walk in past the lobby you will see that it opens up. It's very colorful and fun.

There are several little rooms as off shoots from the main dining room.

The bar is big enough to hold lots of Saints Fans.

Another hidden dining room off of the main room.

The art work abounds in this establishment. There's no loss of color every where you look. You can't help but be happy in this room. They even have a piece of art from one of the floats from Mardi Gras.

There were several at our table this time so I have lots of different dishes to talk about. Pricing was really good. And the food was fabulous. Abel waited on us and was awesome with our large party. We thank him profusely for his patience and expertise.

Here are the menus.

 I had to take a photo of one of the beers that was at the table. This was the Blue Moon. It's a very heavy, thick rimmed goblet that kept the beer very cold.

We had several appetizers from the menu. We started with the onion rings. They were a good 1-1/2" thick cut onions lightly hand battered and fried. They came out piping hot and were served with a remoulade sauce. What is remoulade? It's a mayonnaise based sauce for dipping. Usually including pickles and cayenne pepper. Years ago a friend of mine asked me to come up with a recipe for remoulade for her. So here it is...

Debra's Remoulade (Debra is my friend)

• 1 cup mayonaise
• 1/4 tsp garlic
• 1 tbsp scallions (green tops only) chopped
• 2 scallions (white part only) sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2-1/2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp fresh horseradish (grated)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp ketchup

Mix all ingredients and chill 24 hours before using.

Next up was the fried pickles. They are hand battered and also served with a side of remoulade sauce. They were piping hot also and nice and tart and crispy.

Next up was the Muffuletta Spring Rolls, stuffed with salami, mortadella ham, Swiss and provolone cheese and olive salad with a side of creole Dijonnaise. These were crispy versions of a muffuletta sandwich. And gone in a flash.

Now on to the entrees of our meal. This is a half, yes a half of a muffuletta sandwich. I'm guessing the whole sandwich is about 10" round. It is Muffuletta bread loaded with salami, ham, mortadella, olive salad and Swiss and provolone cheeses. It doesn't come with a side but is plenty to eat.

Next up was the Shrimp and Andouille Cheddar Grits. This is a sautéed gulf shrimp, Andouille sausage, sweet onions served over cheese grits and finished with red wine gravy.

 This was the Chicken and Andouille Filé Gumbo. Served with Boneless, hand shredded chicken, Andouille sausage, sautéed vegetables and mixed with filé and topped with rice. This is served with bread.

The Seafood baskets come in several types, this was the shrimp basket with french fries and hush puppies.

This seafood basket actually wasn't shown on the menu but was shrimp and fried oysters served with french fries and hush puppies. There is an up charge for the oysters. Which may vary from when we were there.

The third seafood basket at our table was the combination catfish and shrimp with sweet potato fries and hush puppies. This was probably the best catfish I've had in a long time. Very fresh and the shrimp were cooked to perfection. The sauce is tartar sauce in the basket and remoulade on the table.

This is the who-Dat Cajun Blackened Chicken. Roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, Cajun seasoning and house lemon butter sauce served over homemade grit cakes. Topped with blackened chicken and served with bread. This one was to die for. It was spicy but I'd say a 6 out of 10 on the hot scale.

Last but not least for the entrees was the special of the day. Crab Cakes with cheddar Grits. They were more crab than anything else and you could see every bit of the crab throughout.

Now on to the desserts. We had two at the table to share. Of course one of them was Beignets. Each order has four. Loaded with powdered sugar is an understatement. Just don't sneeze at the table. They were as authentic as I've ever had.

We also had the Homemade Bread Pudding served warm, mixed with raisins and topped with brandy cream sauce. It was a very sharable size piece full of New Orleans flavors.

As we leave with another photo of another dining room I just have to say you should definitely try this place. But don't be surprised if there is a crowd at the door waiting to get in. It only means that it's really really good.

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