Mall "Cajun" food... Chinese food?

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@Corporate_Hippie

Back in my mallratting days, Valley View and Collin Creek were my two main malls.

Wow…zombie thread about undead malls! Eerie.

[swampspruce]

Shades of Christopher Moore’s Stupidest Angel. Next, they’ll be going to IKEA.

[Voyager]

@guizot

Well, evidently at least ten years, because that’s how old this thread is.

Wikipedia says this about Bourbon chicken:It mentions “Cajun-themed Chinese restaurants” as though it were a common thing, but I can’t tell if that’s just an indirect way of referring only to the one chain (Kelly’s Cajun Grill) which That Guy mentioned above. In other words, is this really a generic thing or just the success of one particular business.

Five years after this thread, I recall this article from NYT, about the trend of Vietnamese immigrants starting Cajun restaurants. These aren’t mall fast food places, and it’s worth mentioning that while some have noted the similarity between Chinese and Cajun cuisine, I would say that Vietnamese and Cajun flavorings don’t have much in common.

The article also revealed a surprise to me. I’d always assumed that people in Vietnam must eat crawdads like crazy, because all the Vietnamese here are obsessed with them. But it says that actually crawdads are not commonly eaten in Vietnam, and apparently it’s a Cajun habit they latch onto when coming here. That doesn’t really explain why it every Viet in L.A. is crazy about crawdads, but maybe it spread from the South.

There are a fair number of Vietnamese shrimpers off the coast of Louisiana - maybe some failed shrimpers ate in real Cajun restaurants and tried to reproduce it?

I’m not sure what the similarity is supposed to be between Cajun and Chinese food, except that they both use rice. Cajun food does not use noodles. Cajun food does not use soy sauce. When I lived in SW Louisiana long before Cajun food became a fad, about the only Cajun place in New Orleans was an outpost of Don’s a Lafayette restaurant. Bourbon Street has nothing to do with Cajun anything. Vietnamese food has nothing to do with Cajun food either.

BTW there are some reasonable Cajun restaurants in the North. I went to one in Seattle a while ago, which had boudin - or a good try at boudin. None have been in malls.

[FuriousGeorge]

They have these “Cajun” style places at pretty much every mall I’ve ever been to. The one in Park Meadows Mall (near Denver, CO) is my go to if given a choice (don’t judge me). Nope, not the least bit authentic but good eats. You’ll find Taco Bell only vaguely resembles Mexican food too.

[boffking]

The only mall I have ever seen this type of “cajun” food at was the Longwood Galleria in Boston. I have to say, that was the strangest mall I have ever seen. Last time I was there, it had a CVS, a food court (With some great options), a hotel, several doctor’s offices, and a news stand.