Fay Maschler reviews Plaquemine Lock: Get seduced by this Southern belle

Fay Maschler comes over all nostalgic at this Louisiana-style pub-restaurant 
Sweet home Louisiana: murals by Jacob Kenedy’s mother convey hot southern afternoons at Plaquemine Lock
Adrian Lourie
Fay Maschler20 November 2017

One of the several disadvantages of being terribly old is that mirthful references in communications fall on unappreciative younger ears. In drumming up companions for a meal at Louisiana-style pub-restaurant Plaquemine Lock, I work into emails references to jambalaya, crawfish pie and filé gumbo, address one chap as ma cher amio (well, he is) and promise that we’ll have good fun on the bayou.

The recipients think I’m nuts. They obviously don’t know the song popularised by Hank Williams and Jerry Lee Lewis, not even in the original Cajun French (as if).

Jacob Kenedy, chef/patron and creator of Plaquemine Lock, has sensibly resisted too much kitsch and nostalgia in the raucously colourful pub interior, apart from that to which he is fully entitled. In 1909 his great-grandmother Carrie B Schwing cracked a bottle of champagne to open Plaquemine Lock in Louisiana, enabling family barges to transfer timber from the bayou to the Mississippi river.

You might know Jacob from the estimable Bocca di Lupo, Gelupo and Vico. The hand of his mother, the painter Haidee Becker, is apparent in Islington in atmospheric murals that convey slow-moving creature-rich water, moody moss and the tedium of long, hot Louisiana afternoons. The turquoise-tiled building is located more bracingly opposite the Regent’s Canal, along which you could walk to (or from) Hackney and from there south to Limehouse Basin.

So enlivening and, in London, rare is Cajun, Creole and essentially southern American cooking — RIP Brad McDonald’s Lockhart and Shotgun — that I make three visits to Plaquemine Lock. Problems with the tricky launch of the difficult second album, Vico, have made Jacob extend as long as necessary a soft opening. The third visit with full — and some of them are quite full — prices is mostly the basis for this review.

Plaquemine Lock, in pictures

1/8

No jambalaya is in evidence but gumbo, a soup with andouille (spicy sausage), shrimp and okra thickened with a dark roux and traditionally the powdered sassafras known as filé, comes in cup for £4.40 or bowl for £12. The rabbit version outshines that made with chicken wings. A cup is probably enough and importantly leaves room to try more items.

'Oysters encased in batter is a seductive dish to share'

Excitedly, I tell my friends a story of visiting New Orleans and seeing Paul Prudhomme, chef/patron of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, demonstrating how to take a roux to the edge of extinction and how my boyfriend of the time became so carried away that he proposed marriage — but no one is interested. They haven’t heard of the big bearded man, creator of Magic Seasoning Blends.

From the sad but possibly authentically named Snacketisers I like very much the vigorous seasoning and combative texture of smoked pork boudin but want it sizzling hot. The okra pickle alongside is a work of genius since it has no slime or slither in the texture.

Cornmeal-dusted fried okra served with blue cheese ranch dressing is also dry — and crisp. Mini crab cakes at £12 for three are made more special by a paprika piquant mayo — could it be Bob’s Big Boy Sauce? — and soft lettuce leaves to use as wrap. We debate whether we would be happy to have more filler — as you would get in the States — and thus more crab cakes for your money, and decide we would.

Mix Six refers to cooked oysters. For £20 you get two each of Link with sausage meat, Rockefella with absinthe creamed spinach and brochette, where the mollusc is encased in batter, a seductive dish to share. Eggs Sardou, first served at Antoine’s in New Orleans, is the gifted notion of poached egg on a large artichoke heart spread with creamed spinach topped with Hollandaise. Here a second egg sails on grilled cornbread so fine it feels like brioche. “I’ll come back once a week for those with a Creole Bloody Mary,” says my chum.

Fay Maschler's 50 favourite restaurants in London

1/50

Shrimp ’n’ grits, the cornmeal enriched with bacon and butter, is a delectable constant, blackened sweetbreads with shrimp, grits and browned butter is a special of the day, so you just have to hope it is the day you go.

When you do go, don’t omit from the order — which you make at the bar in exchange for your credit card and a numbered oyster shell — a salad of round lettuce with spicy pecans, blue cheese dressing and chives. The floppy leaves, also know as English, make the best salad and the assembly is big enough to feed three or four. Po’ boys, sandwiches originally handed out to striking streetcar conductors, wrapped and served like fast food in a basket, have the requisite soft rolls and are going down well with children at the next table.

Almost best of all is strawberry and cream pie made Ponchatoula (“strawberry capital of the world”) style set in Jell-O and topped with aerosol cream. Hi, Hi Miss American Pie, Drove my Chevy to the levee … Of course my chums probably haven’t heard Don McLean’s beautiful lament to which in 1970 I danced on the eve of my first wedding, five months pregnant and not showing a bump with, as it happily turned out, beautiful Hannah inside. They’ll catch up, of course.

139 Graham Street, N1 (plaqlock.com). Currently Tue-Thurs 5pm-10pm. Fri-Sun noon-10pm (5pm Sun). Longer hours from June 20. A full meal for two with wine, about £84 without service.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in