Mystery Diner: Strange names, great tastes abound at The Cajun Connection in Utica

Got a hankering for gumbo, etouffee or boudin? Or are these terms alien and intimidating?

Either way, visit The Cajun Connection in Utica and don’t be put off by the French, Cajun and Creole terms that dot the menu. This Starved Rock Country icon has survived – indeed, prospered – by challenging diners to step outside the familiar territory of ravs, porks and fried chicken.

A little background is helpful to distinguish Cajun and Creole cuisines, which are related though distinct. (The Cajun Connection offers both.) The late Chef Paul Prudhomme described Cajun cuisine as “very old French cooking,” which migrated to Louisiana after the mass deportation of Acadians from northeast Canada. Creole cooking is an amalgam of numerous cuisines that comprise the melting pot of New Orleans.

Enter Ron McFarlain, a pipefitter from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and wife Amy Martin, who opened The Cajun Connection in Utica in 1995 and initially offered a largely American menu while introducing wary diners to unfamiliar dishes such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, boudin and alligator. (Yes, alligator. Try it. It’s good.)

The Cajun Connection currently is in its third location, a one-story building on the west side of Route 178 in Utica occupied by the former Bennett Garden Center. The dining room is comfortable and well-attired. The Mystery Diner visited during the pandemic and dined on a take-out basis.

Our order included catfish Acadian ($19), an entree that includes a catfish filet (blackened or fried) served over rice and smothered in etouffee, a seafood stew with your choice of crawfish or gumbo, with a side of three “bubba” shrimp. I opted to have the catfish and shrimp blackened with shrimp etouffee rather than crawfish.

“Blackened” doesn’t mean burned. Prudhomme devised a cooking technique in which meat or seafood is dredged in Cajun spices and then seared in melted butter in a cast-iron skillet that gives the food a darkened surface that at first blush could be mistaken for charred.

My dining companion sampled from the appetizer menu and chose four: red beans and rice with sausage ($7), a small gumbo ($4), jambalaya ($8) and boudin balls ($7). Gumbo is a thickened soup made here with sausage, chicken and rice. Jambalaya is a mixture of meats and rice. Boudin is a blood sausage, but boudin balls are comprised of the sausage mixture coated and deep fried.

Don’t fear the heat. Cajun relies heavily on hot spices such as cayenne pepper, but Cajun seasoning is worth trying not so much for its piquancy as for its ability to reach different sensors on the tongue and palate. In any case, McFarlain and Martin long ago learned how much capsicum the folks of Starved Rock Country could handle without pain. Each table is graced with hot sauces and spice mixes for diners to dial up the heat at will.

Despite the early hesitancy they encountered upon opening, McFarlain and Martin gradually earned a cult following and were swamped with business after getting the notice of the Chicago publications and after becoming a finalist in “The People’s Platelist,” an ABC news segment in which viewers were asked to name their favorite restaurants, giving the Utica eatery a national profile.

• The Mystery Diner is an employee at Shaw Media. The diner’s identity is not revealed to restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a restaurant and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a story.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Cajun Connection

WHERE: 2958 N. Route 178, Utica

PHONE: 815-667-9855

INFORMATION: www.ronscajunconnection.com