Skip to main contentDisclaimer first: Roux just opened. It's risky, to say the least, to elevate a new hopeful to the ranks of Portland's best. But with that in mind, it's fair to say that this huge nouveau-Cajun palace, hotly anticipated in its North Portland neighborhood, is a contender. (And it is so big—basically three restaurants in one, counting the daytime cafe-deli slung alongside—that one hopes it stays very busy, lest tumbleweeds start rolling through.) The dinner menu spurns predictable jambalaya, gumbo and étoufée, but Louisiana-philes will feel right at home. A plate of three different, equally amazing housemade sausages was the highlight of a visit on the second night of operation, and the trout stuffed with crawfish boded well for Roux's fishy future. The side dishes—a benchmark for this style of cooking—scored with some damn-good fried green tomatoes but flopped with disappointingly bland mustard greens. A few dishes lacked a certain slap-upside-the-head spark, but you get the sense, given the snappy service and the designed-to-the-hilt clubby atmosphere, that Roux will get it all wired in time. (ZD)
WWeek 2015