In the two years since first-time restaurateurs Bryan and Melissa Crosswhite started turning out boudin balls and hushpuppies in a clapboard house in downtown Leesburg, they’ve spawned an outpost and drawn lots of attention for their excellent po’ boys.
Much of the menu comes from Louisiana, including fluffy Café du Monde beignets, Leidenheimer Baking Co. bread, Gulf seafood, and recipes from Bryan’s family dating back eight generations. The Cajun “trinity”–a sauté of onions, bell peppers, and garlic–helps impart a rich flavor to the likes of crawfish étouffée and red beans and rice with sausage. Most entrées are hearty enough to share–a good way to stick to a Cheap Eats budget. In Louisiana fashion, the owners are big on live music, and bands play most weekends.
Also good: Boudin balls, fried rounds of pork and rice; fried okra; shrimp and grits; pot-roast, blackened-shrimp, and oyster po’ boys; muffaletta sandwich; pecan pie.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
