Hey everybody, Jumbo Gumbo here, with another ravenous review. Cayenne Queen and I asked ourselves “where should we dine tonight” and came up with Francois Cafe located on Hwy 64 across from the Blockbuster in Zachary. This is a place the Queen I have dined before, but we went with a neutral palate and the agreeance that we would both order things we had not eaten before.
As you walk in you are greeted with a comfortable setting of 4 seater tables lined with heavy table clothes. LSU memorabilia and flat screen TV’s are hung from the walls with other decorations and a comfortable amount of light. Francois isn’t your standard java shack. Along with the typical sandwiches you can order to go along with your coffee’s or espresso’s there are an array of other dinner dishes and breakfast meals to please your belly. Francois also features an open air patio for those cool summer nights and brisk fall days. As if the comfort in the seating and general ambiance wasn’t enough, as soon as you walk through the door your eyes are drawn to dessert cooler boldly displayed across from you. Even if dessert wasn’t on your mind, it calls you, like moths to a flame.
After seating, our waitress nearly immediately approached us with a smile, silverware, napkins and armed to take our drink orders. Upon seeing they had a Mushroom Swiss Burger I inquired if the patty was preformed or hand formed. Francois said he uses a frozen patty but it was Angus beef. I passed on the burger with the wanton to have a 100% homemade meal. I went ahead and took a play from the breakfast menu and ordered the Francois Omelet for $7. It came stuffed with bacon, mushroom, onions and bell peppers topped with melted provolone cheese. The dish was served with cubed “cafe potatoes” and a whole wheat toast. The omelet had a great flavor but was slightly over done for my egg preference. The potatoes were cooked to perfection and just needed a dash of salt and pepper to make me smile. Now I know your not expecting this, but the toast, oh my the toast nearly brought me to happy tears. Its a traditional thick piece of whole wheat bread, with some grains still on the crust and lightly buttered. The WOW factor here is that it was grilled and having that “grilled over an open flame” flavor. I promptly took my provolone from my omelet and rolled it on a toast wedge and created the worlds greatest grilled cheese. OH MY OH MY. After tasting this I turned around and ordered the grilled cheese on the menu for $7. While the American cheese didn’t come with same pizazz as provolone, it was still a good grilled cheese.
The Queen ordered the Cajun Tilapia for $9. It was a very generous portion of Tilapia with a light crispy coating of Panko bread crumbs seasoned with a dusting of pepper and Parmesan cheese. The fish was flaky and delicate in texture meaning it was cooked to completion and was void of that “fishy” taste that you sometimes get with large of pieces of fish. It came served over a bed of al dente fettuccine pasta with Alfredo sauce. The sauce was seasoned with fresh black pepper, green onions, sliced mushrooms and a few sun dried tomatoes. A slice of thick well crusted toasted French bread was served on the side.
For dessert we both agreed on a cheese cake. As we looked through the cooler loaded with plain cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, plain cakes, almond covered, caramel covered we almost got dizzy. After minutes staring with our mouths hung open, we ordered a turtle cheesecake for $5.50. It has a caramel top, cheese cake middle, chocolate bottom and a thick nutty crust. It quickly changed my mind about turtle type desserts as I normally choose plain or something with chocolate chips.
We dined at 8 pm on a weekend and found the place to be immaculately clean. This is an overall great dining place and at $34 dollars total for all we ordered, with drinks, it was very cheap. Especially for the portion sizes. We will be back!
Cost:$
Food:5 bowls
Ambiance:5 bowls
Cleanliness:5 bowls
OVERALL: 
(5/5)
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This is an “order at the counter” type of restaurant with self-serve beverages. While your food is being prepared you can sit in the small dining room and enjoy some television or have a casual conversation at the table that deemed “The Courtyard.” The Courtyard is a 4 person table in a corner surrounded by New Orleans style lamp post and decor. The brick building has an open feel with all the windows so it can be slightly noisy. The staff was very friendly, constantly smiling, and thankful for our business. Your food will be delivered to you at your table once it is ready to serve.
I ordered the Philly Cheese Steak poboy combo and stuffed Jalapeño peppers as appetizer. The peppers came five in an order and served with ranch dipping sauce. They were good, with a cheese whiz style stuffing, but seemed to be a commercially purchased brand. The Philly Cheese Steak was first conjured up in 1939 by Pat and Harry Olivieri at their hotdog stand near Philadelphia’s Italian Market. Since then it has taken on many different forms and has been the center of many debates amongst friends on what a real cheese steak is and how it should be prepared. My sandwich consisted of the classic thinly sliced beef, cooked down on a grill with onions. It also came with grilled green Bell peppers and what I considered the nicest surprise, Jalapeños. Served on a toasted poboy bun with mozzarella cheese and a seasoned sauce that is a secret to the cook. It was the best Philly I’ve had in Louisiana. My fries were cooked to a firm crispiness and seasoned with a multipurpose seasoning. An order of shoe string onions were sent to our table with our food. It was unclear if they were complimentary or if they came with the combo, but we sampled them anyways. The onion strings were lightly breaded and small enough just to be flash fried to get them cooked. A smile inducing onion to say the least.
(4/5)
