The Grub Scout: Muddoggs brings Gulf-style Cajun abundance to Knoxville

It was pure coincidence that on the day The Grub Spouse and I decided to check out Knoxville’s newest Cajun/seafood house, BP finally managed to cap the oil leak and (for the time being) stop all that crude from surging into the Gulf of Mexico. I guess that was justification enough to go out and support the fishing industry by dining on some of its bounty.

Muddoggs is in a former Gondolier on West End Avenue in Farragut. The Spouse and I arrived to find a mostly empty dining room, although we spotted a few patrons at the bar and out on the patio dining area.

As mentioned, Cajun and seafood cuisine are Muddoggs’ raison d’étre, and we found plenty of both on the menu. We ordered some Bayou Gator Bites from an appetizer menu that also features oysters on the half shell, baked crab and oyster fondue, and peel-and-eat Cajun boil shrimp.

We thought the breaded and deep-fried gator nuggets were quite good—spicier and crispier than the ones we recently had at Uncle Buck’s. We also started with a square of cornbread that was likewise spicy though on the dry side.

In the soup department, you can get seafood gumbo and chicken-and-sausage gumbo, while house specialties include chicken-and-sausage jambalaya, shrimp Creole and crawfish etoufee. The Spouse got the red beans and rice ($12), which is made with Cajun sausage and served over a bed of rice.

I stayed in the seafood section of the menu, which offers several fried seafood plates as well as four different boil pots—Cajun, crab, shrimp and crawfish. We were told the crawfish were out of season, which also ruled out the Cajun pot, so I got the crab boil pot ($25), which has snow crab clusters, gulf shrimp, Cajun smoked sausage, red potatoes and corn on the cob.

Other sections of the menu feature fried chicken, grilled chicken, a flatiron steak and a half-dozen po’ boy and other sandwich options.

Both our meals came with a house salad, which was a fresh, visually appealing presentation of mixed lettuce and generous veggie toppings.

The red beans and rice meal was very enjoyable, although there was only a token embellishment of sausage. My boil pot was served in a large beer bucket, which contained three crab clusters with a few legs each, two shrimp, one short section of sausage and the aforementioned vegetables. All the items tasted as fresh as inland seafood can get, and the presence of Cajun spices was constant. Having already noshed on cornbread, gator bites and salad, we went “halvsies” with our entrees to save room for a decent deep-fried cheesecake.

My main issue was with price and value. Our meal for two (including tax, tip) totaled close to $70, which I thought was steep. Our entrees alone were $37 and consisted mostly of a modest serving of beans and rice, a few crab legs, two shrimp and a small section of sausage. On the plus side, the service was very solid and the food was enjoyable in the eating. But hopefully, Muddoggs will find a way to put a cap on their prices in the near future.

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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