New Digs For Just Loaf’n

By Tom Maicon at January 6, 2010 | 9:54 am | Print

I believe kudos—and sympathies—are due the many tried-and-failed Cajun restaurants of Atlanta. Cajun cuisine is sorely underrepresented in our city.

At one point last year, in my mind, I plopped Just Loaf’n (3173 Roswell Rd., Buckhead Tel: 770.875.1995 – new address), a worthy Cabbagetown po’boy stop, into a grave next to all the other crawfish-shaped tombstones.

But they’ve managed to defy doom, at least for now. And that’s good news—because they serve one of the city’s better po’boys. They just do it in Buckhead now, not Cabbagetown.

I’ve stopped in twice to cure a shrimp po’boy hankerin’ since the restaurant opened a little more than a month ago. Despite a swanky Buckhead address, the restaurant is a real hole-in-the-wall. And since it’s not even big enough to seat one inside—your meal is either to-go, eaten at one of the few outdoor tables, or in your car. With the mercury struggling to reach 30-degrees, I chose the latter.

Shrimp po’boys here are cheap and better than average—smothered with a tangy mambo sauce and served on crispy, chewy Leidenheimer’s French bread.

The kitchen offers the usual bayou favorites but I don’t recommend a stray from the po’boys—it’s what they do best. I was served gumbo that tasted—and smelled—foul. I also took my chances with jambalaya, which was made up of small, severely burned pieces of sausage. And beignets were thick and cake-y, not those airy pillows of deliciousness we know and love.

I do fear for the restaurant’s longevity with no indoor seating. Not too mention that little strip is practically invisible to passer-bys.

The owner really should consider a daytime po’boy truck strategically positioned in bustling Midtown, or even downtown, that serves only po’boys, Cajun fries, and snowballs. It just might be the business model that saves it from the seemingly inevitable.

I’d hit it once a week.

Tom Eats Just Loaf'n, Leidenheimer's