RAGIN’ CAJUN

Ask and you shall receive. And so ELV did, from a number of KNPR listeners recommending places we should try and review. Dangerous business this, as ELV knows not from whence your motivation comes. Is it validation for your own tastes you seek? Or perhaps a little game of mock the critic and watch him demean himself, and get heartburn to boot!

It was thoughts such as these that occupied me as we crept way down Las Vegas Boulevard South to a place near the South Point Casino (a side of town where gourmands fear to tread, and where you’ll find ELV as often as you will at a bowling alley.) But promises had been made and gauntlets thrown; so follow through we must.

The directions were: catty-corner to the South Point-as gargantuan and ugly a structure as this town has ever seen (and THAT’S saying something)-and peer behind a Del Taco into one of those crummy little strip malls where 18 come and go businesses compete for 20 parking places. In the far corner was glimpsed those three golden letters that usually signal low and slow mounds o’ meat. That sign isn’t much, and the décor isn’t either. But this is a good thing. Because these pitfalls usually mean a true pitmaster is at work. And so it is.

And his name is Paul Nwuli, a genial giant from West Africa by way of New Orleans. He told me his father taught him how to cook, showed me his well-worn smoker, all the hickory wood underneath it, and the pot where he simmers his house-made sauce. That sauce is thick and rich with flavor and spice, and puts to shame what many ‘cue joints serve you.

Nwuli is a one man-band, chef cook and bottle washer. He told us he plans to redecorate and we told him not to bother…..when you’re putting out some of the tastiest brisket this side of Lockhart Texas, no one cares how the place looks. His chopped pork is mighty fine too, as were some serious collard greens and Cajun rice with real heat to it.

For comparison’s sake, we braved the time-worn cheesiness of the Rio Hotel the next day – yup it was sort of a barbecue week for ELV, just to see how the over-hyped, corporate slickness of RUB (that’s Righteous Urban Barbecue by world-renowned pitmaster Paul Kirk….yawn) stood up to the li’l ole Cajun Shack a few miles down the road. Well, it was no contest. A knockout in the first round. Not even close. RUB slings $14 sandwiches at you, twenty dollar fatty burnt ends, and insipid sauces. The Cajun BBQ Shack is twice as good at half the price.

Thanks to avid barbecue addict, and KNPR listener Michael Meade…..for putting us in touch with some truly righteous ‘que….and if you click on the website link below, you’ll be serenaded with a pretty groovy Cajun tune too.

Click here to hear my review of Cajun BBQ Shack on KNPR – Nevada Public Radio.

CAJUN BBQ SHACK
9620 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Suite #N8
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702.379.1083
www.cajunbbqshack.com