Jack's New Orleans Style Birthday Celebration

There is probably no city in the United States more associated with celebration than New Orleans.  O.K., maybe Las Vegas.  I've never been to Las Vegas so I can't compare the two cities.  All I know is that during our stay in New Orleans it seemed that there was a festival, a party or a parade going on all of the time.  New Orleans is the city that Jack has liked the best during our cross country tour.  He would move there in a heartbeat if I would agree to it.  For me, Las Vegas is a nice place to visit but not a place that I would choose to live.  Too hot and buggy.  Since Jack loves New Orleans so much, I wanted to find a restaurant here in Portland with Creole/Cajun food for Jack's birthday celebration yesterday.  Luckily, I found the perfect spot only a few blocks away from where we are staying.

 Acadia is located on a residential street in a block of buildings that includes a wine bar, an Irish Pub and a coffee shop.  It is close enough to our apartment that we could have ridden our bikes there although we took our car last night. 

The decor is reminiscent of New Orleans and features Jazz Fest posters and Outsider art, which we both like.  The purple and gold color scheme reminded us of the purple and gold drapes in the living room of our former home in Joliet.  (I loved those drapes.  They were worth every penny of the exorbitant price we paid for them.)  

The fleur de lis on the seat covers, light fixtures, and even the bill took us right back to our time in New Orleans.  

It turns out that I made a great restaurant pick.  (Thank you, Yelp)  Everything that we ordered was delicious and the service was excellent.  Jack and I started out by sharing the Barbeque Shrimp appetizer.  It wasn't a typical barbeque but more like a spicy gravy with Worcester Sauce, butter, and pepper.  It was great for dripping our bread.  If I had had a spoon I probably would have eaten the sauce like a soup.  It was really good.  

For our main course, Jack had the Pasta Jambalaya

and I had the Goat Cheese Gnocchi with roasted chilies, toasted hazelnuts and corn.  

Both dishes had the kind of heat that seems to be typical in Cajun food but they weren't so spicy that all you could taste was HOT. The portion sizes were just right because we were saving room for dessert.  After all, what's a birthday celebration without dessert?

Take a look at the amazing bread pudding that Jack ordered! 

When I saw his dessert I almost wished that I had chosen the bread pudding but after one taste of my own banana cream pie with salted caramel sauce I knew that I had made a good choice for my own dessert.

This did not stop me from drinking the leftover vanilla sauce from Jack's dessert.  (I'm breaking my own rule and posting an unflattering picture of myself.)

Bad manners, I know, but after two glasses of Pinot Noir it seemed like such a good idea! 

Even though no one said, "Who Dat?" or threw beads, I think that Jack really enjoyed his New Orleans style birthday celebration.  It seems as if he's aging backwards rather than getting older. The kids always tease Jack that there is a Dorian Gray-type portrait hidden somewhere that ages while he looks younger and younger.  Whatever the secret is I'm just glad that Jack was born 59 years ago and that we are spending our lives together.  He is such a great guy.  I always tell Jack that he is my gift from God.