I had the pan roast stew at the Tet festival in Westminster this past weekend. The festival was jam packed with traditional Vietnamese food but there were a few odds and ends there as well, like the Stew Shack. I do not recall the prices but they offered two sizes, both under $ 10. The pat roast stew is Cajun inspired with a base made up by combining heavy cream and tomato purée. You can taste the complex layers of flavors within the stew. From the seafood blend(clams, shrimps, scallop) to the house-made Cajun seasoning. The stew also includes white rice. I personally am not a fan of white rice but the one thing I can tell you about it was that it was cooked right. Perfectly fluffy and moist, not dry. What was nice about the dish was the fact that the cream and tomato base did not curdle. Curdling usually happens when you boil milk/cream but because they use a low temperature/slow cooking technique this didn’t occur which is nice. The stew did however lacked some heat or kick at the end of each spoonful. I am not one for heat but I did feel that it did miss the heat that most people look for when eating Cajun delicacies. However if you are a big fan of garlic, let it be known that there is plenty of it in this dish. The presentation was nice, the vendor booth was clean and service was pleasant. No store front yet but they will be popping up at local farmers market so follow them on twitter, facebook or any social media outlet out there if you are interested in trying out the Cajun theme food items or if you are merely interested in supporting small businesses. Overall good meal. The owner/operator Lucy Huynh did a good job seeing as how this was her first festival or shall I say her debut for her company. I must say though they have the cutest logo! An alligator in a chefs outfit and it looks like he had one too much shrimp and grits, ahaha. Super cute logo.
