Ralph & Kacoo’s — Bossier City, LA

Red Fish with Jumbo Shrimp on Dirty Rice

My wife and frequented the Ralph & Kacoo’s in Allen (Texas), but that closed in the last year, which is too bad because it was one of our favorite seafood places in the Metroplex. On a recent visit to Shreveport, we opted to dine at this Ralph & Kacoos.

Service was prompt at the get-go, and fairly efficient throughout, although my wife noticed other parties were served a bit slower. There was a surprise party at a separate dining area just next to us, and the closed door didn’t allow us to see how much staff was working the party.

We were used to freshly baked bread at the other location, but we got four hush puppies instead. We only ate two of them, but could have easily scarfed all of them and asked for seconds. But they were a meal all their own, and we didn’t want to spoil our appetite.

We’re familiar with the menu, and I was about to order the Mahi-Mahi when our waiter told us about the specials, and I quickly changed my selection to the grilled Red Fish with the jumbo shrimp served over dirty rice. My wife ordered a more familiar dish, the Crawfish Special, which is fried crawfish tails and crawfish etouffee over rice.

My selection was the catch of the day, so the price was more than $20. I got a generous serving and every bit of the fish was delicious. The shrimp could have been a meal all their own. The rice was tasty, and a good complement to the meal. My wife’s dish was as she remembered it from our previous visits to the old Allen location. Had we been there for lunch, we might have made four meals out of the two plates.

While the location is at a strip mall, it’s not a trashy hole in the wall. The place is fairly large and houses a gift shop as well as the restaurant. Our only complaint is that after dark, it was a bit confusing to find the restaurant because of conflicting signs and poorly lit streets.

We’ll definitely stop again the next time we’re in town.

Also uploaded to Yelp!: bit.ly/UC94cP

Written on January 9, 2012