Le Saint Bonnet - A Question for Cajuns

[tommy2tone_1999]

I've heard all the raving for Le Saint Bonnet, and I am anxious to try it. I am also a little concerned. For all you Cajuns, we all have experienced seafood in other places, and have been disappointed because we are so spoiled with our cuisine. I mean, c'mon it's not a sacrifice, but a treat for south Louisiana Catholics to give up meat on Fridays during lent. It's just an excuse to have seafood.

 

So my question is, will Le Saint Bonnet please a Cajun's pallet for seafood, and what are some good menu choices?

[hdawson]

You may be disappointed in the lack of spiceyness that you might be use to. I can recommend the whole deep fried snapper that I've had four or five times over the years. Excellent. Yucatan food is not TexMex and the flavors are rather mild although condiments are offered to spice it up to your individual taste. The fish is extremely fresh.

[YucatanToday]

Ceviche is delicious - fish and other seafood marinated in lime juice, with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro.

Also, be sure and try the botanas - free snacks they bring you with your beer! Read more about botanas here: http://www.yucatantoday.com/culture/eng-botanas.htm

[tommy2tone_1999]

No disrespect hdawson, but this is one reason (all be it a different reason) that people from south Louisiana are often disappointed with food elsewhere. We travel abroad and see a restaraunt that says "Cajun Food", or we see a cajun dish (ex. Gumbo) on the menu and decide to give it a try, and we get our tongues burned off from the cayenne pepper that gets dumped into the food. Cajun does not necessarily mean hot.

 

It's not your fault, I understand that. Cajun cuisine is something to be marketed, and unfortunately many (even some within the state of Louisiana) don't do a good job of it.

 

What can I say, we're spoiled.

 

Again I mean no disrespect by my comments here. I know how hard it can be to say something exactly how I want to in written form, and how easy it is to have what I have said misinterpreted. Just know that I say it in friendship.

[tommy2tone_1999]

Thanks yucatantoday. Also to all, I guess I will have to keep an open mind, and open taste buds. If I go into it thinking I'll be let down, then I probably will be.

[hdawson]

Tommy. I didn't mean to compare the food to Cajun OR Creol. It's just that so many expect all Mexican food to be spicy like TexMex. I lived in NO for thee years and have traveled. NO and probably the entire area, is the best eating anywhere. I envy you.

[clackey]

Tommy. I didn't mean to compare the food to Cajun OR Creol. It's just that so many expect all Mexican food to be spicy like TexMex. I lived in NO for thee years and have traveled. NO and probably the entire area, is the best eating anywhere. I envy you.

I'll drink to that. I can eat my weight in crawfish. I think that we cooked 200# at our last outing.:D Then if there is any gator, watch out. My cajun fishin buddy blackens striped bass because fresh redfish are non-existant in Northern Arkansas. Yummy!

[hdawson]

C. You'll drink to anything. lol

[clackey]

C. You'll drink to anything. lol

Hi H,

 

I love it when people talk about food. I live to eat.:D

[DixiesMom]

Hey Guys, we will be in Progreso a week from today and I plan on eating at Le St Bonnet...can you tell me about how we will need to dress and if we should bring cash or credit cards....do we need to try and have our money changed to pesos? Oh and the most important...;) how much does the snapper cost..I am uncomfortable going to eat somewhere I have never been. Always afraid that I will not be attired properly or that I won't have enought cash on me for the bill.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

[nolaAlive]

The dress code is basically you can't be naked.

 

Some pictures (but not of the snapper) are here - including the large menu:

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/fantasy_c_07/progreso/p2.htm

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/fantasy_c_07/progreso/p3.htm

 

beginning about midway down the first page and a few on the second page.

 

I don't exactly consider Baton Rouge to be the center of the Cajun universe.

 

I did want to try their oysters, but alas, they didn't have any when I was there.

[clackey]

Hey Guys, we will be in Progreso a week from today and I plan on eating at Le St Bonnet...can you tell me about how we will need to dress and if we should bring cash or credit cards....do we need to try and have our money changed to pesos? Oh and the most important...;) how much does the snapper cost..I am uncomfortable going to eat somewhere I have never been. Always afraid that I will not be attired properly or that I won't have enought cash on me for the bill.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

I have read that some of the locals consider it in bad taste to run around in the stores and resturants in swimwear, but you should be fine with a coverup. Take small bills and U.S. is fine. I found one little hole-in-the-wall that wouldn't take American, but it was away from the tourist area. The reason for small bills is because they have a tendency to give your change back in pesos. I still have some Limparas from Honduras if you need them.;)

 

I don't feel good using my credit cards out of country. I've seen a few threads that turned me into a cash and carry dude.

[DixiesMom]

Thanks Clackey and ZydecoCruiser. Being a more than ample woman, I will not risk ruining others dining experience by showing off my dimples. :D I had read that they had white table cloths, and was trying to put that together with "fishing village" and I couldn't wrap my head around how to dress.

 

 

Thanks to the faithful Progreso cheerleaders, because of them I am looking forward to my next visit. Last year we were diverted there due to hurricane Dean and had no idea what to expect, and after looking forward to the touristy Costa Maya and Cozumel it was so different that I was very disappointed. After a year of reading CC and planning this cruise, I am looking forward more to Progreso than Coz <gasp>.

 

Any special points that should not be missed?? I may not be able to return for quite some time...economy and all.

[clackey]

Mom, I have been to Progreso 3 times and have done something different each trip. We went to Reef Yucatan Resort, visited Dzibalchaltun Ruins and loafed a whole day in town and enjoyed each trip. You can always have a good time if you try.

 

This town isn't a major tourist oriented place. It is more down to earth. I can't describe it except to say that it is closer to "Real Mexico". I've seen bad reviews on the area but can't say that they are justified. I've also seen rave reviews on Costa Maya and I wasn't impressed in the least. Let me know what you think when you get back. I would really like to know.

[kingfish78734]

The whole fried fish at Le Saint Bonnet's was FANTASTIC once again. Also, I love Conch cocktail and this was some of the best (cocktail not ceviche, although I love that too). A caution about eating the pickled peppers that are brought out with the chips and salsa: Jalapenos don't grow in this area. Habaneros do. Fredda and I love hot and spicy food, but when she ate one of the slices of pepper it was too much for her. I loved em!

 

Fredda got the free Margarita with the coupon we printed......it was STRONG!! She drank a couple of sips and then added more lime juice, a packet of sugar and ice.

 

Our entire meal with several beers each was $28. Love this place!

[hdawson]

Kingfish. Would you guess about three pounds? And if I remember correctly, to answer someone's question, was about $8.00.

[kingfish78734]

Kingfish. Would you guess about three pounds? And if I remember correctly, to answer someone's question, was about $8.00.

 

I think you're right H. If I remember correctly you're asked your choice of small, medium or large too.

[juankzas]

The whole fried fish at Le Saint Bonnet's was FANTASTIC once again. Also, I love Conch cocktail and this was some of the best (cocktail not ceviche, although I love that too). A caution about eating the pickled peppers that are brought out with the chips and salsa: Jalapenos don't grow in this area. Habaneros do. Fredda and I love hot and spicy food, but when she ate one of the slices of pepper it was too much for her. I loved em!

 

Fredda got the free Margarita with the coupon we printed......it was STRONG!! She drank a couple of sips and then added more lime juice, a packet of sugar and ice.

 

Our entire meal with several beers each was $28. Love this place!

 

Jalapeños do grow in that part of México but habaneros are more traditional in the southeast and yes they can be very very hot. Unfortunately we are receiving more often chinese habaneros and those are not even half as hot as the original mexican one.

 

A tasty way to have an habanero is slicing it really thin add sliced onion, lemon juice and salt. Put the container in the fridge for a couple of hours, that way the habanero won't be as hot. You can add cucumber, it will absorb the lemon juice with all the flavor, really yummy.

[tommy2tone_1999]

 

I don't exactly consider Baton Rouge to be the center of the Cajun universe.

 

Neither do I. I LIVE in Baton Rouge, but was born in Donaldsonville, and grew up all along Bayou Lafourche. Also went to college at Harvard on the Bayou (Nicholls State University).

 

New Orleans ain't exactly a Cajun Mecca either. Thanks for the pics of Progreso. My wife saw the message tables on the beach and the menu at Le Saint Bonnet and can't wait to get there:D

[nolaAlive]

Neither do I. I LIVE in Baton Rouge, but was born in Donaldsonville, and grew up all along Bayou Lafourche. Also went to college at Harvard on the Bayou (Nicholls State University).

 

New Orleans ain't exactly a Cajun Mecca either. Thanks for the pics of Progreso. My wife saw the message tables on the beach and the menu at Le Saint Bonnet and can't wait to get there:D

 

That would make you close to ground zero.

 

True on NOLA.

 

For a while I attended grad school in Silicon Bayou (Lafayette) and prior to that was oil field trash all over South LA

[Cotton]

The dress code is basically you can't be naked.

 

menu

there.

 

Thx for the photos of the menus, Nola. I'll be going to Progreso on my next cruise, and I've never been there before. Will definitely have lunch at LeSaint Bonnet. How many pesos to the dollar nowadays???

[dane225]

No disrespect hdawson, but this is one reason (all be it a different reason) that people from south Louisiana are often disappointed with food elsewhere. We travel abroad and see a restaraunt that says "Cajun Food", or we see a cajun dish (ex. Gumbo) on the menu and decide to give it a try, and we get our tongues burned off from the cayenne pepper that gets dumped into the food. Cajun does not necessarily mean hot.

 

It's not your fault, I understand that. Cajun cuisine is something to be marketed, and unfortunately many (even some within the state of Louisiana) don't do a good job of it.

 

What can I say, we're spoiled.

 

Again I mean no disrespect by my comments here. I know how hard it can be to say something exactly how I want to in written form, and how easy it is to have what I have said misinterpreted. Just know that I say it in friendship.

 

I am from Lake Charles and I agree with you 100%!! It drives me crazy when people pour a gallon of Tabasco sauce on something and call it cajun. We are living in Houston now and we don't even bother trying anything that claims to be cajun over here!! When we go back home to Louisiana to visit family we bring back a large ice chest of foods we cannot get over here in Houston!! We can't live without our Boudin!!:D

[tommy2tone_1999]

Yep I know what you mean by bringing the food with you. I am an Assistant Scoutmaster in my 2 sons' troop. We travel out of state every year to go to summer camp, and we take Tony Chachere's sample packs, and Community coffee. Half of the supply is for us, and half is for trading with the staff. Give them a free taste to get them wanting more of the good stuff, and then trade it like it's gold for shirts, services etc. (sounds like I'm a pusher, but hey the girl scouts are worse w/ their cookies);)

[nolaAlive]

Thx for the photos of the menus, Nola. I'll be going to Progreso on my next cruise, and I've never been there before. Will definitely have lunch at LeSaint Bonnet. How many pesos to the dollar nowadays???

 

You're more than welcome, Cotton. Someday we shall be at Mary Mahoney's at the same time. Damn close one time.

 

About 10 pesos/dollar seems standard.

[rgtkkb]

You're more than welcome, Cotton. Someday we shall be at Mary Mahoney's at the same time. Damn close one time.

 

About 10 pesos/dollar seems standard.

 

 

The current exchange rate is about 11.75 pesos per dollar, so you are better off changing money and using pesos for purchases than accepting the 10/pesos per dollar rate.