Dadeo's

Dadeo's New Orleans Diner & Bar
10548a Whyte Avenue

So with the Heritage Days long weekend here, I made my annual trek up to Edmonton, this time accompanied by my sister and niece.   The plan was to go somewhere interesting in Edmonton, that they'd never been to.   They usually go up just to spend time in West Ed (eww), so anything but that would be new for them.   After a quick poll with my local friends, we settled on going to Dadeo's New Orleans Diner & Bar.  


Now, being that I've been to New Orleans, my standards of cajun food can be quite high, so take this review with a grain of salt.   The place itself is a bit dark, but essentially looks like a 50s diner with very random and odd pieces of art, many of which have googly eyes stuck to the faces.   It didn't help that the instant we sat down, they decided to turn the lights down even lower.  

When you sit down, you get a small serving of mini buns with jalapeno jelly.   Totally tasty, if a lil strange, with neon green jelly.  I'd just wish they gave you a couple more buns.   The other interesting thing is that you can order vanilla or cherry coke, milkshakes, and floats, the usual diner sort of drinks.

Dadeo's is known for their po boy sandwiches, and there's quite the selection, from a basic pulled pork, to a fried oyster, blackened catfish, or even a breakfast version that has 3 eggs, mushrooms, peppers, and andouille sausage.   However, I wasn't too keen on having a sandwich that night, so I went big, and got the Combo Fabio.   Silly name, but large amount of food.   The Combo includes a couple pieces of southern fried chicken, St. Louis style ribs, jambalaya rice, and coleslaw.    I could have gotten a potato hash or sweet potato fries with it instead, as well.   My sister and niece started with the Steamed Mussels appy, supposedly a pound of steamed mussels tossed in a tequila salsa white wine cream sauce, served with a French loaf, then shared a Combo Ya-Ya, containing blackened shrimp and scallops, veggie jambalaya, coleslaw and two large fried oysters.   The other two friends who'd joined us both went with the Oyster Po Boy and sweet potato fries.

First impression of the food - the mussels were teeny.   I'm talking smallest ones I've ever seen tiny.   Whether it was an actual pound, is debatable.   I'll have to ask them how they felt on the flavour, but neither seemed completely enthused - however, being that they'd been living on the left coast for so long, they'd had much better seafood for ages now.   The chicken and ribs of mine were decent, but nothing to write home about, and the jambalaya rice lacked a kick to it.   Oddly enough, my sister's was extra spicy.   However, I did get a significant portion of ribs, so it was fairly filling.  Definitely doesn't compare to the ribs I had in St. Louis, but better than many I've had in supposedly better restaurants.

The po boys did look good, other than there having oysters on them,  (That's my own personal thing, not a fan of oysters) and the sweet potato fries looked decent too.   Overall, I'd say the place was good but not amazing, but definitely worth a stop if you're looking for something a little different than the norm.  I wouldn't recommend the jambalaya though.