Pistol Pete's Food N Blues

The American food trend has even made it to Geelong, and tonight while in town for a gig at The Workers Club Belinda and I tried out Pistol Pete's Food N Blues. Its focus is on Southern and New Orleans style dishes and also has live music on Thursday-Sunday nights. It is an intimate space and we were able to get a seat along the wall near the kitchen despite not having a reservation.

There are a range of options on the menu, including burgers, po'boys, southern fried chicken, gumbo and different plates of meat with your choice of sides. I decided to have the vegetarian jambalaya with okra (also available with chicken and andouille sausage). The dish was full of flavor and tasted good, and was the perfect amount of food to fill you up.

Belinda chose the pulled pork plate, which featured 200g of their low and slow roasted pulled Australian free range pork with a great barbecue sauce. For sides she had the coleslaw, Cajun fries and a salad. The coleslaw was on point, but I didn't really taste the Cajun flavor on the fries.

If you are around this part of town Pistol Pete's Food N Blues is a good solid choice for a meal, and then you can stick around for some live music.

Pistol Pete's Food N Blues
93A Little Malop Street, Geelong
Open Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday 12-9pm, Thursday 12-11:30pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm-12:30am

Po' Boy Quarter

Emanating from the success of the Gumbo Kitchen food truck is the permanent restaurant Po' Boy Quarter on Smith Street (or as we like to call it, Little America). Serving up authentic New Orleans food to the people of Melbourne, their menu features an assortment of Cajun specialties including gumbo, oysters, catfish, and po' boys.

It was a warm evening so we grabbed a table outside on the sidewalk. Of course we had to order a po' boy, and Danny got the deep fried shrimp one with tomato, lettuce, pickles, mayo and hot sauce. He thought it had a nice fiery sauce, was generous with the shrimp and tasted good. We also shared a side of shoestring fries topped with Cajun mayo, which were cooked perfectly.

Nicole had the red beans and rice, which you can add pork or andouille sausage to if you are looking for a non-vegan option. It tasted good and had a subtle bit of spice to it.

The food here is reasonably priced, and if you are after some drinks and cocktails you can hang out in the bar Huey Long's which is located out the back.

Po' Boy Quarter
295 Smith Street, Fitzroy
Open seven days a week from 11:30am - 11:00pm

Welcome To Thornbury- Digging For Fire BBQ Kitchen and Gumbo Kitchen

As the popularity of food trucks grows in Melbourne, there are now permanent food truck parks popping up around town with a rotating group of trucks on any given day. Last month Welcome To Thornbury opened on the site of an old car manufacturing factory on High Street in Northcote. With up to six trucks at any given time, an indoor bar and outside seating, the venue is licensed to hold over 700 people.

Belinda and I went to check it out tonight, and even on a chilly evening the place was packed with people. Another bonus is that each truck gives you a buzzer when you order, so you can go grab drinks and a table while you wait for your food to be prepared.

I decided to try Digging For Fire BBQ Kitchen, which offers a variety of barbecue meats that you can have either on a roll or in a bowl with your choice of salad. I ordered a bowl of the slow cooked lamb shoulder with tahini and lemon dressing, pickles and pomegranate on an Israeli cous cous, sunflower seeds and spinach salad. The lamb was quite tender and tasted good with the other elements of the dish.

Belinda ordered from Gumbo Kitchen and got The Dom, which contains 12 hour braised beef shredded with Cajun gravy, served on fries with Cajun mayo and pickles. The beef was quite tender and for a bit of a decadent dish she thought it was great. We also got the Cheesy Mac Croquettes, which were very yummy. Having previously eaten at Gumbo Kitchen, I can also strongly recommend the mesquite smoked pulled pork po'boy with Louisiana BBQ sauce, Cajun slaw and pickles.

Welcome To Thornbury is a great venue and will be the perfect spot to grab a food truck meal as the weather warms up heading into summer.

Welcome To Thornbury
520 High Street, Northcote
Open Monday - Thursday from 5:00 pm; Friday - Sunday from 12:00 pm