As the weather starts to migrate into chillier temperatures, new Acadia chef/owner Seamus Foran’s mind turns to gumbo. In honor of the famous Treme Gumbo Festival that takes place in New Orleans this time of year, Seamus has created a flight of gumbos for November 13–14th. The flight includes:
- Seafood Gumbo – Acadia’s “go to” gumbo, made with a dark roux, which provides a depth of flavor that gumbo is known for, balanced out by a combination of shellfish and chicken stock. This is THE New Orleans gumbo. Acadia serves its seafood gumbo with shrimp, crawfish, and Louisiana blue crab. All three gumbos were fantastic, but of the three, this was my favorite gumbo.
- Cajun Gumbo – This is a style of gumbo popular in the southwestern region of Louisiana, which is more of a thick tomato-based stew. Occasionally seafood will be included but more a more typical recipe (and the one Chef Seamus uses) features hickory smoked free-range chicken and house made andouille sausage. This gumbo was definitely more of the style I think of when I think “gumbo” and typical of the style of gumbo that I have had in the past.
- Gumbo Z’herbs – This was a version of gumbo that grew in popularity with the Catholic population of southern Louisiana. Served during Lent, this version traditionally contained no meat, though ironically it did involve a stock made from smoked ham hocks. Z’herbs is made with any kind of green leaf-like vegetable one can find: kale, mustard greens, collards, chards, turnip/carrot/beet/radish tops, cabbage, lettuces, and spinach can all be used. As Lenten restrictions lightened in the past few generations, this dish lost popularity. But Acadia is bringing it back—green gumbo made from smoked ham hock with greens and more greens! I loved that this was just greens. And it was delicious.
The Gumbo Flight is available for $16, and a la carte portions for $10 each.
Our tasting menu featured more than just the Gumbo Flight. We started with a Louisiana BBQ Shrimp for our first course. This was incredible. I could have licked the bowl clean. The sauce was phenomenal. So much flavor!
Our second course was an Arugula Salad with mustard greens, gala apples, kohlrabi, pecans, and Portland Creamery goat cheese.
After our Gumbo Flight I was stuffed. I barely had room for the incredible dessert, but somehow I found some space: Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding with salted whiskey caramel sauce, toasted pecans and whipped cream. To die for. Absolutely mind blowing.
Chef Seamus came out to chat and see how our meal was. Mouthwatering. I can’t wait to go back. Acadia is one of my new NE favorites. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend checking out Gumbo Weekend.
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