China Doll goes with gumbo in Paradise (Capt. Joey Patti’s)

I was afraid my gumbo would be served in a Styrofoam bowl when I saw the waitresses serving the orders at Capt. Joey Patti’s Seafood Restaurant in Pensacola. Everything from po boys to cole slaw was being dished out in a plastic basket or Styrofoam carry-out box or  cup with a lid. Fortunately, the gumbo was served in a glass bowl, though it was accompanied with a plastic spoon wrapped in a paper napkin. It was the largest small bowl of gumbo I’ve ever seen at a reasonable $4.50. According to the menu, the Patti family has been perfecting this gumbo recipe for forty years. I think they’ve just about got it right. Like promised, it has plenty of shrimp, crab and fish in a red roux. The description implied a “nutty” roux flavor but I didn’t quite taste that, perhaps because there was so much seafood. And the seafood is quality seafood; the shrimp is medium-sized and tasty, and the crab and fish are mild and sweet. I guess it helps to be related to and located next-door-to Joe Patti’s, the largest seafood market in the Florida Panhandle. The menu also guarantees there won’t be too much rice in the gumbo. That’s a nice promise because many places serve rice with gumbo, rather than gumbo with rice. But, any rice served with gumbo should be real rice, not instant; my palate tells me Capt. Joey serves instant rice. Even a wee tablespoon of instant rice still tastes instant.  I would have traded the glass bowl for real rice in a heartbeat.  When I wasn’t living in the Deep South, I had my parents bring me China Doll Rice from Mississippi because it’s the best I’ve ever tasted. I just stacked the bags in the freezer, and then cooked the frozen grains. Worked like a charm. Here, I can buy my China Doll at Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie – just another reason to live in Paradise.