Heaven on Seven

We went to eat at the Naperville location of Heaven on Seven so Nick could compare it to our experience at Pappadeax.  He liked the food at Heaven on Seven much better.

Jalapeno Corn Blasters

As an appetizer we had the Bayou Jalapeno Corn Blasters with Honey Jalapeno dressing.  They were cubes of jalapeno corn bread dusted with some hot spice. It was a much larger portion than we were expecting.  Definitely suitable to share with four people. The corn bread was great - overall it was a bit spicier than Natalie would have liked, but perfect for Nick.

Both of our entrees came with either a soup or salad.  Nick had a salad and Natalie had the gumbo. The salad came with the same dressing as the appetizer. The gumbo was plenty spicy so with that in addition to the appetizer Natalie had her fair share of spiciness.

Gumbo

Salad

Shrimp Voodoo Linguine

Nick ordered the Shrimp Voodoo over linguine.  There was no way that Natalie was going to try something with that name since it would be way to spicy for her. It had a citrus/sweet flavor to start with and then it kicked you a moment later with the spice.  Although it was very spicy, the hotness didn't overpower the taste of the shrimp. Nick might try this with rice next time because the noodles left Nick's lips burning; the rice would have absorbed the sauce better.

Natalie ordered the fried soft shell crab Po' Boy Sandwich with honey jalapeno dressing.  She did not expect it to be so large.  There was more than enough crab for 2 sandwiches. The crab was a little scary looking the way it was presented (but that is to be expected with soft shell crab). But she had to just not think about that and just enjoy how it tasted.  This too came with the honey jalapeno dressing which was delightful.

Soft Shell Crab Po' Boy

Final Thoughts on Heaven on Seven:
Food - great food, lots of selection/variety, much better in a taste test between them and Pappadeaux
Service - We went to eat here on a weekday on our way back from a road trip - so we got there much earlier for dinner than we normally would.  There were only 2 other tables filled when we got there so we were surprised at how slow the service was. Literally we thought we would be in and out in much less than an hour but we were there for 1 1/2 hours. It took a while before we got water (and we were quite parched from it being such hot day), it took a while before we were able to order (apparently part of the issue was that another table had many many questions for the waitress), and it seemed like it was a bit slow in getting our food (this may have been subjective since we had skipped lunch and were hungry). Luckily the food overwhelmingly made up for this.
Atmosphere - the space is not that large so on the weekend it probably fills up quickly.  The one long wall is filled with tons of bottles of various hot sauces.  There are also several bottles of hot sauce at each table.  The other wall is filled with art work reflecting scenes of New Orleans.

Wall of Hot Sauce

Pappadeaux

We went out to dinner at Pappadeaux in Westmont. Natalie had eaten at a Pappadeux many years ago but not this particular location.  It is a chain restaurant with locations in 7 states and this location opened in 1999.  We drive past this location all of the time and we finally decided to go inside. Pappadeaux is mainly a seafood restaurant with a Cajun flair - its headquarters are in Houston.

Coconut Shrimp

As an appetizer we ordered coconut Shrimp with a cajun slaw and a spicy sweet dipping sauce.  The shrimp were good but weren't anything unique or special.  In fact the dipping sauce sure looked just like a Thai chili sauce that you buy at the grocery store.

Crawfish Etoufee

For entrees we both decided to go with items from the New Orleans specialties section of the menu since for us that is the unique appeal of this restauarant.  We had Crawfish Etoufee with white rice. The sauce is thicker than a gumbo and has a base of an onion roux.  Etouffee means smothered - and in this dish the crawfish was smothered in a sauce that had a little heat to it.  Because the sauce is smothered over rice it is not a very beautiful presentation but it is tasty.  Live crawfish resemble small lobsters, but the cracked crawfish in this dish looked & tasted like small shrimps because only the tail portion is served in an etouffee.

Shrimp & Grits

The other entree we ordered was Shrimp Creole with creamy Andouille cheese grits and tomato sauce. The sauce had a little more spice/kick to it than the etoufee. There were lots of shrimp - enough dinner and lunch the next day.  The cheese grits were a bit bland, but did their job to offset the spiciness of the sauce.



Another favorite local Cajun restaurant is called Heaven on Seven.  So we will have to go there for a comparison.

Final thoughts on Pappadeaux:
Food - food seemed a little pricey but we did have enough leftovers for both of us to have a full lunch the next day.
Service - nothing special; we knew there was a crawfish special going on and although we wouldn't have ordered it anyway the server she did not even mention it to us. They took care of us but it wasn't a real personal experience.

Giant Lobster (and regular size lobsters)

Atmosphere - really busy for a weeknight (probably because of the crawfish special going on).  Good thing we had a reservation otherwise there was a 20 minute wait to be seated.  The parking lot is always filled when we drive by so this wasn't too much of a surprise.  It is a casual seafood restaurant with a Cajun flare.  Probably the most interesting thing we saw was a giant 9 pound lobster in lobster tank - its claws were the same size as a normal sized lobster.