If you asked 10 people to make gumbo, they’d all do it differently. At Viola & Agnes’ Neo Soul Cafe, it starts with a very dark roux and builds from there, with tasso-smoked sausage, okra, a scoop of white rice, a boiled egg, a whole blue crab, shrimp and a piece of roasted bone-in chicken.
It might look like oil is swirling on the surface, but that’s the chicken “sweats,” which chef Aaron Davis says makes the best gumbo. It’s the way he grew up eating it in the Lake Charles, Louisiana, area. His family is the inspiration behind what he serves at his Seabrook restaurant, Viola & Agnes, named after his two grandmothers, whose pictures hang at the entrance.
“When you eat gumbo, a plate should be full of bones and shells and stuff when you’re done with it,” Davis said. “I’ve been cooking a while, so as you cook longer, more stuff starts getting added to dishes. And this is the way my family makes it in Lake Charles, with a little bit of everything.”…