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Dat's Cajun Cafe to open on Fourth Avenue East

New Orleans native David Todd plans to open Dat’s Cajun Café on Fourth Avenue East this month.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 12, 2017

A former cook, fishing boat captain and seafood buyer, David Todd says his friends and family always rave about his skill in the kitchen creating New Orleans specialties.

“Everybody’s always telling me ‘you ought to try it.’ So we’re going to try it,” he said.
What he’s trying is a south Louisiana restaurant called Dat’s Cajun Café, at 133 Fourth Avenue East, the space last occupied by Mean Mr. Mustard.
The Cajun restaurant adds a tangy seafood-heavy menu to the busy dining scene downtown, bringing back flavors missing since Cypress Cellar closed two years ago. Todd plans a full lineup of Cajun and New Orleans classics, including gumbo, shrimp creole, red beans and rice, shrimp and oyster po’ boys, shrimp pizza and other favorites.
Although he’s never run a restaurant, he started cooking in a well-known one, Rocky & Carlo’s, in Chalmette, outside of New Orleans, when he was in high school. A New Orleans native who was born in Charity Hospital and grew up in the Ninth Ward, Todd and his family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina. They moved up to Hendersonville, went back to New Orleans for a while and then returned to Hendersonville.
Among his specialties are a three-meat lasagna “with tons of cheese.”
“We’ll do a crawfish boil in season,” he said.
He expects to do a robust takeout business.
“I think our capacity will probably be about 40 people,” he said.
To start out, Dat’s Cajun will be family run, with his wife and daughter working alongside Todd.
“I’ll be looking for a couple of dishwashers and a couple of servers,” he says.
He hopes to open by mid-May and plans to serve beer and wine. Hours will be 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.