Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
A woman grabbed D’Juan’s New Orleans Bistro owner, Donald Williams, by the shoulders and gave him a hug. Another woman came over, gave him another hug, and asked for a selfie. Williams held the restaurant’s grand opening on Monday, January 19, MLK Day, and the response from patrons has been nothing but positive.
That includes Brian Thomas, the co-owner of Blake’s Oyster Bar with Williams. Thomas, his wife, and their son, Blake, the restaurant’s namesake, sat at a table for lunch.
The restaurant was buzzing with customers when The Atlanta Voice dropped by to talk with Williams. Dressed in a black chef’s jacket and matching pants, Williams’ smile was present as he continued to greet guests.
“Today has me overwhelmed,” he said.
D’Juan’s is located within the MAA West Village, a live, work, play apartment complex in Smyrna. Walking into D’Juan’s, one will immediately notice a large Mardi Gras mask in the lobby by the host station. With the servers dressed in all black, it gives D’Juan’s a look of a classic fine dining establishment in the Crescent City. That’s all by design, says Williams.
Asked what he hopes to bring to Smyrna’s dining scene, Williams said he wanted diners to have an authentic New Orleans dining experience.
The New Orleans-born and bred chef and restaurateur added that he learned to cook from a young age because, “I had to survive, I was hungry.” If anyone is familiar with the Big Easy, they know how deeply food is embedded in the city’s culture.
That passion and dedication to cooking traditional New Orleans favorites like dirty rice, chargrilled oysters, red beans and rice, and po’ boys is being mixed in with innovative dishes like crab balls, crab cake egg rolls, and crawfish mac & cheese to give Georgia diners a unique experience. Williams calls D’Juan’s a portal to a place he knows well.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
There are no TVs inside D’Jaun’s at the moment, but there is a plan to get one by the full bar. The restaurant seats 140 people, and Williams said he wants them to be focused on the food, service, and environment when dining.
The po’ boy menu includes hot sausage, lobster, shrimp, oyster, and catfish sandwiches. The appetizer menu has gumbo, BBQ shrimp, catfish bites, wings served with fries, and stuffed crab cake egg rolls. The latter comes in four pieces (two egg rolls cut in half), drizzled with spicy mayo, and is served on a bed of lettuce.
The entree menu includes Big C’s rice bowl, a combination of seasoned rice, vegetables, and three grilled jumbo shrimp. Served with a side of oyster sauce, the dish was both fun to eat and flavorful.
The beignet bites, smaller versions of the New Orleans-based goodness known the world over, were tasty. Along with powdered sugar, the warm beignets are dusted with cinnamon. Traditionally, that would be an issue at Cafe du Monde or Cafe Beignet, but in suburban Atlanta, it should work out just fine.
The bistro joins the local Waffle House, Five Guys, and Blue Moon Pizza as dining options for residents. Williams said he learned of the former location of a Thai restaurant from a patron, checked it out, and knew he had found the right place.
“Let’s give it a shot,” Williams said. “We wanted to be somewhere near the perimeter, and the West Village is close enough to everything.”
The traffic at D’Juan’s hadn’t slowed down by midafternoon as Williams continued to greet people, talk to wait staff, and pose for pictures. He simply described his restaurant as, “An all-expense paid trip to New Orleans with every bite.”