Brodeur’s Bistro: Canadian & Cajun comfort food in Abbotsford
Brodeur’s Bistro was recommended to me by my friend. It is located in Abbotsford, which is great if you are in Abbotsford. If you are in the greater Vancouver area, you may find it too far. However, keep this place in mind for when you are crossing the USA/Canada border!
My friend described Brodeur’s Bistro as a French restaurant, but it’s actually more Cajun than French. They specialize in Canadian smoked meat and Cajun cooking.
Interior
Brodeur’s Bistro is bumping. They have a small parking lot available but the restaurant is much bigger than the amount of spots available.
The interior of Brodeur’s is really cool. They have an old school New Orleans vibe with brick walls and colourful paintings. Comfortable booth seating and friendly service. Once you go in, you will feel a casual and local atmosphere – this restaurant is definitely a local favourite.
Food
Brodeur’s Bistro boasts an extensive menu of different smoked meat sandwiches and ethnic Cajun dishes. One big plus in my mom’s book is that their menu shows lots of pictures! The pictures are real (not stock photos) so you can see what you will get and they have an amaaaazing menu of side dishes. Their side dish menu lists 20 items and they all sound delicious. Think of different versions of mac n cheese, fries, salads and soups.
Usually, their main dishes will come with a free side dish but you are free to add additional side dishes for a few dollars more.
Luc’s Reuben ($18) + Mac n cheese
I order Luc’s reuben sandwich. I’ve tried a reuben sandwich before in Montreal and it was amazing. Brodeur Bistro’s reuben sandwich uses the same signature ingredients – Montreal Smoked Meat, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, 1000 Islands dressing and grilled rye bread.
The sandwich is not as big as the one I had in Montreal, but the prices were different lol. Brodeur Bistro’s reuben sandwich is well made – the smoked meat is authentic and tender and the grilled rye bread holds it all together. They may have added a bit too muhc sauerkraut as I found it slightly more sour than I remember. Still an awesome sandwich. Super hearty!
We add a second side dish on top of the first one. For my first side, I choose the baked mac n cheese. Now I’m not the biggest mac n cheese fan (please don’t kill me) but the mac n cheese is pretty good. The cheese is gooey and cooked crispy on the edges.
Seafood chowder
For my second side, I choose the seafood chowder. It is creamy and full of seafood! So delicious.
Chicken and shrimp gumbo ($18)
The chicken and shrimp gumbo was a daily special. Gumbo is staple Louisiana soup. It uses a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and what Louisianians call the “Holy Trinity” of vegetables (celery, bell peppers, and onions).
We’ve never had gumbo before so we weren’t sure what to expect. The waitress asked us if we wanted cornbread, pita or some other bread with it. We choose pita.
We are surprised to see rice in our gumbo. Chinese cuisine doesn’t often mix soup with rice together, but we happily oblige because it looks so hearty and comforting.
The soup is a little spicy but nothing you can’t handle. It actually adds a nice kick to it and coats the rice in a strong and ethnic flavour. Love the shrimps with the soup and the rice. I chowed down this because I was super hungry, but on a rainy day I would do the same.
Final thoughts
We were pleasantly surprised to find such delicious and authentic Cajun/smoked meat food in Abbotsford. Prices were reasonable and some of their dishes are huge (ex. the ribs). Definitely more of a family-style restaurant vibe but it can also be a fun place to check out as a date. They have beer and cocktails on special during happy hour.
Service was excellent despite it being so busy inside. We hope to return and check out the rest of their menu (and side dishes!) the next time we are in Abbotsford.
Sincerely, Loewe
Old Cajun here from deep south Louisiana. I see no Cajun food, much less anything remotely authentic, in this article. While we do make some creamy soups, we never, ever refer to them as chowder, nor do we have something like you have pictured. But the biggest mistake is your so-called gumbo. Cajun gumbo never, under any circumstances or for any reason, has tomatoes. NEVER. Creole gumbo has them and is completely different. What you’re showing is way too red even for Creole gumbo.
Since you clearly don’t know Cajun from Crap your offerings are embarrassingly wrong. They also give culinarily curious folk a very, very wrong idea of what myculture has to offer. This is unspeakably insulting and we as a people are tired of all this ignorant cultural misappropriation going on. Please educate yourselves. In this day and age there is no excuse for such ignorance nor should my people have to bear such racist insults. We’ve been misrepresented for too long and you need to stop now.
I’m sorry of this message seems harsh, but how else am I supposed to react to this “slap in the face” called a restaurant? If you offered up an “authentic Mexican taco” but used pita bread instead of a tortilla, wouldn’t that seem ridiculously ignorant? Of course it would, but not half as ignorant as this sham of a restaurant looks while inconsiderate ly trashing the best cuisine this planet has ever known. I am beyond insulted, as every Cajun alive should be.
Thanks for your comment! Just for clarification, I use a filter that does increase the redness in pictures so the colour are more red than it actually is. I don’t think your comment is harsh, but I do think it is misdirected since I unfortunately cannot change anything about the restaurant itself. If you want to see real changes made to their menu offerings, it would be more effective to send your feedback to the restaurant directly.
Based on my experience, I enjoyed the food, which is also a mixture of French/Canadian since they have smoked meat offerings and a lot of different side dishes (such as the chowders).