Captivating Creole: Bama's 1865 serves up Cajun and Southern fare with flair

Immerse your palate in Southern flavors at Bama’s 1865.

The restaurant offers Cajun and Southern favorites with some added touches that make it uniquely Bama’s 1865. Its menu, created by co-owner and executive chef Clarence Kennedy, offers Southern staples including shrimp and grits ($22), étouffée crawfish ($22), Mississippi Catfish Opelousas ($30) and gator gumbo ($18 bowl).

Kennedy, who is from Houston, also has Bama’s 1865 locations in his hometown and in Alabama. The Albuquerque restaurant, located at 6001 Osuna Road NE, is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and from 11 a.m. until midnight on Friday and Saturday. The full menu is available until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Some appetizers such as chicken wings will be available for the late night crowd on Friday and Saturday.

Captivating Creole: Bama's 1865 serves up Cajun and Southern fare with flair

“The majority of our true Southern entrees have been so popular,” said Ben Howe, director of operations and acting general manager. “There’s nowhere you can really get Southern Creole food here in town who really does it well. True Southern Creole cooking is just hard to find here in town.”

Bama’s 1865 took the turkey leg to another level and it paid off. The Original Turkey Leg ($24) stepped things up by stuffing the leg with dirty rice and mac and cheese. The leg is smothered with a Cajun Alfredo sauce. Patrons can also request no sauce.

The turkey leg became so popular that the restaurant recently added three turkey leg options on its new menu.

The Southern Leg ($24) features candied yams, collard greens and mac n’ cheese. The Ragin’ Cajun Leg ($26) is complemented with jambalaya, blackened shrimp and a tequila cream sauce. The 505 Turkey Leg ($24) is accented with spicy rice, pinto beans and a green chile enchilada cream sauce.

Other additions to the new menu are the Southwest Stuffed Chicken ($22), Jerk Chicken Tacos ($16), Jerk Butter Glazed Salmon ($25), and the Fried Lobster Plate ($35). The full menu is available at bamas1865.com.

The Southwest Stuffed Chicken is pan seared and stuffed with cream cheese, green chile, bacon and smoked Gouda. The dish is served on a bed of rice and topped with Cajun green chile cream sauce and tomatoes. It also comes with one side.

The Jerk Chicken Tacos are made up of three tacos with pineapple pico, lettuce and jerk aioli. It is served with cilantro lime rice and pinto beans.

The Jerk Butter Glazed Salmon is topped with grilled shrimp and served over a bed of saffron rice and comes with a side of grilled asparagus.

The Fried Lobster Plate consists of an eight ounce Cajun fried lobster with two sides. Side options are fries, mac n’ cheese, creole corn, dirty rice, grilled asparagus or steamed broccoli.

“One of the things people love here is that you’re not going to leave hungry,” Howe said. “You really do get that bang for your buck here, which has been one of the bigger selling points because people love coming in and they take home (leftovers). We go through lots of to-go boxes. People are taking a lot of it home. People really feel like they can come here and know if they’re going to spend $100 on dinner, they want to be able to feel like they’ve got their money’s worth, and you really feel like that here.”

Bama’s 1865 opened its doors late last year after Kennedy fell in love with the space that formerly housed The Salt Yard East.

“He came out here to be with his mom,” Howe said of Kennedy. “His mom runs a nonprofit out here. He came out here to help her restructure her business and they were doing some caterings and stuff like that.”

“People were just flipping out over his food. They said, ‘Man, you’ve got a really good thing here. These caterings are incredible.’ He had some people that said, ‘Hey, man, you should open up your own spot, I think you would do really well.’... And that sort of led him over here.”