Get the Cajun experience at this East Lake restaurant

“First you make a roux …” was how my love for gumbo started while helping with tailgating preparations on a visit to Louisiana as a college student.

Since then, I’ve been looking for a bowl of gumbo as fine as that one — the trinity, the andouille, smoked poultry and the binding roux — a flavoring agent as well as a thickener. When I dipped a spoon into the smoked turkey gumbo at Gene’s, I remembered that first perfect bowl.

You can’t rush gumbo. I pictured this roux laboriously prepared, the flour fulminating as the oil got hot enough to throw off hints of smoke and became a deep shade of pecan; the trinity (celery, green pepper and onion) sweating to softness. The finished roux — luscious and thick — got a peppery kick from Conecuh andouille coins. Tender bits of smoked turkey added depth and a natural juiciness.