#79 Hurricane Alley - Sam's synopsis

Well, we finally made it out to Hurricane Alley after a few debacles - arriving when it was closed for the day and hearing that it might be shut down around the time we were planning to go due to health code violations... turns out Hurricane Alley shares a food license with Copabanana, which is the establishment that had the majority of the violations. In fact, I must admit that I went into this review a little biased, assuming that it was going to be terribly dirty and the food was going to be questionable. I'm happy to say that my assumptions were pretty much incorrect.

We went on a Tuesday evening, so there were very few people in the bar. The whole place is decorated like a Mardi Gras themed-party, which I suppose is to be expected for this end of South Street when your restaurant is Nawlins style food. Basically lots of gold, purple, and green, plastic beads, and jazz or swamp-themed paintings - but I'll be honest, it wasn't as tacky as it could have been. I'll give them some points for that. Our bartender was friendly and attentive, but as I tried to order a dark and stormy, I was informed they were out of ginger beer. Very sad. Alas, I went for the mojito instead, which was pretty tasty and definitely on the stronger side. If you want a strong cocktail for a reasonable price on this end of South Street, Hurricane Alley is a good option.

tasty wings

The problem with this type of cuisine is that pretty much every dish contains seafood. Look, I know I'm supposed to love all kinds of seafood because I'm a Cape Codder, but I just don't. I'm sorry, I've let my heritage down. But it's just not my thing - give me some fish, crab cakes, and sometimes I can tolerate lobster - but otherwise keep those water-dwelling animals away from me. Maybe it's because they taste like how it smells at low tide? That's probably part of it. Anyways, I digress. Sandya convinced me that we should order the alligator sliders (and to be fair, that is an item off any menu you should probably order just for the novelty of it) in addition to the wings for appetizers. I wasn't a big fan of the alligator - it had the flavor of fishy chicken, which isn't terrible, but it wasn't really my thing. A little too chewy for my tastes too. On the other hand, the wings were delicious - a great glaze that had a nice kick but wasn't too overwhelming for my poor taste buds (which are slowly increasing their spice tolerance!).

it's pretty hearty, amirite?

For the main course, I got a big bowl of gumbo, since it was pretty much the only non-seafood menu on the item (it had chicken and sausage as the meat). Overall, I was pleased with the dish, although the stock was a little thinner than I was expecting. The flavors worked well together and the seasoning was well done (a nice little Cajun kick and not overwhelmingly salty). The pieces of bread served alongside it were perfect for mopping up the extra broth - but as I mentioned, I wish it had been a little bit thicker stock.

Somewhere between ordering food and hearing the story of how Doug ended up doing part of his residency in Louisiana, I ordered a margarita and was sufficiently buzzed by the end of the meal. All in all, Hurricane Alley was not nearly as sketchy as I was expecting, and it's definitely better than Fat Tuesday's.

Hurricane Alley

340 South Street

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 238-1512