The Pappas brothers began building restaurants in Houston in 1945 with the Dot Coffee Shop downtown. Over the decades, they’ve developed more than eighty Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pappasito’s Cantina, Pappas Seafood House, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Pappas Bar-B-Q, Yia Yia Mary’s, Pappas Burger, and Pappas Grill & Steakhouse locations in Houston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Albuquerque, and Phoenix.
Pappadeaux is known for its Cajun flavors, including various blackened entrees. One night in the early 1990s as I was driving home from work, I saw this sign in front of one of their restaurants.
The only John Mellencamp fan I knew more ardent than myself was Lynne, so I fetched my camera from home, went back, and shot this photo for her. ETA: No need to thank me for the ear worm.
A love connection: It was at the remaining Dot Coffee Shop location on the Gulf Freeway southwest of Houston where Lynne met Craig, the man who would become her husband and Jess’s father.
Pappadeaux was also the location of my first (and last) taste of alligator on an occasion when Tom’s parents visited Houston and took us out to eat there.
hee hee… i have a picture of that.
The Dot Shoppe. Jess would go there sometimes between classes. I need a picture of it before it disappears.
Yes, you do!
Surprisingly, we don’t have a lot of Cajun restaurants in Saint Louis. Actually, if you do a web search of Cajun restaurants St. Louis you get a list of Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits.
I love Popeyes! But I don’t get the spicy recipe.
We went through John Mellencamp’s hometown on the way home from Myrtle Beach. I remember the sign from one of his videos, don’t remember if it’s this one or not. Had I seen this in time, I would have stopped to take a picture.
Seymour, Indiana
Three songwriters I will love always: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp.
Meanwhile, just for fun, I grabbed some screen caps for you.
From “Small Town”:
And from one of my favorite of his songs, “Pink Houses”:
OH–there’s also a shot of the interstate sign in “Pink Houses” with my dream old beat-up red pickup truck in it.
Did you watch much MTV? You know; when they played music?
I watched a lot when I first graduated from college. I always remember some contest they had where someone could win some house (can’t remember where it was or what it had to do with JM) but I remember them saying “We’re gonna paint the sucker pink!” in honor of Pink Houses.
Yes! MTV and VH1, when they showed actual music videos. Remember when you’d wait and wait for your favorite video to air? I also remember when MTV would be on in one of my favorite bars–that’s where I was the first time I saw Annie Lennox [probably The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”] and I was spellbound. Do you think in a few decades people will be saying, “That’s where I was the first time I saw ‘MTV Cribs,’ yo.”
This is one of the best parts of youtube today; you can find and watch your favorite videos again.