“There’s no place like” The Ruby Slipper Café in Orange Beach, Alabama

A beautiful sunrise in Gulf Shores set the pace of a great foodie day for the OC Food Diva. 

Perdido Beach Boulevard is home to a number of condominiums and restaurants alike. During the summer months, there are lots of hungry visitors to feed and The Ruby Slipper Café definitely fills that need. The Orange Beach location opened in June 2016 and is the 6^th location with four locations in New Orleans and one in Pensacola.

Since I was in Orange Beach for the World Food Championships, I found out that The Ruby Slipper Café’s own kitchen manager, Chef Edwin Vega, qualified to compete in the World Seafood Championship. In the opening round, he received some outstanding scores of 96.125 for his structured build and 96.25 for his signature dish. His final score for the round was 96.1875, placing him #2 and just 1.5625 points away from #1. He went on to the Top 10 round and scored 75.5. His final score was 83.775, placing him in 6^th place.

Chef Edwin made his WFC signature dish, Shrimp Cortez. It is a special that is served at the New Orleans locations, but instead of grits, he used hushpuppies. In his qualifying event, they had to use a Zatarain’s product and their Hush Puppy Mix called out to him. I can see why this dish pushed Chef Edwin into the Top 10. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and had a good snap to them. The sauce had a creamy creole flavor which works nicely with the shrimp and hush puppies. The corn and tomatoes refreshed the palate with sweetness. The artichoke hearts added a nice texture along with a little bit of acidity from the vinegar that the artichokes are jarred with. The pork belly added a salty, smoky touch. This dish will be one of the daily specials at the Orange Beach location from time to time so be on the lookout for it. Rating: 5/5

Bananas Foster Pain Perdu is a French bread-based French toast with rum-flambéed bananas and raisins, served with Applewood-smoked bacon. This is unlike any French toast you’ll ever have! French bread had more texture and absorbed more of the custardy batter than regular bread. It also absorbed and encased the sweetness of the bananas foster sauce. The bacon balanced out the sweetness with its salty, smoky flavor. This is great for breakfast and/or brunch or even split this with someone as a dessert. Rating: 5/5

“Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times” and drive over to The Ruby Slipper Café!

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 stars

Service: 5 out of 5 stars

Décor: 5 out of 5 stars

Food: 5 out of 5 stars

For more information:

The Ruby Slipper Cafe

24151 Perdido Beach Blvd.

Orange Beach, AL 36561

+1.504.525.9355

Hours: Weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Weekends from 8 a.m. to 3 pm.

Seating: Interior and exterior

Reservations: First come, first serve. You can put your name on the list with the Nowait app.