With Mardi Gras this week, my mind — and stomach — can’t stop thinking about New Orleans’ fare.

There is one dish in town that I have been craving in particular: the Who Dat Catfish at Ragin’ Cajun Seafood and Po’Boys in Bartlett.

A crispy piece of fried catfish is topped with Louisiana crawfish etouffee and served over a bed of rice. It’s like a party in your mouth!

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The tender catfish filet has a perfectly crispy crust. The crawfish etouffee is richly hued and has a kick, but it’s one that’s balanced and not too spicy. Thanks to garnishes of diced green onions and yellow and red bell peppers, the dish is also super colorful.

Ragin’ Cajun owner Mason Jambon said that the Who Dat crawfish — named for the battle cry of his beloved New Orleans Saints football team — was inspired by one of his favorite orders in the small neighborhood restaurants of New Orleans.

“It’s a classic dish to have on a menu in Louisiana: a fried fish topped with an etouffee or a creole,” he said. 

Jambon is originally from the New Orleans suburb of Gretna and opened Ragin’ Cajun last December to bring a taste of home to Memphis.

The restaurant’s menu features all the Louisiana classics: gumbo, fried boudin balls, po’boys and red beans and rice.

He uses Zatarain’s breading mix for all the restaurant’s fried seafood; shrimp and oysters are sourced from the Gulf and the po’boy bread is from famed New Orleans bakery Leidenheimer Baking Co. 

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Jambon credits Zatarain’s Fish Fri seafood breading mix as the trick that keeps the fish crispy despite being smothered in an etouffee sauce.

“It’s a testament to the Zatarain’s. It’s hearty and holds up to the etouffee,” said Jambon, adding that he uses authentic Louisiana ingredients in his kitchen.

Ragin’ Cajun’s crawfish etouffee is made from scratch, with most of the flavor and color coming from the crawfish.

“We start with a blonde roux made with butter and we use the trinity and homemade seafood stock. There is very little tomato,” he said. “What makes it is the crawfish fat.”

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Jambon boils a sack of live crawfish every day. The crawfish not sold as crawfish boil is then peeled, and the tails and the fat are used in the etouffee.

“There’s a lot of flavor in that meat and fat, too, since it was cooked in a boil,” he said.

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Wash it down with an Abita beer or a Barq’s root beer, and you have a meal that transports you to the Big Easy.

Ragin’ Cajun Seafood & Po’Boys, located at 2740 Bartlett Road, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays.