Niles may be pretty far from New Orleans, but that did not stop Jim Morris, owner of the Paris Soda Shop downtown, from crafting a special menu to celebrate the occasion.
“Creole and New Orleans are what really sparked my interest in cooking back in the early 90s,” Morris said. “The flavors that you couldn’t get here [in Michiana].”
The restaurant will be selling blackened shrimp po’ boys ($10) and chicken and sausage gumbo with rice ($4/cup, $6/bowl) all week. Later in the week, Morris plans to continue the festivities with Lent specials, including fish tacos and possibly tuna and grouper.
“Anything other than fried fish that everyone else does,” Morris said. “I want to do something that no one else downtown, or anywhere else, has [on the menu].”
The shop currently has six soda taps, and Morris said there are a large variety of sodas that can be crafted with the different flavors of gelato offered. He said that he is even experimenting with a ginger ale that would be made specifically for use in Moscow Mules at the Brass Eye in downtown Niles.
“We’re [Bryan Williams at Brass Eye] on the same page on a lot of this stuff,” Morris said. “We’re playing back and forth [with the ginger ale] and we help each other out with some stuff.”
Morris says he has plans to expand the menu at the soda shop in the near future, but he is waiting on equipment.
“I’m open to suggestions,” he said.