The crawfish étouffée at The Faded Rose is fantastic! Figured I’d get that out of the way.

A hearty portion of mildly spicy, slightly thickened, blond roux with a plentiful supply of small crawfish tails was topped with a pile of rice and tender celery.

The dish of étouffée ran about $9, which was a great value when you factor in that a basket of Leidenheimer bread and a side soaked salad were included in that price. The Faded Rose’s soaked salad, even with its inclusion of those dreaded green olives, was a perfect balance of oil and vinegar. I gobbled up the entire plate, olives be damned, before the étouffée made its appearance. Truth be told, the Diet Pepsi, salad and half a loaf of bread felt like a satisfying lunch. But when someone puts a plate of crawfish étouffée in front of you, temptation always wins out.

My lunch (with a soda and tax, but excluding tip) cost $12.99. And I was full … as in, I-didn’t-want-to-eat-for-the-rest-of-the-day full. You’ll find that most dishes at The Faded Rose fall under the “stick to your ribs” category, and judging by the steady business, that suits most customers just fine.

Finally, it should be noted that we received wonderful service from our friendly waitress, Beth. Even though the restaurant was practically full, our food arrived at the table within minutes, and the drinks were refilled in routine fashion. Given the bustling setting, it would have been easy for Beth to make us feel rushed with our lunch. Yet she didn’t … another mark of a great server.