By Laura Dunbar
Driving through Rocky Mount, the restaurant scene didn’t exactly look promising. Houses and businesses around appeared old and rundown, but after two and a half hours on the road we were tired and hungry, so we looked up good restaurants for lunch. With that we found Lou Reda’s American Table in the center of a strip mall. Upon entering, it was clear that this restaurant was a stark difference to the Rocky Mount we had just driven through. The inside was clean and modern, with fun pictures hung up along high, dark blue walls. Arriving around 11:30, we were the only people in the restaurant apart from two businessmen. The menu was very diverse, with a cured salmon BLT, to a pulled pork sandwich, to a roasted beets salad with whipped ricotta. Covering multiple cuisines, the modern American menu had something for everyone.
Lou Reda’s opened in fall of 2013, so it’s a fairly new establishment. The owner, Reda, and the Chef, Justin Gaines, are committed to an exploration of the vast culinaries of America and change their menu week by week with a different focus on an American region each time. Everything at Lou Reda’s is made in house as well, including salad dressings, french fry dips, soups and more.
Our waitress informed us it was her first day serving and we were pleasantly surprised with the fast and easy service, our food coming out in a timely manner and our drinks never sitting empty. By the time we ordered our food, the restaurant had begun to fill up as well, with families, business people, and groups of friends, the lunch rush settling in. We both ordered the cured salmon BLT, which consisted of cured salmon between a triple stack of toasted multigrain bread, along with creamy avocado, an herb mascarpone, crisp arugula, a juicy tomato, and the best part— jalapeno bacon. The sandwich came with a side of either regular or sweet potato fries, which included a delicious sweet dipping sauce. Our waitress was able to easily split our bill, and we walked out the door knowing that our lunch at Lou Reda’s was a surprising success.