Kelly and I head up to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company after a few hours on Bourbon Street. She's wanted to eat there since we saw it. Since the release of Forrest Gump in 1994, Kelly has been saying to me and anyone else that would listen, "Me an' Jenny is like peas and carrots." As we are being lead to our table we past the gift shop and Kelly says, "I have to get something that says that (above quote) from there."
The tabletop itself has other gumpisms scrawled across it, like, "Stupid is as stupid does," and even Bubbaisms, like "Shrimp is the fruit of the sea..." A blue license plate that says "Run Forest Run" is in a metal holder, and our waiter explains to us that whenever we need anything, we just need to flip the plate to the red side that says "Stop Forrest!". That way they always know who to help. Cool!
There's lots of fish and cajun stuff on this menu, just like lots of other New Orleans restaurants. I wasn't in a very seafoody mood that night and copped out by ordering a cheeseburger. Kelly, however, in the Bubba Gump spirit ordered "Bubba's After the Storm Bucket of Boat Trash", a bucket full of shrimp, lobster and mahi mahi, served with cole slaw and fries. Yum.
The atmosphere of the place is nothing spectacular. Pictures of the actors from the movie grace the walls, nice pictures of Jenny looking angelic, always the way Forrest saw her. If you didn't enjoy the movie, you probably wouldn't like this place. I'm sure that you can get better shrimp in other New Orleans haunts, so being a fan is the only real reason to come.