This year’s Red Bean’s memorial Fat Tuesday dinner will include a big change
For many years, Bill Rowe’s Blue Moon Caterers has put on a big Fat Tuesday party that draws crowds of people nostalgic for Rowe’s onetime restaurant, Red Bean’s Bayou Grill.
They’d crowd into Rowe’s westside venue, Villa Luna at 8406 W. Central, and feast on a buffet of favorites that Cajun restaurant Red Bean’s sold until it closed in 2014.
Rowe’s last Red Bean’s Bayou Grill memorial buffet happened last year. But 2026’s Fat Tuesday dinner, which happens this coming Tuesday, Feb. 17, will look different. Just for this year, Rowe will have to offer the dinner in a to-go-only format.
On Tuesday, those who want to get a taste of Red Bean’s will be able to get a Fat Tuesday special either for pickup or delivery though the company’s new Blue Moon Go service.
The feast will cost $55 and will include enough food for four. Customers will get a choice of two entrees (Firecracker pasta, dirty pepper jack chicken, jambalaya, or pork loin Thibodeaux) served with red rice and beans, corn fritters and French bread with garlic butter. Optional add-ons include a quart of tomato bisque for $10, fried pickles for $12.50 and bread pudding for $5.
People who want delivery will pay an extra $10. Pickup will be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the company’s new headquarters, 524 S. Seneca, where Rowe moved his business in early 2025.
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Orders must be placed at bluemoongo.delivery by 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16.
Though big, his new building on South Seneca doesn’t have a place for public gatherings. That wasn’t a problem last year because his former landlord on West Central hadn’t found a new tenant yet and agreed to let Rowe use the old headquarters for the dinner.
This year, though, the building is not available, and Rowe didn’t have time to find an alternative space.
But the in-person feast will be back next year, he promised.
“This is an unusual, one-year anomaly,” he said. “We all have the blues because we love doing it.”
Rowe said he’s also planning to put on his other big event — an annual revival of his former restaurant Willie C’s Cafe — this year, likely in August. He’s in the process of looking for a venue that will hold a crowd, has lots of parking and is centrally located.
In August, Blue Moon introduced its Blue Moon Go service, which offers a menu of sandwiches, salads and soups plus group meals designed for small business meetings.
The service also offers a few former customer favorites from Red Beans and Willie C’s, which can be ordered by groups or individuals one day in advance.
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