EDMOND — Thais Goodwin loves her mother so much she flung herself into the mouth of madness to pay homage.

Thais Goodwin with bowls of seafood gumbo, crawfish etouffee, and shrimp creole prepared at the Bayou Grill and Bakery in Edmond. PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND - THE OKLAHOMAN

And when I say the mouth of madness, I mean the restaurant business.

The restaurant is Bayou Grill and Bakery, 1315 E Danforth Road, where Thais draws from the recipes of her mother's Creole heritage to offer the flavors of New Orleans.

Her husband, Terry, a retired Federal Aviation Administration engineer, says he's worked all his life in all sorts of environs but has never worked as hard as he does in running a restaurant.

“I have been in this restaurant every day, whether it's opened or closed, since we took over the lease,” he said.

The hard work has resulted in becoming a local favorite, which overall has been a blessing but occasionally a curse.

“I have a lot of good customers — people who come in every day and have been patient with us, Thais said. “Our biggest struggle is when we back up, we can get behind in the kitchen. But I just don't want to send food out that is below our standards.”

In my visits to Bayou, which have only been for lunch, I've never experienced any problems. I lunched there with a pair of Cajuns, Mark and Zeb Gautreau, who gave Bayou high marks even though it considers itself a Creole cafe.

We agreed the crabcakes with caper sauce were inspired.

Despite Thais' Creole background, she does serve Cajun dishes, too. It's hard not to as so many of the dishes and ingredients cross over. Both Cajun and Creole draw from comfort food from the Deep South, too, so it's no surprise to find pork chops, meatloaf and fried delicacies such as chicken, catfish and green tomatoes on the menu.

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