Cadillac sauce and Cajun fried rice: Food truck-turned-restaurant opens in Kansas City

Midtown Kansas City has a new Cajun restaurant.

Swifts Cajun Cuisine is now open at 3415 Main St. The space was formerly EsKCobar, a Caribbean and Ethiopian fusion restaurant. Owners Rich and Sheila Swift held their grand opening in late August.

A few years ago, Rich developed a fried rice recipe while working at a bar and grill in Kansas City, Kansas.

“It’s got about five different peppers in it, garlic, a lot of Cajun flair,” Sheila said. “We have some family in Louisiana, and he got some tips from them about seasoning. But the spin on it is totally his.”

When Rich left the restaurant, former customers kept calling asking for his Cajun fried rice. After selling it out of their house for a brief period, the Swifts formed an LLC, bought a food truck, and started parking it at local car washes in Wyandotte County, festival tents in Lawrence and Stilwell, and at 18th and Vine in KC.

They still have the truck, but they’ve now taken the plunge with their own brick-and-mortar restaurant.

The Cajun fried rice ($11) is the most popular dish so far, Sheila said. Pay extra, and customers can top it with a variety of proteins: lobster, scallops, shrimp, sausage, chicken. The same is true for the Cajun pasta (also $11) and the Cajun seafood boil ($16). Among the other menu options are shrimp and grits, fried catfish, king crab and snow crab.

Swifts Cajun Cuisine also sells 16 ounce bottles of a garlic butter sauce called Cadillac Sauce.

“We developed it for seafood boils, but people use it for everything — marinades, omelets, noodles,” Sheila said. “We’ve started shipping cases of it to other parts of the country.”

Hours for now are Tuesday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Monday.