Chef Katsutoshi Uezoma first discovered New Orleans while on a trip to New York.

He took a diversion from the Big Apple to the Big Easy to go sightseeing. That one small trip led to a second, then several more. In 2012, he brought a sliver of Cajun Country to Minami Morimachi in Osaka, and called it Southern Peas. Amen to that.

Southern Peas — the name remains enigmatic — was expanded and renovated in 2015. It's still a small and narrow restaurant-cum-bar, but it's a gorgeous, stylish space. At the door you take a sharp right, up and down one step, passing under a large slow-moving ceiling fan. Inside it's just the right shade of dark. And from the speakers there's a mix that swings back and forth between Cajun and jazz.