Kimberly Redmond has been in and out of the food business for years, but her taste buds keep drawing her back. "I can take a dish, eat it and tell you all the ingredients," she said. "And usually, I think, 'I could make that.'"

She's also noticed, through years of cooking and serving, that there's a firm fan base for Cajun food, the cuisine she grew up with in New Orleans. "Everybody likes it," she said, "especially dishes that come from the heart."

Renee Brock/Special (ENLARGE)
The sauteed shrimp with cheese and garlic grits at Ji Bou Te is a spicy treat for sure, but it won't singe the roof of your mouth.
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JI BOU TE • Where: 800 Whitlock Ave., Marietta, 30064, 770-794-0772 • Signature dishes: Garlic cheese grits, grouper with red pepper sauce • Entree prices: $5.95-$18.95 • Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturday • Reservations: Not required • Credit cards: Yes RELATED LINK: • More restaurants news

Though she's lived in Marietta for 20 years, Redmond's heart is still in a Louisiana kitchen. Her latest is closer to home, in the new shopping center at the corner of Whitlock Avenue and Burnt Hickory Road on Marietta's west side. Her Ji Bou Te cafe, anchored by a wall mural depicting all the New Orleans landmarks, has room for about 65 diners to sit down to her dishes that won't take the roof of anyone's mouth.

"I don't know how we got to this conception that Cajun is hot," she said. "I didn't grow up with that in New Orleans. We really don't make anything that spicy, but there is just a lot of flavor."

So there's a zing to Redmond's shrimp and grits, blended with Cajun seasonings, herbs and garlic. The same zest shows up in the crawfish etouffee. Other traditional dishes include shrimp creole, chicken and sausage or seafood gumbo and a slow-cooked alligator stew. Fill a po-boy with shrimp, grouper, oysters, sausage, blackened chicken, alligator, catfish or crab. Lighter fare includes salads, a salmon club, chicken sandwich and burger.

Main dishes are all the traditional Cajun favorites: shrimp or crawfish etouffee; chicken and sausage jambalaya; red beans and rice; and shrimp or salmon with grits. Dirty rice, with seasoned meat and herbs, gets the entree treatment. One of Redmond's best-selling dishes is a grilled grouper, topped with a red pepper cream sauce. Fill up on platters of fried oysters, shrimp, alligator and catfish; blackened chicken or salmon; or a sampling of several.

Redmond makes her own desserts, including Key lime pie, pineapple cobbler, sweet potato pie and a New Orleans-style bread pudding topped with a rum caramel sauce, a recipe she learned from her mother.

Cool the spicy flavors with one of 20 bottled beers or a mug from the three on draft. An American wine list features bottles and by-the-glass selections. A menu of martinis and margaritas also is served, starring the restaurant's signature Ninth Ward Sunset, a blend of two types of rum with Amaretto, Kahlua, pineapple and cherry juice.

Redmond, her husband, Philip, and their two sons have had a good time listening to diners mispronounce the name of the restaurant. "It's not 'jebooty' or 'jeboota'," she said with a laugh. "It's 'ja-boo-tee', the name of a country in east Africa that was once French territory. It provides the link between the French and Cajun cultures."