Two great things in one


A family-owned restaurant and Louisiana cookin'


'Way up here in the frozen North, I can get a proper po-boy. They even ask if you want it dressed. Using that word. I'm in heaven.

About a year ago, a teeny little one-slot restaurant opened up in a local strip-mall. A local man and his Lafayette, LA-born wife serve po-boys, red beans and rice, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee', and a bread pudding that's almost as good as Mrs. Swampytad's. And that's the whole damn menu right there. You can also get Zapp's chips, Slap Ya Mama seasonings from New Iberia, and Pat O'Brian's drink mixes.

You'll have to wait a bit because Shawn will not drop oysters to fry or put the andouille, onions and peppers on the grill until they've been ordered. I think he may be breading his oysters and shrimp by hand, because I've never tasted any quite like them. But he takes great pride in using the proper ingredients imported from Louisiana, and local businesses for what he can. He's even found / taught someone here in town to make a perfect baguette for those po-boys, and they're three feet long. Last night we heard about how he pays extra to bring up the proper red beans from Memphis (the closest place he can get them) because he's tried using other kinds, and they just don't taste right. And OMG, if Shawn says you'll have to wait a bit for your bread pudding because he needs to whip up a fresh batch of sauce, then you are actually very lucky, because I think he dumps a little extra booze into it to make up for the wait.

Most of the employees are relatives; everybody in the kitchen is. And if it's just Shawn and his wife Susan back there, then their kids Doris and little Shawn will have taken over a big table out front with toys, homework, supper, and soda cups. Last night little Shawn had just learned the cat's cradle trick where you capture then free somebody's wrist, and he was keen to practice it on and teach it to everybody. He was using a short string of Mardi Gras beads and by the time he had them strung properly on his fingers, there was hardly any room for any of us with adult-sized hand to do the trick. It didn't keep us from trying, though.

If he's seen you more than once, (big) Shawn knows you, and he'll come out of the kitchen to talk to you in between bouts of cooking. You'll hear about which media outlets have featured the restaurant, and how the catering end of the business is going if you ask. (I think that's probably where he makes more of his money, honestly.) He'll ask how everyone in the family is doing -- the kids all got quizzed about what they wanted to study in college -- and where any missing members are. I caught trouble last night for not having Hubs along, and when Shawn saw that I was taking half my order of bread pudding home for him, he refused to let me pay for either portion. Bless.

Posted: Fri - September 21, 2007 at 06:58 AM   Home         | | View Technorati reactions

©