Tag: Lafayette

Louisiana Eats: Bon Temps Grill

A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana

If only the food could have matched the service at this Lafayette restaurant.

Lafayette is supposed to be the capital of Cajun country, and yet there are surprisingly few Cajun restaurants in town. Bon Temps Grill is one of them. It offers a menu of sandwiches, pastas, seafood and grilled meats at relatively moderate prices.

The restaurant is pretty casual, and has a homey atmosphere. It’s clearly patronized by regulars. They have live music at some times. Service was great, our waiter went over the dishes and was very attentive.

I wanted an entree that wasn’t steak or seafood, so I went with the Paneed Chicken Meuniere ($18). It came with servings of mashed sweet potatoes and mashed hot red potatoes. The breaded chicken was fine, the breading could have used some spicing of its own, though I understand not doing so when it’s served with a sauce. However, the sauce was a disappointment. A Meuniere sauce is basically made with brown butter, lemon and parsley, though it can be modified with other ingredients. Here it felt like the butter had burnt too much and they had added too much lemon juice to compensate. Though, of course, it may have been other ingredients which made it both a tad bitter and way too acidic. It had whatever the opposite of an umami flavor is. The sides were as good as mashed sweet potatoes could be, though I should say I have been drifting away from linking potatoes in all of their manifestations.

Mike had the Crawfish Etouffee Pot Pie ($20) at my suggestion, and it was a mistake. Mike usually loves pot pie, and he absolutely adored the crawfish etouffee that he’d had at Prejean’s the day before, but the one here came mixed with rice. That meant that there was more rice than etouffee, and that the rice absorbed most of what might have been a delicious etouffee, so that what was left didn’t have enough flavor. It also meant that there was no sauce to soak the pastry in. I still love the idea of a crawfish etouffee pot pie, and I might make my own version (albeit with shrimp, as we don’t get crawfish in California) when I go back to cooking.

For dessert, I wanted to get the Banana Fosters Bread Pudding ($9) to go – as I was too full to eat dessert right then – but they were out of it. Instead, the waiter brought me a Creme Brulee Cheesecake ($9) to take home with me, and did not charge me. That was very nice of him, but the cheesecake ended up being a disappointment. It basically tasted of “fridge”. Oh well.

I don’t know that I’d go back to Bon Temps Grill if I returned to Lafayette. Given how much we liked Prejeans, I’d probably head there instead.

Bon Temps Grill
1211 W. Pinhook Rd.
Lafayette, LA
(337) 706-8850
Monday-Friday: 11am-10pm
Saturday-Sunday: 10:30am-10pm

Louisiana Eats: Olde Tyme Grocery

A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana

Are these really the best po’boys in Lafayette?

Olde Tyme Grocery was said to have the best po’boy sandwiches in Lafayette, so we headed there for lunch after a morning of exploring the city. Despite its name, Olde Tyme Grocery is actually a sandwich shop with a small grocery area – mostly consisting of drinks and snacks – in it. They have a good variety of po’boys available, which you can get by the half or full.

You make your selection and order at the counter, and you can see the sandwich makers doing their magic behind.

There are several areas to sit, both indoor and outdoors. The area around the garden was quainter, but in full sun, so we sat in this covered patio area. The place is quite informal, as you’d expect for a sandwich joint, and it was a pleasant place to have lunch that April week day.

I ordered a full size meatball po’boy ($12) and I enjoyed it very much. The meatballs were very tasty, had a good proportion of meat to breading and a soft consistency. The sandwich wasn’t overwhelmed by sauce. Half a sandwich was enough for lunch, but our hotel had a fridge and microwave, so I took the other half home for later. All in all, I was very happy with my lunch.

Eating the sandwich was a little bit hard when served, as the heat from the meatballs made the bread pretty soggy and soft, but it actually did better when reheated, as the bread had hardened and I only heated the meatballs until they were warm and not hot.

Mike had half a shrimp po’boy ($9.25) and he was very disappointed. Indeed, this was the first disappointing meal he had in our trip. He thought the shrimp had too much breading, and the breading itself lacked flavor. I don’t think he even finished it.

In all, if we were back in town we might return, but just avoid the breaded seafood sandwiches.

Olde Tyme Grocery
218 West Saint Mary Boulevard
Lafayette, LA
(337)235-8165
Monday-Friday 8am-10pm
Saturday 9am-7pm

Louisiana Eats: Maison Mouton Bed & Breakfast

A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana

Amazing breakfast at this lovely Lafayette B&B

I didn’t take any photos of breakfast at the Maison Mouton Bed & Breakfast. We stayed there two nights, and thus had two breakfasts, but I didn’t think I’d write about them as such. But hey, why not? I’m writing about almost everything else we ate while in Louisiana.

Maison Mouton is a former plantation house that was remodeled some years ago and turned into a B&B. Slowly, they’ve been remodeling the rooms in other buildings in the property, and they are now in the process of buying adjacent homes and turning them into rooms as well. It’s a very nice property, with some incredibly old and beautiful live oak trees – they also had a water oak tree, but it fell down during a storm while we were there. Our room was beautiful and very comfortable.

Breakfast is served family style on one or two long tables inside the main house – depending on how many guests they have that day -, promptly at 8:30 AM every day. A housekeeper brings you orange juice (bottled) and coffee or tea. Their coffee was actually quite good. This part of Louisiana attracts lots of French tourists, and half of our table was French speaking both mornings we were there.

The table is beautifully set, with flesh flowers, crystal glasses, and nice plates. Our first morning, we were lucky to get Pain Perdu (lost bread), a bread pudding/French toast hybrid, which consists of a home made biscuit, dunk into a sweetened egg-milk-cream mixture and then baked. I can’t tell you how absolutely delicious it is, how silky the consistency was and just how tasty it is. Chef Kimball, the cook, has a video showing how he makes it. I forget what else there was on the plate, I’m sure eggs and some meat, whatever it was, it was clearly overshadowed by the pain perdu.

The second day we had Eggs Mouton, which consisted of potatoes topped with fried eggs and a shrimp sauce. They were served with a biscuit on the side. I’m not an egg eater, but Mike was quite happy with the eggs – his and mine – and loved the shrimp sauce. I loved the biscuits (yes, I took his). It was delicious, and it made me want biscuits. Unfortunately, I don’t want to make biscuits, which means I’ll stay deprived.

I have to give it to Maison Mouton, both the stay and the food were just amazing.

Maison Mouton Bed & Breakfast
338 North Sterling Road
Lafayette, LA
337-233-7816

Louisiana Eats: Prejean’s

A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana

Damn that Crawfish Etouffee!

Prejean’s has done for us (or really, for Mike) what few restaurants can ever do: set a standard for a dish. Their crawfish etouffee was so good that even I, who doesn’t like seafood, loved it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My reviews are stories, so let’s start there.

We had left Natchitoches after trying their meat pies and took the slow way to Lafayette. We stopped at a roadside store advertising pecans (but it was closed), saw a couple of plantations from the road, stopped at the Kent Plantation House (from where we got kicked out, you can only tour the grounds with a tour, and there were none happening when we arrived) and the super quaint Louisiana History Museum, where we got a volunteer tour of every single item displayed in their collection. By the time we were approaching Lafayette, we were hungry – and also, sort of in a hurry because we had scheduled a swamp tour for 4 PM. Prejean’s showed up on Google maps as having well rated Cajun food and being close to the road. Just what we wanted!

As I was to find out later, as I raved about the abovementioned crawfish etouffee to whoever I met, Prejean’s has a very good local reputation. It’s a rather large restaurant, with a prominent bar, an unusual and yet very interesting decore (look at those trees!), a casual vibe and great service. If I were in town again, that’s where I’d head. And really, we should have just eaten there and nowhere else. We went to the Carencro location, north of Lafayette, but they have another in Broussard, right south of the city.

Prejean’s menu is full of Cajun and Southern specialties, as well as all-around American food. They offer several types of gumbos, burgers and po’boys in addition to entrees.

We started with the Gator Bites ($13.6). We’ve seen these in many menus, and we knew we had to try them, but we had been somewhat reluctant. We’d had alligator before – albeit quite a few years ago -, and we’d found it to be unwelcomely chewy. This presentation, on very small bites (almost popcorn alligator) mostly solved that problem, but I still prefer the little resistance that chicken gives you. The bites, served with ranch and “Thai pepper jelly” (aka as Thai sweet chili sauce), were very tasty, though I felt the abundant breading made them a little dry.

As repeatedly foreshadowed, Mike ordered a cup of the Crawfish Etouffee ($12.5). This came from the soups part of the menu, and perhaps for this reason it was served as a soupy dish with the rice by the side – similar to how my jambalaya dish had been served in New Orleans. He was to order crawfish etouffee twice again later, and both times it had been cooked (or perhaps just mixed) with the rice. Having it by itself, was much better. But it was the flavor that really made this dish special. As Mike would describe it, it was as close to perfection as a dish could come. The flavors were intense – but not too intense – and balanced. The broth itself was not too fishy, with notes of crawfish rather than having it be the lead element. But there were abundant pieces of crawfish to do that. In all, order it. Just to to Prejean to order it. Even if like me (or is it I?), you don’t like crawfish.

I decided on the “Da Cou-yon” Burger ($15.6), an 8 oz burger with pepperjack cheese, boudin, grilled onions & peppers, and Avery Island dressing on a buttered burger bun. Needless to say it was a huge burger. It was also difficult to eat as one, as it was too large to fit into my mouth. So basically, it was a fork and knife burger, but a delicious one at that. Boudin – a sausage made with pork, rice, onions and seasonings – has a weird consistency, too soft to be a sausage (think like liver, but less chalky), but the flavor was great. The burger was juicy enough and the combination of flavors worked well. Obviously, Mike had to help me finish it, even leaving aside the top bun and the fries.

I had ordered the White Chocolate Bread Pudding ($8.4), served with whiskey butter sauce, at the start of the meal, but we were too full – and in too much of a hurry to get to our swamp tour – to have it at the restaurant, so we had it to go. Fortunately, our hotel had a fridge and microwave, so I was able to heat up and had it as a snack later. It was just OK. The flavor was god enough, but the pudding as a whole was too dry and hard. I prefer my bread pudding when the bread almost melts in your mouth. The sauce was not very complex, and while it added the sweetness that the bread pudding lacked by itself, I did find it too sweet.

As I mentioned, service was great and our whole experience there was top notch. It’s the place to go if you are ever around Lafayette, Louisiana – and make sure you get some crawfish ettouffee.


Prejean's 
3480 NE Evangeline Thruway
Lafayette, LA 70507
(337) 896-3247
Mon-Thu: 10:30am-9:00pm
Fri & Sat: 10:30am-10:00pm
Sun: 10:30am-4:00pm

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