I-10 across Louisiana

[Kent Wang]

I will be driving to New Orleans (and back) from Austin later this week and was wondering if there were any stops worth making along I-10, especially for Cajun and other foods that you can't get in New Orleans itself.

See also: I-20 across Louisiana

[Chaduke]

I will be driving to New Orleans (and back) from Austin later this week and was wondering if there were any stops worth making along I-10, especially for Cajun and other foods that you can't get in New Orleans itself.

See also: I-20 across Louisiana

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I would recommend the "The Best Stop" just north at the Scott / Cankton exit (highway 93). They have great boudin, cracklin, jerky, as well many refrigerated items, all excellent. Their containers of seasoning are great.

[HungryC]

Another meat market worth a visit is Poche's, just outside Breaux Bridge (technically in Poche Bridge). A few miles north of I-10: Poche's Aside from the usual meat market stuff like sausages, cracklins, boudin, ponce, etc., Poche's has plate lunches.

Also in Breaux Bridge is Cafe des Amis, which has a zydeco brunch on the weekends. The lovely culinary antiques shop Lucullushas a Breaux Bridge outpost.

Closer to NOLA, a short hop off of I-10 at Laplace gets you to Wayne Jacobs smokehouse & restaurant on West 5th St. I highly recommend the hogshead cheese poboy.

Edited January 6, 2009 by HungryC (log)

[PopsicleToze]

Another place off I-10 is Benoit's Country Meat Block in Addis, LA. It's on La Hwy 1 -- you'll exit in Port Allen just before you get to the new Mississippi River Bridge. It's only a few miles detour, and it's worth it just for the smoked beef jerky. It's terrific and the best I've found around these parts. They have great sausages, meats, etc., too. It's not a big place, but it is excellent.

I stop at Best Stop, too, for the boudin, but the past few times I've been their cracklins haven't been up to par. They seem to skip that second fry that makes the skin pop and it's hard to eat. We still manage to eat it, however. There is a better place for cracklins just up I-49 in Lafayette. It's at a gas station. They have terrific cracklins, hot and homemade, for $11.00/lb. I do have a picture from the trip we made in December. I'll try to locate it. But I don't know the name of it. Maybe someone from the area will know it.

Another place is Hebert's Specialty Meats in Maurice, LA (south of Lafayette). They have the best stuffed, deboned chicken. I believe a member of the same family opened up a place in New Orleans, but we still stop by Hebert's in Maurice. If you forget your ice chest, they have styrofoam ones there for sale.

Have fun!

Rhonda

[Kent Wang]

Thanks, I'll probably check out the Best Stop.

How about more sit-down restaurants?

[saturnbar]

Anyone heard anything about Joe's Dreyfus in Livonia, its a quick trip and a nice drive up from I-10 along Bayou Grosse Tete. The Catfish Breux Bridge and blueberry pie were both quite memorable my last time there, but I believe it changed hands since then so I don't know. As far as ambience, its hard to beat, old country store converted to a restaurant. ch

[TAPrice]

Anyone heard anything about Joe's Dreyfus in Livonia, its a quick trip and a nice drive up from I-10 along Bayou Grosse Tete.  The Catfish Breux Bridge and blueberry pie were both quite memorable my last time there, but I believe it changed hands since then so I don't know.  As far as ambience, its hard to beat, old country store converted to a restaurant.  ch

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After being closed for a period, Joe's reopened with new owners. Brett Anderson wrote about it last summer in the this TP article.

[saturnbar]

Good to hear. Although Anderson didn't really say how the food was. I would definitely go for it though. And you can take hwy. 190 back to I-10 without losing much time. ch

[Kent Wang]

A friend of mine also recommended Pat's Fisherman's Wharf in Henderson:

The one we tried (good but not great, but definitely trippy and interesting -- serious cajun accents) was

http://www.patsfishermanswharf.com/

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to check out any of those as the timing didn't work out. We instead worked it so that we ate in Houston, which was awesome.

Thanks for the tips anyway; maybe they'll be useful to somebody else in the future.

[elfin]

Ate at Charlie-T's in Beaux Bridges. Just went for the boudin-a bit spicier with more green oinion. Nice flavor but the casing was a tad tough. Ate the best oyster Po boy at Le Cafe in BB-OMG. Big oysters, good bread and planty of shredded lettuce and tomato. Went back to ge more for dinner but they were out of the oysters-(it was Valentine's Day). This was a locals type of place as we did not see a single tourist and the place was always packed. Went for the chicken which was not good at all. We should have gone for the fried catfish-we got a sample from the owner as our order had been dropped-a very crunchy peppery coating with moist tender fish. We went to St. Martinsville and ate at the little french cafe across from the square. Best coffee on the trip and the homemade begneits -dusted with powdered sugar, chocolate chips and a carmel sauce were delicious. A charming room as well. We had a daquiri at Pelican Bar in New Iberia-a freshly made concoction as opposed to the slurpee variety sold through out the area. A nice outdoor deck out back overlooks the bayou. Food prices looked reasonable. We had more boudin at Guidroy's(SP) on the outskirts of Lafayette downtown. A very friendly place serving really good boudin. They had cowboy stew ready to go but alas I was not up to it at 9 am. The pork cracklins and deep friend pork belly chips were really good. We bought some of their house blended spice. We had a plate lunch at Dwyer's it was a little late in the day so it was a bit tired. The girls ate the mac n cheese, boudin balls and baked beans while we ate the roast beef and boudan balls. Friendly staff. We ate at a crawfish place just off of I10 in Beaux Bridges-it was not good but the crawfish this year is problematic due to the hurricanes.

[Nawlins]

How about Prejean's in Lafayette. Take a look at the menu posted on the website and tell me it doesn't make you hungry.