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ACADIANA POBOYS
2848 Verot School Road, Lafayette (Map) - 856-2511
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
This popular lunch and dinner spot was first established in Henderson in 1992. The menu offers a hearty sampling of Cajun fare, including gator burgers, shrimp, oyster and catfish poboys, Cajun-style burgers, and dinner plates of red beans and rice, crawfish étouffée and gumbo. If you are craving a muffuletta, this is your place to go.
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ALEXANDER’S AT THE HILTON LAFAYETTE
1521 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette (Map) - 235-6111 ext. 33
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
From pain perdu at breakfast to poboys for lunch, Alexander’s steeps itself in Cajun cooking — but offers many dishes with a twist. Try the lump crabmeat and boursin au gratin covered in velvety cream sauce and served with garlic croutons, or the shrimp, andouille and artichoke flatbread, which is served pizza-style. There’s basic sandwiches and salads for lunch, and a variety of Cajun staples in dinner-sized portions, from shrimp creole to a seafood platter. For a little adventure, try the eggplant pirogue, a golden fried eggplant filled with shrimp and crabmeat etouffée.
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BLUE DOG CAFÉ
www.bluedogcafe.com
1211 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette (Map) - 237-0005
Monday-Friday: Lunch and Dinner; Saturday: Dinner; Sunday: Brunch
George Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dog paintings line the walls of this Cajun-fusion Lafayette eatery and popular bar. The restaurant puts on the dog with local ingredients given opulent and original twists. Choose an award-wining appetizer of seafood wontons, or a Sherwood Forest brie bisque served in an enormous boule bowl. The crawfish and tasso alfredo is a favorite, as well as the juicy sweet honey-glazed duck breast. The Sunday morning brunch always has some of Lafayette’s best musical talent, along with an unbelievable buffet for $22.95 with some of the city’s best prime rib, made-to-order omelets, crab cakes Benedict and free bottomless mimosas.
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CAFÉ DES AMIS
www.cafedesamis.com
140 E. Bridge St., Breaux Bridge (Map) - 332-5273
Tuesday: Lunch; Wednesday-Thursday: Lunch and Dinner; Friday and Saturday: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner; Sunday: Brunch
Housed in a historic general store built in 1890 and renovated by owner Dickie Breaux in 1992, Café Des Amis is renowned for its upscale Cajun offerings like oven-roasted duck glazed with pepper jelly syrup or pecan-crusted catfish. On Saturday mornings, the café is transformed into a dance hall for the world-famous zydeco breakfast where diners spend hours dancing off the food they consumed. The beignets are not to be missed, as neither are the Got Boudin eggs topped with grilled boudin or Big Hat eggs smothered in crawfish etouffée or au gratin.
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CAJUN CLAWS
www.cajunclaws.com
1928 Charity St., Abbeville (Map) - 893-9437
Tuesday-Saturday: Dinner
Though tiny crawfish start rolling into restaurants around January, Lent marks the unofficial start to crawfish season, and Cajun Claws is there to provide only the best. When the best isn’t available, Cajun Claws only opens on the weekends, so demand is pretty high. Arrive at 4 p.m. for a drink at the bar and put your name down. If crawfish isn’t your favorite but you’re going with a group, there is also a bevy of other seafood offerings, including a perfectly breaded fried shrimp appetizer.
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CRAWFISH TIME ON RIDGE
320 Ridge Road, Lafayette (Map) - 216-9955
Daily: Dinner
Pick up some steaming sacks of crawfish from the drive-thru or find a table inside where you can enjoy steaming platters of freshly boiled mudbugs. The indoor tables have holes in the middle into which you can sweep your shells, and hand-washing stations line a wall. It’s a modest place, but they provide some of the best crawfish in town.
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CRAWFISH TOWN USA RESTAURANT
www.crawfishtownusa.com
2815 Grand Point Hwy., Breaux Bridge (Map) - 667-6148
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
Not many restaurants are equipped to give tours, but Crawfish Town likes to show off its superb crawfish operation. Purged in well water, Crawfish Town’s boiled crawfish are clean and sweet, and the big barn of a restaurant can accommodate entire extended families — seven days a week, year round. If you want non-crawfish seafood to go, stop by the fresh market next door where they sell pre-packaged dishes and high-quality fish and shellfish. Crawfish Town’s other offerings include oysters on the half shell, blue point crabs and an enormous list of boiled or fried Louisiana seafood.
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DON’S SEAFOOD HUT
www.donsseafoodonline.com
4309 Johnston St., Lafayette (Map) - 981-1141
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
Don’s Seafood Hut has every Cajun dish you could hope for, from fried crab fingers to crawfish étouffée and soft shell crab. The crawfish bisque is completely traditional, complete with a couple stuffed crawfish heads in the mix. The crabmeat au gratin is absolutely decadent, or choose a fish of the day with any number of seafood toppings from shrimp sauté to a crawfish cream sauce. Beware of the mixed drinks here, though — the bartenders don’t skimp on the shots.
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THE ORIGINAL DON’S SEAFOOD & STEAKHOUSE
www.donsdowntown.com
301 E. Vermilion St., Lafayette (Map) - 235-3551
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
The 1934 Don’s Beer Parlor has grown into a full-blown institution in downtown Lafayette with some true Cajun dishes like fried soft shell crabs when they’re in season, along with half-and-half plates of shrimp or crawfish cooked into an étouffée and fried tails. If you’re just passing through downtown, stop in the bar for an Old Fashioned with rock candy swizzle stick from Mr. Cliff, who is a Don’s institution himself.
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DWIGHT’S
4800 Johnston St., Lafayette (Map) - 981-1241, 984-3706
Sunday-Friday: Lunch; Dinner during crawfish season only
Dwight’s Restaurant prides itself on being Acadiana’s lunchtime experts, and serves up not only delicious Cajun staples but some mean barbecue plate lunches that change every day of the week. There are burgers, salads, poboys, sandwiches — basically anything you could want in a lunchtime meal. During crawfish season, order Uncle Mark’s Special: a single serving of two pounds of crawfish and one order of boiled shrimp with potatoes and corn.
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GATOR COVE
www.gatorcove.com
2601 SE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette (Map) - 264-1263
Tuesday-Friday: Lunch; Monday-Saturday: Dinner
The Gator Cove grew from a barbecue lodge and opened its doors in 1892, complete with an alligator farm behind the restaurant. Choose your spice level for boiled crawfish or shrimp from plain to extra spicy. The gator tator is a down-home treat with fried potato rounds, bacon, onions, jalapeños and pepper jack cheese, or go with fried alligator for a true taste of the bayou.
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HAWK’S
www.hawkscrawfish.com
416 Hawks Road, Rayne (Map) - 788-3266
Wednesday-Sunday: Dinner
Only the most pristine crawfish are served at this joint. Hawk’s utilizes a live well process that is unparalleled — the crawfish sit in the slow-moving current of fresh underground water for a 24-hour period. When indulging in crawfish here, you’ll find that the crustaceans are void of any mud and debris. All in all, this process produces crawfish much more savory and richer. Hawk’s will admit, however, that it’s in the middle of nowhere, so visit the website for detailed directions.
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KRAZY KLAWS
www.krazyklaws.com
3221 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette (Map) - 534-0400
Daily: Dinner
Krazy Klaws is one of the newer boil houses in town, and focuses only on boiled seafood: crawfish, shrimp and blue crabs. The orders of crawfish and gulf shrimp come with the signature Krazy sauce, but will willingly toss in sausage, carrots, whole onions, mushrooms, asparagus and whole garlic cloves along with the seafood. Call ahead for crawfish availability.
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LA CUISINE DE MAMAN (Vermilionville)
www.vermilionville.org
300 Fisher Road, Lafayette (Map) - 233-4077
Tuesday-Sunday: Lunch
If you have family coming in and want to show them what a traditional Cajun meal is like, go to Vermilionville’s La Cuisine de Maman. Every plate lunch is enormous, served with a cup of gumbo and an enormous entrée that is usually something along the lines of a rice and gravy. Lafayette diners flock to the Friday seafood buffet, especially during Lent. The buffet includes gumbo, two entrees and three sides, along with biscuit and a dessert of the day — go for the gateau du sirop when available, but the bread pudding is never a bad choice.
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LAGNEAUX’S KING OF SEAFOOD
www.lagneauxs.com
445 Ridge Road, Lafayette (Map) - 984-1415
Monday-Saturday: Lunch and Dinner; Sunday: Lunch Buffet
Lagneaux’s all-you-can eat buffet holds 22 different seafood dishes every day for dinner, along with étouffées, fettuccini, au gratin and jambalaya, all prepared daily. Stop in the meat and seafood market next door and pick up meat from a knowledgeable butcher who can also process deer and other wild game — but not hogs — for customers.
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LANDRY’S SEAFOOD HOUSE
www.landrysseafoodhouse.com
2942 Grand Point Highway, Breaux Bridge (Map) - 667-6116
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
Stuffed shrimp en brochette, jumbo shrimp wrapped in bacon and stuffed with seafood, jack cheese and jalapeño, is a house favorite at this Gulf-coast style seafood restaurant. The catch of the day with Pontchartrain topping is a broiled filet with mushrooms, jumbo lump crab meat and a creamy white sauce that. With snow crabs, Maine lobster to raw oysters and crawfish étouffée, Landry’s is a seafood smorgasbord and the fried catfish is divine.
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LA SEAFOOD HOUSE
www.laseafoodhouse.com
1917 Ridge Road, Duson (Map) - 504-5634
Monday-Saturday: Dinner
The cooking at LA Seafood House is based on strictly local ingredients, served seasonally. Besides serving a wide range of seafood from shrimp and grits to garlic-crusted drum, the restaurant also holds a Brazilian barbecue. The barbecue is a glutton’s dream, but only served on Saturdays with andouille, baby back ribs, tuna steak, ribeye, shrimp, and picanha. On Thursday nights, order all-you-can-eat Gulf shrimp and Louisiana catfish or make a meal out of appetizers: crawfish nachos, charbroiled oysters, fried alligator and lapin frits — fried farm-raised rabbit.
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LOUISIANA CRAWFISH TIME
www.lacrawfishtime.com
2019 Verot School Road, Lafayette (Map) - 988-2645
Daily: Dinner
Louisiana Crawfish Time is only open half the year for crawfish season, but is brimming with diners chowing down on boiled crawfish and shrimp or raw and charbroiled oysters. The drive-thru is strictly crawfish and shrimp. Order Louisiana Crawfish Time’s signature seafood boil and seasoning on the website.
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MCGEE’S LANDING
www.mcgeeslanding.com
1337 Henderson Levee Road, Henderson (Map) - 228-2384
Daily: Lunch; Tuesday-Sunday: Dinner
McGee’s Landing overlooks the Atchafalaya Basin and serves some seafood plucked right from the swamp it overlooks, from fried alligator to stuffed shrimp and crawfish étouffée. Enjoy live music on Sunday afternoons, or take a swamp tour before or after your meal.
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PAT’S FISHERMAN’S WHARf
www.patsfishermanswharf.com
1008 Henderson Levee Road, Henderson (Map) - 228-7512
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
Pat’s is perched on the Bayou Amy with a quintessential Cajun atmosphere and menu. Pat’s Atchafalaya Club has live music every weekend, so dancing off your dinner is a likelihood. The catfish platter is five fried filets, and the shrimp and lump crabmeat camp-style étouffée is a sure thing.
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PONT BREAUX’S
www.pontbreauxscajunrestaurant.com
325 Mills Ave., Breaux Bridge (Map) - 332-4648
Daily: Lunch and Dinner
The menu at Pont Breaux’s is classic Cajun, with everything over rice and abundant seafood offerings. The house specialties, like Catfish Pont Breaux’s and seafood platter, are a sure-fire way to fill up, or try the seafood salad with a cup of seafood, chicken and sausage or shrimp and okra gumbo. Live Cajun music every night sets the tone for a traditional Cajun meal.
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PREJEAN’S RESTAURANT
www.prejeans.com
3480 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette (Map) - 896-3247
Daily: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
The menu at Prejean’s can be a little overwhelming with dozens of choices, but the crawfish and alligator sausage cheesecake is savory and sweet contradiction that must be tasted to be believed, or the ever-favorite crawfish enchiladas. Wild game specialties include a rack of venison and crispy duckling, or a cup of smoked duck and andouille gumbo. Live Cajun music seven days a week makes Prejean’s dining an experience.
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RANDOL’S RESTAURANT & CAJUN DANCEHALL
www.randols.com
2320 Kaliste Saloom Road, Lafayette (Map) - 981-7080
Daily: Dinner
The live Cajun music kicks off every night at 6:30 p.m., providing the setting for Randol’s menu of Cajun and Creole classics. Seafood platters are abundant with shrimp, crawfish, oyster and soft shell crab, or sop up a seafood fondue with garlic toast. The White Lake Dreaming Crab Cake is a mound of lump crab meat with béchamel cream and served with a Parmesan cream reduction and a sure bet. For a little variety, try the snapper crusted in Panko and topped with lump crab meat in a spicy curry cream.
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R & M’s BOILING POINT
7413 Hwy. 90 W., New Iberia (Map) - 365-7596
Monday-Friday: Lunch and Dinner; Saturday-Sunday: Dinner
It’s all in the name — R & M’s serves up boiled crabs, crawfish and shrimp, as well as seafood favorites like alligator, catfish, alligator and crawfish. The seafood tops sandwiches and salads, as well as nestled in appetizers.
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RICHARD’S SEAFOOD PATIO
1516 S. Henry St., Abbeville (Map) - 893-1693
Monday-Saturday: Dinner
Since 1957, Abbeville’s oldest crawfish patio has packed ’em in during summer months with boiled crabs and shrimp boiled in your choice of water, beer, wine or Bloody Mary mix. They start serving crawfish early — within the first few weeks of November — so snatch the restaurant’s most popular appetizer: Crawfish Roll-ups, which is a deep-fried egg roll stuffed with a crawfish étouffée-like concoction. If it’s not crawfish season, try the garlic butter grilled oysters or the nightly seafood buffet.
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ROBIN’S RESTAURANT
1409 Henderson Hwy., Henderson (Map) - 228-7594
Tuesday-Saturday: Dinner
A well-kept secret in Acadiana, Robin’s is a diamond in Henderson with different distinct gumbos of shrimp or crab or a combination. The crawfish bisque is unsurpassed, as well as the frog legs étouffée and the crab meat au gratin. The wine list is extensive, with incredible wines from around the world. Robin’s also serves house-made ice cream, including Tabasco and a homemade fig that was created to lure Julia Child to the restaurant.
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STEVE & PAT’S BON TEMPS GRILL
1312 Verot School Road, Lafayette (Map) - 706-8850
Monday-Saturday: Lunch and Dinner
Brothers Steven and Patrick O’Bryan set out to create a restaurant with what they call “urban Cajun food,” and the restaurant’s unconventional twists on Cajun ingredients provide a Cajun dining experience unlike any other. Don’t pass up the swamp legs, which are crispy duck drumettes with a housemade mango sauce and twice-cooked gator legs with a sweet and spicy Thai sauce. The apple and tasso stuffed pork chop is double grilled on the restaurant’s wood-burning grill in the back, which gives the meats a wonderfully smoky flavor. Finish the meal with the bananas foster bread pudding — and then roll out the door.
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YELLOW BOWL
19466 Hwy. 182 W., Jeanerette (Map) - 276-5512
Wednesday-Friday and Sunday: Lunch
One of the oldest restaurants in Acadiana, the Yellow Bowl is credited with being the first restaurant to fry crawfish tails. Its crawfish bisque and étouffée are legendary, fried catfish comes bone-in, and the seafood platter is too big for any one person to finish.
