Sure, the food is sumptuous in New Orleans. Folks love it. But there are other reaches of the Bayou State that harbor great cuisine too, and one of them is Lafayette.
The Rand McNally/USA TODAY Best of the Road® Rally has laid on Lafayette the label of Best Food City in the USA. The Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission lays out some of the best places to eat in this concentration of Cajun cuisine:
- Try a traditional Southern breakfast at Dwyer’s Café, replete with mounds of eggs, grits, biscuits and such. Hint: hot sauce is de rigueur with almost anything down in Louisiana.
- Learn how to cook Cajun style at the Accidental Chef Cooking School.If you didn’t know how to conjure up chicken and sausage gumbo before you walked in the door, chances are you will before you head out the door.
- Make determined tracks to one of the area’s best seafood places and sample the fare at Don’s Seafood Hut. Start off the meal with oysters, and don’t forget that hot sauce.
- The Original Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse downtown has staked out a place in the heart of locals. Lunchtime might make you forget all about supper. Sample the crawfish bisque, fried alligator, shrimp and oyster brochette. Finish it all off (if there’s room left) with a beautiful bread pudding.
- Charley G’s creates a great duck and andouille gumbo. The crab cakes are terrific too.
- Finish off a day of overt over-eating at Randol’s Restaurant and Cajun Dance Hall. More food, and the sort of dancing that defines this part of the world.
Getting to Lafayette nonstop by air is easy. OAG says Delta Connection flies there from Atlanta, American Eagle from Dallas/Fort Worth, United Express from Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.
(Image: thefoodgroup)
