Near the End of Our Stay...

in New Orleans, I was (no surprise here) watching a food program on either the Food Network or Cooking Channel. They did a short piece on Cochon Butcher, the less expensive offspring of Cochon—a more upscale restaurant. So we added Cochon Butcher to our list for our March return to New Orleans.

We jump to Lafayette where we were encouraged by a local restaurateur to vote for Lafayette online in Southern Living magazine’s “South’s Tastiest Town” contest. And so we did. And thus discovered that a new restaurant had opened—Cochon Lafayette. Could it be related to the New Orleans restaurant with a similar name? Yes, it could.

“…In the past few years, a wave of new eating has rippled through Lafayette—propelled largely by chefs and entrepreneurs returning home and finding a bevy of sophisticated mouths to feed.... By far the most high-profile homecoming is that of Donald Link, from nearby Crowley, and his business partner and fellow James Beard Award winner, Stephen Stryjewski, who have opened a branch of their wildly popular New Orleans restaurant, Cochon, in Lafayette's south end....

“…Just over three decades ago, Paul Prudhomme brought his brand of Cajun cooking to the world at his legendary New Orleans restaurant K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen; this is Link and Stryjewski reversing the process, to the great benefit of all involved. As more visitors and natives have found, it turns out Lafayette is a nice place to linger” (Brett Martin at bonappetit.com).

“Many New Orleans entrepreneurs and chefs who have branched out to open restaurants in Acadiana featuring ‘Cajun’ cuisine…fall way short of replicating the true regional fare. Now, an acclaimed New Orleans chef has come to town, and he has gotten it right. What’s more, he has elevated the authentic Cajun dining experience in Lafayette to a new, more refined level, while offering creative interpretations of the classics. You won’t find the typical fried shrimp, crawfish etouffée, dinner salad, and house Chablis here….

“The new Cochon is surrounded by trees and overlooks the Vermilion River that runs through the center of Lafayette.

The handsome, contem-porary structure…features a 2000-square-foot deck,

a bar that seats up to 50 (where you can also dine),

and a terrace adorned with citrus trees where guests can relax with cocktails or order from the full menu and the bar menu.

Inside the spacious dining room, there is an open kitchen, and you can watch the chefs go to work at the wood-burning hearth, which is always fun to observe” (Lisa LeBlanc-Berry at ourhouse.biz).

Link and Stryjewski believe in using local food purveyors—so local that the deck is abutted by a small garden that provides the herbs used in the kitchen and some of the salad greens.

The lunch menu contained a short list of entrees that included: beef meatloaf with tasso gravy and mashed potatoes, grilled tuna salad with lemon garlic vinaigrette, roasted chicken thigh salad with winter greens and buttermilk dressing, a beer battered fried mahi-mahi sandwich with pickled cabbage and tartar sauce, a pulled pork and coleslaw sandwich with onion rings, pan fried catfish with green chili rice and roasted peppers, and oyster and bacon sandwich. Many of these sounded intriguing, but it was the small plates and sides that captured our attention.

While we studied the menu, we snacked on a basket of cornbread squares. So good were these that we looked forward to the rest of our meal with anticipation.

We started lunch with the boucherie plate which is very similar to the affetatti misti at Ancora in New Orleans. So similar in fact that one of the items was the hogs head cheese (bottom left) which is “the Italian version of head cheese.... It is a sort of sausage-meets-terrine made of cooked pork pieces and spiced broth set into a firm gelatin mold. Thinly sliced, you can eat it cold with crusty bread or warmed to release the gelatin broth's saucy goodness…” (menuinprogress.com). Cochon’s texture wasn’t as fine as Ancora’s and more resembled the German-style head cheese I knew (and hated) as a child in Iowa. While both versions were delicious, on the texture issue alone I give Ancora a slight—very slight—edge.

Rounding out the plate were the restaurant’s version of “slim jims” (top left) which had the requisite chewy texture and salty taste that you find in the version sold near almost every mini-mart cash register; lightly smoked and very moist country ham (top right); dry cured and chewy house-made capicola (bottom right); and, in the center, were house made pickles (since Chuck doesn’t eat pickles these were mine—all mine) and a small cup of duck rillette.

To me, this last was the star of the tray. Chuck looked at it with great misgivings, taken aback I think by the thin layer of duck fat on the surface. I spread some on one of the small pieces of toasted bread and exclaimed “This is so good!.” When will I learn? Soon we had the battle of knives as we each raced each other to empty the dish.

“Rillette is like a rough version of pâté. Meat…is slowly cooked in fat/lard until tender enough to shred apart easily. The meat is then mixed with some of the cooking fat and seasonings. To store, the mixture is compressed into containers, and sealed in…, yes, you guessed it, the cooking fat again! ...Typically, the meat for rillette is pulverized into an almost paste-like consistency, making it easier to spread across a slice of bread or a cracker…” (ouichefcook.com).

Next came my favorite dish of the day—a plate of grits topped with a fire grilled sausage with peppers. What set this apart was the grits. They were coarser ground that most grits and were very rich. I asked our server if they contained cheese and, after conferring with the kitchen, came back and told me that they were made with just butter and milk. I have to conclude that the richness comes for the butter—lots of butter. The sausage was smoky and peppery, but the grits were something else. So good that Chuck, no big fan of grits, was also scraping the bottom of the bowl. And they rose to another level when mixed with the juices from the sausage and peppers.

Then came the charred onion hush puppies with pickled chile mayo. Hush puppies can be unbearably heavy, but not so these larger-than-a-golf-ball puppies. But, of all the menu items we sampled that day, these would be the ones I wouldn’t order again. Not that they weren’t good. But there are more intriguing items we didn’t order—like the fried chicken livers with pepper jelly toast. But that may have pushing Chuck too far.

Rounding out the meal was a dish of white beans with bacon and pork and seasoned with pepper. I have now become a devotee of white beans (as opposed to red beans). I think because you can easily find small white beans which tend to become creamier and more tender than the red.

We couldn’t leave without dessert and waivered between the warm sticky pecan chocolate pudding with bourbon vanilla ice cream and the apple cobbler topped with a cornmeal biscuit and house made salted caramel ice cream. The latter won.

I don’t know if the entire dish is baked next to the open wood fired oven. I suspect that the apple filling (crisp apples lightly flavored with cinnamon) was assembled in the back kitchen with the cornmeal biscuit added later. But the use of cornmeal in the biscuit added a crunchy quality along with the light dusting of sugar on top. And salted caramel ice cream has become one of my favorites. I really like the balance between sweet and salty.

This was a great lunch. A 5.0 Addie lunch. A lunch that has me eager to return. Especially for more of those grits.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.

A Tranquil Hike

"Just follow LA 3177 south to Butte LaRose, then turn west on Parish Rd 196 to a pontoon bridge...." At this point, I lost the explanation from the Welcome Center staff member at Exit 121 on I-10.

"A pontoon bridge?" I ventured.

"Yes, some call it the Crocodile Bayou Bridge. It's been around since 1960 or so," was the reassuring reply.

(Fortunate-ly, she was reassuring because later research revealed that the substructure of this pontoon lift bridge was rated "Poor" and the bridge's overall appraisal was "Structurally deficient" [bridgehunter.com/la/st-martin]).

When we had crossed the bridge (without incident, by the way), I stopped to take these photo-graphs. As a truck approached, I wanted to photograph it midway across the bridge. With the camera positioned, I waited for the truck...and waited.

The driver, seeing me lining up a shot, had very kindly decided to wait until I had taken the photo. Realizing this, I quickly motioned the driver to continue and took the shot (photo #1 above), all the while marveling at the courtesy shown by this driver.

After the shot, we gave a wave to this egret(?), standing on one foot, and headed toward the levee.

At the top of the levee, we took this photo and then headed south for about 17 miles to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park.

There were very few people (well, actually, we saw three other people) at the park the day we arrived.

There are three primary trails from which we could choose for a walk that day. We decided to take Trail A, a 0.75 mile nature trail,
"Armadillo Ridge". It began at the trailhead right before the interpretive center and over the foot bridge. The habitat is mainly bottomland hardwood and fine views of Lake Fausse Pointe (bayounature.com).

January was not the peak color season, so we spent the hike looking for small scenes of color and/or interest.

About the only color other than the browns and grays of winter was the green of ferns and these fan-like plants.



A little color was added to this scene thanks to the reflection of the sky in this pool of water.

The "knees" of the bald cypress created a small gathering in the water.

We prefer to see these long strands of vegetation as contributing to the scene rather than as weeds that detract from the beauty.

Two small scenes are shown here. The pattern on the right is a close-up view of the bark of a tree and

the scene on the left shows a plastic ball or bobber among an array of leaves and other vegetation in the lake.

At some points, the trail offered views of the lake.

But for the most part, the trail offered the setting for a tranquil and contemplative walk.

I Was Going to Eat Italian…

so why am I eating Gringo Mexican? It’s a long story. We had finished our walking tour of downtown Lafayette and were ready for lunch. I had “Googled” best Italian restaurants in Lafayette and found one with a menu item calling to me—the Pasta Funghi di Bosco with porcini, portabella, and button mushrooms sautéed with fresh herbs, shallots, and garlic and tossed with a Madeira cream sauce and served over fettuccine. I had the address. Up and down the street we drove. Three times. No sign of the restaurant. Could it be closed?

Time for Plan B—a Thai restaurant on Johnston Street that had gotten rave reviews. We drive down Johnston. We drive past the restaurant. We backtrack while encountering one dead end street after another. We pull into the parking lot. “It looks closed” I say to Chuck. “That plumbing sign in the window is not a good omen” he responds. He walks to the doors to scope the situation. He returns to the truck. “It’s closed for renovations” he explains.

On our drive on Johnston, I noticed La Fonda which is considered to be one of the best Mexican restaurants in Lafayette. We’ll give it a try.

“Wheeling and dealing over lunch and enchiladas is the hallmark of La Fonda’s…where margaritas and two-fisted cocktails enhance the handshakes of money makers. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in the early evening is another crowd, with children and grandparents in tow. Friday and Saturday nights bring a crush of people awaiting tables at the bar (the record is somewhere around 100 gallons of margaritas served daily). The Mexican restaurant has an awesome reputation as a gathering spot.... La Fonda’s is a Lafayette institution. It has seen the conclusion of more business deals, the celebration of more birthdays, and the sparking of more romances than any other restaurant in the area. Owner Leebob Cox has said that “there has to be some explanation, but it is hard for me to define.’

“Defying the local loyalty to Cajun cuisine, the popularity of the restaurant’s classic Tex-Mex fare is a puzzling phenomenon. The noise level is often raucous. This is the kind of place that feels like Galatoire’s on a Friday afternoon (instead of champagne, it is margaritas). People know each other at different tables, and if they don’t, they get to know each other, especially while waiting for tables at the bar” (Lisa LeBlanc at berryourhouse.biz).

Let me emphasize how busy this restaurant is. The parking lot was full, but we found a spot across the street in the parking lot for a closed grocery store. The lobby was full of waiting diners. The noise level can only be described as caco-phonous. And, unlike most Lafayette restaurants where at precisely 12:55 p.m. the lunch crowd stands up as one and returns to work, La Fonda was still busy when we left sometime after 1:30 p.m. As soon as a table was vacated, it was refilled.

The menu was what you would expect—tacos, enchiladas, tostados, quesadillas, chalupas, chili relleno, chimichangas, combo plates containing two or more of these with rice and beans—along with chicken and steak selections. But there on the appetizer listing was an item I have never seen on a Mexican restaurant menu—rabbit—bite-size pieces of fried rabbit garnished with guacamole and sour cream or con queso. According to the Cajun Foodie: “…I’d like to spotlight what I believe to be one of the best appetizers in South Louisiana: fried rabbit with queso. The dish is comprised of a pile of tender marinated rabbit, deboned and fried up chicken tender style and served alongside a bowl of the restaurant’s excellent queso dip. Original…creative…deep fried, what else do you need?” (thecajunfoodie.com).

I so don’t think so.

We were given a basket of tortilla chips and a small bowl each of bean dip and tomato salsa. The latter tasted if though the spice came from cayenne pepper rather than chilies and was in dire need of cilantro. The bean dip was OK. Enough said.

We both decided to play it safe. I ordered three shrimp soft tacos with a side of guacamole salad (right).

Chuck ordered three beef tacos with a side of refried beans. None of these will have us hurrying back for more.

The shrimp on my tacos (left) were small and few. The beef in Chuck’s tacos tasted like Old El Paso seasoning. And the shredded cheese in each was ice cold and therefore chilled all of the fillings. The beans and guacamole were both pretty good. But not great.

So what then, after having eaten Gringo Mexican, possessed us to order the sopapillas for dessert? (“Sopapillas are a type of fried pastry which originated in New Mexico, although they are related to many South and Central American fried doughs.... A New Mexican sopapilla is a pillow-like puff of fried pastry accomplished by making a special dough which puffs up as it fries, like a doughnut” [wisegeek.com]). These turned out to be the most authentic part of the meal. They were light and puffy and had the crisp outer shell that we enjoyed when dining in New Mexico. Dusted with sugar and cinnamon, a drizzle of honey was all that was necessary.

Perhaps I am being overly harsh. I am frustrated that we couldn’t find that Italian restaurant with the Pasta Funghi di Bosco. And I wouldn’t go to Albuquerque, NM and expect to find great Cajun food. Still, all I can muster is a 2.5 Addie rating.

And that Italian restaurant we couldn’t find? I went back to the computer and there was the address—312 Main Street, Lafayette. So far, so good. Except I neglected to notice the IN after Lafayette. Yes, we were looking in Lafayette, Louisiana for an Italian restaurant in Lafayette, Indiana.

Is my face red. But, if I am ever in Lafayette, IN, I know where to find Italian food.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.

The Art and Soul of Lafayette

"Ever since the decentralization of cities and rise of suburbs that followed the industrial era, we judge how well a downtown
"recovered" by attracting businesses or shifting into an arts and cultural hub for the community" (Cathy Webre, Greater Lafayette Business Journal, 2008).

According to Ms. Webre:
"Nearly 1,000,000 attendees enjoy live music, festivals, special events and cultural programs and facilities in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana, each year."

The downtown is an attractive,
"walkable" several block area, and on a recent weekday, we searched out some of the downtown artwork as we followed the map and description in the brochure entitled: "Downtown: The Art and Soul of Lafayette, LA."

Urns of Justice by Dianna Moore

Flanking the courthouse entrance stairs, these award-winning sculptural urns are a contrast to the archetypal figure of blindfolded justice carrying a sword and scales.

Horizon by Robert Dafford

Part of the internation-al mural series in which each mural in the series has a flying fiddle symbolically passing through the walls between cultures (Louisiana, Canada, France, and Belgium). Locally the scene can be viewed as Cajun music being exported to the world.

Ex-Garage by Robert Dafford

A 125-foot tall mural of 1950s-era cars covers the side of an office building that previouisly was a parking garage. Closer inspection reveals area musicians and traditions reflected in the car's bumpers and hubcaps.



Inflourescence Blooming Flower by Robert "Bob" Wiggs

Symbolizing downtown's rebirth, the concept represents 30 years of study by the artist of a design system found in nature. The sculpture is 25 feet tall with a 12-foot diameter bloom.

Till All That's Left Is A Postcard by Robert Dafford

This 100-foot-wide mural depicts the every-changing Atchafalaya River Basin. It examines the way our perception of nature has been changed by photographs and the editing process, the nature of 2-D and 3-D images and the possibility that one day the wilderness might be found only on a postcard.

The thought that the beauty of the Atchafalaya could be reduced to a postcard or a memory was sobering, but studying the artist's work was captivating. I particularly marveled at the water droplets on the leaf and the intricate details presented in the wings of the dragonfly.

Premier, Dernier,et Toujours (First, Last and Always) by Robert Dafford

The muralist visualizes the chess game between world powers England and France that originally caused the Acadian exile to Louisiana in the 18th century and, finally, the commercial-ization into the future of all things Cajun. As the artist describes this image, the fabric of Acadian life itself forms the curtain between the Cajuns and the outside world.

To fully appreciate this work, we would have needed a ladder to view all the small frames that depicted scenes of Acadian life.

"American cities are measured by the condition of their downtown districts, regularly as indicators of quality-of-life issues or from an economic development standpoint. From this basis, Lafayette -- and, by extension, all of Acadiana -- is an attractive place to live and work" (Cathy Webre).