Before you make me Etouffee! Crawfish Etouffee is very popular in this neck of the woods. I’m not crazy about it, but JB had left me a comment about Suire’s Grocery Store and Restaurant, so I decided to head there today for lunch.
What an interesting place this is! Half of the building is a small grocery store, and the other half houses the eating place. The menu items for this Cajun cooking restaurant can be found painted on the outside of the building along with caricatures of alligators and turtles. The grocery side sells popular local items like Cajun pickled quail eggs. Each of the tables on the eatery side has a checkers board on it. I ordered my first shrimp Poboy, and sat at a table to wait for my name to be called. For a place out in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn’t believe how busy it was. Many working men, clad in rubber boots and covered with mud, either ate inside or just stopped by to pick up their lunch to go. Today’s special was shrimp etouffee. It must be good because it was selling like hot cakes!
It may have been unusual for a solo “northern” female to stop in for lunch because the lady taking the orders immediately wanted to know about me. I told her that my friends, John and Brenda, had recommended this place to me as they had been here while they were traveling. Her response to me was, “Are you one of those RV people? I just recently heard about people living in their RVs and traveling around the country. Do you do this alone?” I told her I traveled with my dog. :) She was a little surprised. The Poboy was excellent, and I enjoyed my lunch stop.
Before I got to Suire’s for lunch, I stopped in the town of Rayne, the Frog Capitol of the World! I didn’t see any frogs; must be the wrong season, but I did see all the murals with a frog theme painted on the buildings. The one pictured here is on the police station. I also stopped to see St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Cemetery. As you may know, people are buried above ground in this area of Louisiana. You can click to enlarge to read the plaque about the skinless frog.
After lunch, I continued down the scenic byway I was driving down. I can’t say that this scenic byway can compare with the byways of Idaho, but I have to remember that there aren’t any mountains in Louisiana. :) I did find a couple of roseate spoonbills and black-necked stilts feeding along the bayous.
This bird used to be called the Louisiana heron; how appropriate! However, the powers that be in the bird world have decided that it should now be called the tri-colored heron. Since I’m finally in Louisiana, I’m going to defy convention and call it a Louisiana heron while I’m in this state. Just call me a wild and crazy gal! :)
In my travels today, I drove past many flooded fields. I had a real debate with myself whether these were rice fields or crawfish ponds. When I got back to the repair place, I asked Helen Thibodaux about them. She told me they are both. During the growing season, they are planted with rice. Then in the winter, they are used to raise crawfish. Aha! It made me feel good to have figured out both uses. I just didn’t know the same fields were used both ways.
THE END!!
Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later, Judy
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