Louisiana Culinary Trails: Seafood Sensation

Dan Jones, Jay Ducote, Jordan Lewis, Fred Mince, and Tommy Talley interview Mike Krajicek inside of Botsky's in Downtown Lake Charles

Tommy Talley sips on a Bayou Rum cocktail
at the distillery in Lacassine

You can find boudin, cracklin, and crawfish across the state of Louisiana, but some of the best stuff originates from Southwest Louisiana. The Louisiana Culinary trails crew rolled to the lower left corner of the state and the city of Lake Charles to highlight the bold flavors and characters that make this part of the state sensational. We learned a lot about what it means to take slow down and savor the dishes with Mike Krajicek of Botsky's, Chef Lyle Broussard from L'Auberge Casino Resort, Jeff Benoit of B&O Kitchen and Grocery, crawfish farmer Burt Tietje of Tallgrass Farm, Trey Litel of Bayou Rum, and local food writer Eric Cormier. This is a serious destination for food in Louisiana, head over and see what's cooking!

Tallgrass Farm's Burt Tietje waits for his close up while his dogs take a snooze after running through the crawfish ponds

Dan Jones, Fred Mince, Jay Ducote, and Jordan Lewis getting footage at the Bayou Rum distillery

Touring Lake Charles by Sight and by Stomach

The Southwest Louisiana city of Lake Charles is underrated. Living in Baton Rouge, I spend a lot of time touting the capital city as a worthwhile stop between Lafayette and New Orleans, and better yet as a true destination of its own. But in all my talk about Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and the Big Easy, often forgotten are other parts of Louisiana which possess plenty of culture of their own. On  recent press trip to Lake Charles I got to experience the city through culinary lenses. On the night of our arrival we had dinner at Ember Grille and Wine Bar at the L'Auberge Casino. The following day we got a tour of the city complete with food stops, a horse-drawn carriage historical tour, more food, and some wildlife refuges. Here's a recap of the gastronomic adventure!

Our first stop was for boudin and cracklins at Guillory's Famous Foods. The boudin pictured below is the smoked version which I very much enjoyed. They also have a regular (steamed or boiled instead of smoked) boudin. Boudin is a pork and rice mixture that typically contains liver as well. It is seasoned with all sorts of spices then stuffed into sausage casing. If you are an unfortunate soul who has never had boudin before, it is worth a trip to Louisiana on its own.

Boudin at Guillory's Famous Foods in Lake Charles

In many ways tough, I prefer the cracklin over the boudin, if ever I were in the unfortunate predicament of having to choose. The cracklin is a perfect mixture of pork skin, fat, and muscle tissue that is fried once to soften it up and cook it through then fried a second time to make it extra crispy and crunch and, well, cracklin-y. Guillory's had regular and spicy cracklins for the eating enjoyment of our group. I also learned something at Guillory's Famous Foods that I'll never forget. Especially at breakfast time, one of the best combinations in the world is to dip your cracklin in Louisiana cane syrup. Seriously... do it.

Cracklin at Guillory's Famous Foods in Lake Charles

After a breakfast of champions, our group arrived in historic downtown Lake Charles for a historical tour of the city. Aboard a horse-drawn carriage we learned about Lake Charles architecture, lumber barons, haunted houses, and people who mess up historic properties. I hope I'm never one of those guys! Our tour ended at an old schoolhouse building that now serves as office space for a lot of different companies and public officials. Inside the building is the Lake Charles Mardi Gras Museum. I took a seat on the throne for good measure. The museum shows off a plethora of elaborate Mardi Gras costumes and includes its history outside of New Orleans. We also got to decorate our own King Cakes. While this was nothing new to me, I did enjoy having a taste of King Cake in the fall!

Lunch brought us to the unassuming but blissfully local Seafood Palace. There we were treated to a smorgasbord of seafood delights that filled our bellies and warmed our souls. The boiled crabs looked amazing as they adorned our table upon arrival. I do love a good boiled crab!

Boiled Crabs at Seafood Palace

There were several people at the table who had never eaten alligator before so I took the liberty of ordering an appetizer of fried alligator bites for the group. They were as good as any fried alligator I've had before, which is definitely saying something. Some say alligator tastes like chicken. I say it tastes more like frog legs. Though, most people say frog legs taste like chicken, so I guess it all does to a degree!

Fried Alligator at Seafood Palace in Lake Charles

I ordered the shrimp and oyster combo platter which comes with fries. Why not just fry everything, right? They were all delicious. I couldn't quite finish it all after everything else I ate, and knowing what would be in store for dinner, but it was too good to not try my hardest! 

Fried Shrimp and Oyster Combo at Seafood Palace

After lunch we took off in the bus to several National Wildlife Refuges including Cameron Prairie where we spotted quite a few alligators getting some sun like this guy featured below. I would have liked him more had be been in my belly! After the sight-seeing we were back to L'Auberge to rest and get cleaned up for dinner at La Truffe Sauvage... a dinner so amazing that it'll have to wait for its own blog post in the upcoming week!

An alligator in the sun at the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge

Damn! Toups' Meatery Impresses.

Jay takes a shot of Jameson out of a beef bone at Toups' Meatery

You know you're at a uniquely fantastic restaurant when you are requested to take a shot of Irish whiskey using a sawed in half bone out of which you just consumed the marrow. It turns out, the marrow bone works quite well as a whiskey luge and the flavors picked up from the remains of roasted goodness enrich the water of life quite well. Michele took a shot too as we dined at Toups' Meatery, a mid-city New Orleans restaurant that has quickly shot up the charts of not-to-miss dining locations in the Big Easy.

The bone marrow dish, as if the rich marrow followed by a shot of Jameson weren't enough, came topped with escargot and served with chicken liver mousse. We followed that up with some mussels in a white wine chili broth that tasted absolutely incredible. French bread is made for mopping up sauces like this. I also couldn't go to Toups' without indulging in their housemade cracklins. The morsels of pork skin, fat, and muscle are fried twice until they crack in the hot grease. There's nothing wrong with that!

Michele prepares herself for a shot of Jameson with bone marrow remains

Bone marrow with escargot

Mussels, white wine chili broth, grilled bread

Cracklins

We weren't finished at Toups' Meatery just yet. With a bottle of Horrow Show from the Vending Machine Winery to split, Michele and I continued our feast on more meat. We were dining at Toups' Meatery, after all. This is no place for vegans or vegetarians, nor is it a place for a standard cut of meat. You must have at least a slightly adventurous mind and palate to truly appreciate Toups', which is probably why I loved it so much. The Toups' Meatery Board came loaded with a chef's selection of house cured meats. We got more chicken liver mousse, hogs head cheese, sausage, rillons, and a smorgasbord of accoutrements. They were all delicious. Our final course came in the form of duck and pork belly, two of my favorite meats on earth. The confit duck leg and fatty pork belly were accompanied by more sausage and some potatoes and a balsamic duck jus. 

The Menu at Toups' rotates and changes fairly regularly, so while some of the options that I tried may not be available all the time, you can rest assured that whatever new dishes are on the menu, they'll be as unique and fantastic as mine. This is definitely a restaurant in New Orleans that I could see myself going back to over and over again!

Horror Show from the Vending Machine Winery

Meatery Board, selection of house-made fresh and cured meats and condiments

Duck, pork belly, weisswurst, petite potatoes, balsamic duck jus

Bite and Booze Radio Show: Stories with Jay and Erin

Joe and Jack Walker from Slap Ya Mama with Snoop Dogg

This week my intern Erin joined me on the Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket.  We had a chat with Mike Willis from Rudolph Foods about cracklin and pork rinds, and then I proceeded to tell stories about the our front stoop "UN Convention" in NYC and me desecrating a National Monument on the West Coast!  Meanwhile, my sponsor Slap Ya Mama recently get a nice celebrity picture with Snoop Dogg!  Looking good, fellas!

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The Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket airs on Saturdays at 5 PM on Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge.  It is also available on iTunes.  The show's sponsors include Calandro's Supermarket, Visit Baton Rouge, Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning, Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, Juban's Restaurant, the Tin Roof Brewing Company, and the Louisiana Culinary Institute.