A few first-timers have wandered into Pimanyoli’s Sidewalk Café & Catering expecting Italian food and not realizing that the restaurant with the funny name is one of the best destinations around for barbecue purists. That name is derived from the owners’ nicknames: Yolanda “Yoli” and Pepper Perrilloux. “Piman” is Creole for pepper. But walk-ins usually are not disappointed to discover that Pimanyoli’s serves up fabulous barbecue in a casual atmosphere.
Opened in June 2008, Pimanyoli’s fulfills the owners’ lifelong dream of a restaurant serving delicious, homestyle food like dry-rub ribs, lean, smoky brisket, pulled pork, and the best tamales this side of Zwolle, home of the famous Tamale Fiesta.
Pimanyoli’s is a family-style eatery with enough dark wood tables and heavy Windsor chairs for 50 diners indoors and eight more on the sidewalk overlooking the parking lot. Each table sports customary condiments as well as a roll of paper towels and a squeeze bottle of Pepper’s homemade, 21-ingredient barbecue sauce, if you insist on dousing the moist dry-rub meats with extra tang.
14241 Airline Hwy., Suite 105
751-7590
The Perillouxs and their tamales share a winding road to the new restaurant. Yolanda parlayed a social work degree from Southern University into nonprofit management, serving as volunteer coordinator at the Battered Women’s Program, then director of Myriam’s House. Pepper’s last gig was as a casino supervisor. The tamales wended their way from Newellton, where Hot Tamale Dan peddled his delicious dishes on the street. Yolanda’s mother befriended Dan, and he bequeathed to her the special recipe she brought with her to Baton Rouge.
What makes the tamales so good, aficionados say, is that the beef and pork are shredded before mixing with spices, guaranteeing a meatier filling. The masa (Mexican corn flour) used to make the shell is mixed with broth instead of water, creating a smooth, rich casing that is hand-rolled in real corn shucks and simmered in a seasoned bath.
Yolanda grew up filling and rolling tamale shucks and helping her parents sell them. Their tamales became so popular they began cooking in a friend’s commercial kitchen, then expanded into catering with Yolanda and her new beau Pepper helping out. When Yolanda’s father died, her mother backed out of catering, but Yolanda and Pepper kept it going.
They shuttered the business when Yolanda took the job at Myriam’s House, knowing that sometime in the future they would own a restaurant. When Myriam’s House merged with St. Vincent de Paul in 2004, Yolanda decided the time was right. The couple first returned to catering while she researched small businesses and the perils and pleasures of owning a restaurant.
When they opened the doors, the clay-colored walls were bare and uninviting, so Yolanda created brightly colored, food-themed acrylic paintings to decorate them—never mind that her only previous art attempts had been pencil and charcoal drawings.
Other than tamales, Yolanda specializes in mac and cheese, cole slaw, green beans, and homemade desserts. Pepper masters the commercial smoker, and Yoli’s mother and sister are often in the kitchen making tamales.
“We love cooking,” Yolanda says with a grin. “But we’re really just trying to put a smile on someone’s face.”
