Du Jour: Mike Anderson, Jr. and Dustin Loveless, Mike Anderson’s Seafood

This spring, prom-goers, graduates and scads of LSU baseballs fans will pour into Mike Anderson’s Seafood, which opened in late March after a fire in December. The restaurant was founded more than 30 years ago as a small café and seafood market by former All-American LSU football player, Mike Anderson, who still drops by most days to check on things. Behind the helm for the last 8-10 years is Anderson’s son, Mike Anderson, Jr., and General Manager Dustin Loveless. The two recently oversaw the restoration of the popular eatery after an arsonist set it on fire in mid-December. The damage was extensive and the restaurant was shuttered business its busiest season.

Anderson grew up around the restaurant and says its identity and menu stemmed from his father’s love of food. “He wasn’t a chef when he started,” says Anderson. “He was just a really great cook who knew what people around here like to eat.” Large portions of fried seafood have always been a mainstay, but the restaurant also helped popularize seafood topped-fish. The Guitreau, Gulf fish adorned with shrimp and crawfish, remains one of the menu’s stalwarts. Loveless arrived at Mike Anderson’s after working at several restaurants around town. He says he has stayed because of his ability to share in the restaurant’s decision-making and because of its loyal customers, some of whom have become personal friends. “It’s hard for a restaurant to stay in business this long,” says Loveless. “But we do things from scratch the same way every time.” Mike Anderson’s has locations in Gonzales and in New Orleans, and Loveless and Anderson say that the taste buds of its regulars in each vary slightly. “Gonzales likes less pepper in the hush puppies than Baton Rouge does,” says Loveless. “You can’t lighten up on the pepper in the hush puppies here.”