Road trip des Amis – Great destination food

Black-as-night turtle soup, sticky, cane syrup duck, and barbecued shrimp that begs for bibs and napkins: such trappings have made Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge a favorite haunt for Baton Rougeans in search of great destination food.

Any road trip aiming for points west of our city would benefit from a stop at this enduring eatery that defines “worth the drive.”

Long patronized by writers, artists, tourists and locals, Café des Amis is the pulsing anchor of the town’s charming Main Street. Its adjacent sister property, Maison des Amis, offer diners a quaint, relaxing bed and breakfast option.

Staying overnight on a Friday gives visitors a chance to experience the bump and grind of the famed Saturday morning Zydeco brunch. Along with washboards and sure-footed dancers comes a rare Cajun- and Creole-inspired breakfast menu. Look for couche couche, a cozy bowl of cornmeal and milk topped with syrup or sugar, and orielle de cochon, fried dough shaped like a pig’s ear stuffed on one end with a thin cord of boudin. Here, pancakes can be embellished with praline sauce, grits with tasso and biscuits with crawfish étouffée.

Breaux Bridge’s charm doesn’t stop with Café des Amis. The town’s annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival takes place May 4-6 when scarlet mudbugs spill out onto tables and big names in Cajun and Zydeco music play. Headliners this year include Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, the Pine Leaf Boys and Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie.

This corner of Louisiana is thick with Cajun meat markets, and Breaux Bridge is particularly flush. Poche’s is known for links of fresh pork and crawfish boudin, cracklin, andouille and chaurice, a fresh smoked sausage with seasonings, garlic, vinegar, jalapenos and chives. Down the road is Babineaux’s, an old-school slaughterhouse that makes pork and red boudin. JW Quality Meats features fresh meats and tasty links of pork boudin redolent with green onion. Bayou Boudin and Cracklin is known for rustic Cajun cabins, deep-fried cracklin’ and homemade root beer.