Ronnie’s Boudin and Cracklin’ House – Hot Lunch

Do you long for the red beans and rice from The Silver Moon, either erstwhile location? Do you wish you could have one last smothered pork chop under the velvet portrait of Jesse Jackson at Rose and Thomas Café? Did you shed a tear and lose a few pounds when they shuttered Romano’s? In short, do you love a plate lunch?

A trip to Ronnie’s Boudin and Cracklin’ House just may be the foray that fi lls the void in your culinary file … if that void is shaped like mustard greens. Ronnie’s serves a one-option meal most days of the week but accommodates even the observant palate. And the plate lunch will make you happy, joyous even, but you will be happier still for the treasures you pick up after lunch. Ronnie’s is one of Baton Rouge’s finest smoked-meat shops. There are baggies of fresh jerky, meaty and fire-spicy cracklins, dark and complex tasso and the finest smoked boudin links this writer has ever tasted. Don’t miss the freezer cases of boudin-stuffed pork chops and dressing-filled chicken, duck and quail. Ronnie’s also sells their dry rub in bulk and gallon jars of rendered hog lard, but I am getting ahead of myself. Just go, have the meat loaf, take home some smoked boudin and try to imagine that lost portrait of Jesse gazing approvingly down on your selections

For more by Frank McMains, including blogs from his trip to China, click here.