Top New Restaurants - Acadiana Profile (2023)

6815 W. Park Avenue, Houma
(985) 262-9972
www.demitassecafehouma.com

Debbie and David Heard's world came to a halt when their 12,000-square-foot antique shop and restaurant in Thibodaux burned down in December 2010. They lost everything from the irreplaceable antiques to the banquet hall for 200 people.

Since the fire, the couple has moved their business once, but recently relocated to 6815 W. Park Ave. found a home in Houma which they consider permanent. The new Demitasse Café celebrated its first anniversary in March.

“We are very excited about the sponsors in Houma,” says Debbie Heard. "It's wonderful. We love it here. It was a very good step for us."

The Demitasse Café still serves 30 different types of panini, soups and salads for lunch and dinner, as well as a varied breakfast menu ranging from breakfast sandwiches to homemade omelettes. Debbie Heard says Demitasse still offers a huge drinks menu with specialty coffees, teas, smoothies, milkshakes, Italian sodas and much more.

People drive over from Thibodaux to enjoy their familiar eatery and are asking when the Heards will retire or open a second location further down the bayou.

"They complain all the time and ask why we're not back in Thibodaux," says Debbie Heard, who doesn't want to commit to reopening in Thibodaux. “But after the fire, we live from day to day. You never know when everything will be taken from you.”

South Louisiana offers a vibrant culinary scene with outstanding chefs; ambitious restaurant owners; and an abundance of fresh produce, seafood and meat. It's no wonder residents incorporate food into every aspect of their lives, celebrating seasonal dishes like crawfish and rice, honoring culinary flavors at numerous spring festivals, and enjoying the popular restaurants that dot the landscape from the Mississippi to the Texas border.
Here are a few new restaurants that have recently opened in Acadiana.

Lafayette * (337) 967-1016
Search for "Freetown Fries"
on Facebook

The gourmet food truck scene has exploded in Lafayette, starting quietly about a few years ago with trucks like Viva La Waffle serving up unique sandwich fixings on waffles, and now expanding to about a dozen trucks a day. On the first Saturday of every month, a most or all truck rally sponsored by E's Kitchen, a kitchen supply store, takes place in the Parc Lafayette parking lot and draws a crowd.

For Marla Kristicevich, the idea for her Freetown Fries Truck began in Portland, Oregon, where a gourmet food truck trend was taking place. She envisioned a similar culinary fad for Lafayette, as the city is known for its festivals and outdoor music venues.

Kristicevich serves dishes based on fresh, hand-cut french fries lightly fried in peanut oil, ranging from Poo-yie Fry with beef gravy, queso cheese, spring onions and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper to Mediterranean Fry with garlic hummus and feta cheese, olives and spices. On Fridays, she serves catfish and fries, a Cajun version of fish and chips. For Mardi Gras, their King Cake Fry featured sweet potatoes with a multi-colored frosting on top.

The idea for Freetown Fries actually originated in Canada, where the original Cajuns lived before they were expelled by the British and moved to Louisiana. Poutine is a French Canadian dish of french fries with gravy and cheese. Kristicevich wondered why Cajuns didn't enjoy fries in the same way, when Freetown Fries' version might be more flavorful and imaginative than their northern cousins.

"Mine are fun and creative and Canadian poutine's Cajun cousin," she says.

Freetown Fries, like many of the new trucks on the market, uses fresh ingredients and a healthier way of cooking. For example, Kristicevich does not use anything frozen. "It keeps me honorable," she says.

The truck's name comes from the Lafayette neighborhood where Kristicevich lives.

Although she loves her mobility, Kristicevich's dream for Lafayette is a city park where the trucks can gather regularly. "I think it would be a wise decision," she says. "It would be a nice draw because we're such a food-friendly city."
Most Lafayette trucks can be found on Facebook and post their locations daily. The monthly summary can be found on the E's Kitchen website ateskitchen.com.

3901 Johnston Street, Lafayette
(337) 456-3274 *socialsouthern.com

Longtime Lafayette restaurateur Charlie Goodson, who owns the award-winning Charley G's, has teamed up with chef Marc Krampe, whose family owns the Lafayette McDonald's franchise, and Jody Ferguson, owner of Acadiana's Casa Olé. The three formed Southern Hospitality Kitchens to find gaps in Lafayette's culinary market and fill them with local restaurants, Goodson says.

Her first establishment is Social Southern Table & Bar, "a chef-run bar" that caters to 25- to 40-year-olds "and the young at heart," says Goodson. Social Southern is faster than a restaurant, he says, but also offers a sophisticated menu along with specialty cocktails like Social Sazerac and Blackberry Bourbon Lemonade; wine flights; and a wide selection of wines, beers, and fine spirits.

"We have great bars in town and great restaurants in town," says Goodson, "but we wanted to do something in between."

Chef Krampe's menu consists of "Speakeateries" bites; specialty sandwiches and salads; Flatbread; "supper plates" with dishes like Guinness braised pork; and "Social Fixins" for two, like mac-n-cheese with pepper, sake, and aged white cheddar.

According to Goodson, the most popular products were the Smoke Fried Chicken-n-Foie Gras cookies and the flatbreads, which are made on-site in awood stove. The restaurant also makes its own bread, with the exception of the poor boys' breads, which adds to its popularity, Goodson adds.

Social Southern is open for lunch and dinner at its Johnston Street location, midway between downtown and the Mall of Acadiana.

149 Fuselier Road, Arnaudville
(337) 754-7147
facebook.com/TheLittleBigCup

Arnaudville is at the confluence of the Bayous Fuselier and Teche, east of Grand Coteau and north of Breaux Bridge and Cecilia. Over the years the historic town has developed into a vibrant arts community, with the NUNU Arts and Culture Collective developed by artist and local son George Marks, Tom's Fiddle & Bow and several arts-related festivals.

There are locally owned and operated restaurants in town including Russell's Food Center with its popular lunchtime menu. But the opening of The Little Big Cup cafe and cafe in the heart of the city was like a shot of espresso, bringing life to the community and providing a meeting place that stays open late.

The café is run by Kevin Robin, an Arnaudville native, and his New York-born partner Sanjay Maharaj. Robin's family owns Russell's, which also owns a catering business, so the two were planning to open a coffee shop with the catering business inside, says Maharaj.

After the Little Big Cup opened in October, the response was overwhelming; The cafe's lunch and dinner specials were in demand, as were its coffee offerings and desserts, Maharaj says. Since the restaurant was taken over, the partners bought the building next door and moved the dining area there, while keeping the original space as a café with comfortable chairs and sofas. The catering business continues outside of the expanded kitchen, and there is now outdoor seating by the bayou.

According to Maharaj, what has made The Little Big Cup so successful is the reasonable prices and the specials on top of the fixed menu. The cafe offers balanced meals for $5, he says, and is experimenting with specials like offering Chinese once a week since Arnaudville doesn't have a Chinese restaurant.

They are currently working towards obtaining an alcohol license for the dining area.

"Things are going really well so far," says the New York transplant, adding that he loves his new home. "People are so nice, the food is wonderful and I have more time for the simple things in life."

Highway 90 an der Jefferson Island Road, New Iberia
(337) 369-3772 *landryscajunrestaurant.com

Although Landry's Seafood and Steakhouse has been around since 1969, we rate Landry's Seafood and Steakhouse as a "new restaurant" because chef Alex Patout has revived it since taking over. Patout, who ran restaurants in New Orleans for 25 years, lost everything when Hurricane Katrina hit the city, and New Orleans' loss was New Iberia's gain when Patout decided to return to his hometown. Landry's, which is not affiliated with the Landry's chain of seafood restaurants, is owned by Dave and Grace Landry and managed by Elaine Buteau. Located off Highway 90 on Jefferson Island Road, the restaurant focuses on authentic Cajun, among other things, with the popular Maw Maw's Lunch Buffet on weekdays and the Cajun Camp Fish Fry lunch on Fridays.

"Our motto is 'fresh and wild,'" Patout says of the menu, "whatever we can get locally."

That means fresh catfish from Loreauville, oysters from the township of Plaquemines, and jumbo crawfish from a Henderson processing plant. Patout even buys his vegetables in the Iberia Parish Prison and raves about the fresh mustard.

"We're a true Cajun restaurant in Cajun Country," says Patout. "We want people to feel like there's something that's really designed for people to get a taste of the culture."

Patout opened his first restaurant in New Iberia in 1978 and has won recognition and invitations to cook for several world leaders. Food & Wine Magazine named him one of America's 25 Best Chefs. He later opened Alex Patout's Louisiana Restaurant in New Orleans' French Quarter, but lost the business in Katrina.

As in the past, Patout uses the best of Louisiana in his cuisine. His tasting menu includes things like Crabmeat Maison, crawfish soup, dainty soft-shell crab, Cajun smothered roast duck, and bread pudding with rum sauce.

Lake Charles

Several new restaurants have opened in Lake Charles in recent months, including three on Ryan Street.Italian restaurant in Tuscanyat 3905 Ryan (337/478-0303) offers a variety of traditional Italian cuisine with hearty pasta dishes and fresh, homemade garlic bread.Siam-Restaurantbei 723 Ryan (337/214-6087,facebook.com/siamrestaurant723), closer to downtown, serves a variety of Asian specialties from Thailand, China and Vietnam. The elegant wine barRaubbei 700 Ryan (337/437-7633,facebook.com/heistwinebar) opened at the end of March with specialty cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in addition to its wines.

Dharmain der Broad St. 329 (337/433-3144,facebook.com/dharmalc) serves farm-to-table dishes from 20:00 to 22:00, including homemade pizzas, stromboli, calzones and salads, sometimes accompanied by live music. until 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Appropriately, the motto of the Dharma is "Feed Your Soul."

Cousins ​​​​Lebanese cuisinein der Kirkman St. 2612B (337/437-1144, caousinslebanese.com) offers Mediterranean and Lebanese cuisine, including a selection of kebabs, tabouli, hummus and wraps. The name refers to the owners Sam and George Homsi, natives of Lebanon who moved to Lake Charles about 30 years ago and were assisted by George Abraham, a first cousin of Sam and George's grandfather. Abraham called the two "cousins" and adopted the name.

LeBleu's Landing and Sausage Link specialty meatsat 202 Henning Drive (337/528-6900) in neighboring Sulfur offers Cajun cuisine standards like boiled crawfish and seafood gumbo along with an oversized buffet and full-service meat market. Visitors can choose between a sit-down meal or a boudin to go.