October18- 20, 2024

Our short four-hour drive to Lafayette went smoothly and we arrived at check-in time at Paz’s place Airbnb.  We’ve had good luck with Airbnb in rarely having booking’s cancelled (only once before I memory) but this trip brought us two, the first in Amelia Island and now here in Lafayette.  About a month earlier I received a message through Airbnb from the owner that due to a change in local law, they were no longer able to host.  They advised they would help us find a replacement, but I was able to easily do so myself and thus we landed at this location. 

Our initial impression was one of disappointment as the house was in a semi-industrial area on a busy two-lane road.  But once inside the noise diminished and we began to appreciate the unique and somewhat whimsical decorating theme that was presented, with a mixture of antiques, multiple musical instruments, an old record player and a big comfortable couch and chair.  The bedroom was tucked at the back of the house further isolating it from the road and thus, we came to enjoy our stay. 

For dinner, we walked a few blocks down the street to Hot Food Express, a busy operation featuring Acadian influenced Asian food.  Although it had a bar as you entered, it wasn’t operating at the time so we walked up to the counter and ordered, the Bang Bang Shrimp, Fried Rice, Chicken Egg Roll and two Abita lagers, which would come to the low total of $29.  While sitting in a booth waiting for the food, we watched a steady stream of customers ordering and picking up food. 

What we received were gigantic portions of shrimp, rice and a huge egg roll.  We did our best to work through as much of it as we could but eventually surrendered and hauled the rest of it back to the house, where we would enjoy it again and again over the course of the next couple of days.  The next morning as we needed to kill some time I drove to Poupart’s Bakery where I picked up a couple of items to take back to the house for our enjoyment, and they were indeed as good as had been promoted by that older gent back in Mobile. 

Our one big tourist activity of the day would be a visit to Acadian Village, a private cultural park located on 32 acres owned by LARC, a 501c(3) Non-Profit Organization that for over 60 years, has been dedicated to serving the needs of people in Acadiana’s community with developmental disabilities and their families.  In the fall of 2018, we participated in Adventure Cycling’s Ragin Cajun bike tour which brought us through this area.  During our first day on the bikes, we visited Vermilionville, a similar Cajun and Creole living history museum with a combination of restored and replica historic structures.

The village here was created to serve a dual purpose: to generate revenue for the facility and to serve as an employment opportunity for those persons with developmental disabilities that were fully capable of working.  Wanting to use authentic homes, and as most on the grounds had long been abandoned and were being used for hay storage or just not used at all, families were contacted, and In some cases, grants were used for the purchase and movement, and in some cases the houses were free – only the cost of moving them was incurred.

In order to recreate a typical 1800s Cajun village, the design team transformed 10 acres of farmland into a shaded lived in community with a waterway running through it with the work performed by U.S. Army Reservists.  Seven of the 11 buildings are authentic homes of the 19th century donated by the families whose ancestors once occupied them.  All homes show the passing of time and are examples of the ingenuity of the early Acadian homebuilders, complete with wooden pegs, mud walls, hand-hewn cypress timbers and high-peaked roofs.  We would spend a pleasant 2-3 hours here, visiting each house, the church and the Doctor’s Museum, finding it all informative and well worth the time spent. 

On the way back to the house, feeling a bit peckish, we spotted Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe, and it reeled us in like a fish on the hook.  It’s an old-fashioned parlor dating back to its founding in 1940 to sell Borden ice creams.  In 1981, then owner, lifelong Lafayette resident Flora Levy, died and her will stipulated a large bequest, including the ice cream parlor, to the University of Louisiana Lafayette’s Foundation.  In May 2009, the Foundation sold the store to health club owner Red Lerille, who bought the property with the intention of keeping the local icon alive in Lafayette.  This location is the last Borden’s retail ice cream shop in the United States and so we were glad to chow down on the decent product they scoop out for happy customers. 

Later, after relaxing at the house and digesting our ice cream, we made our way to the highly recommended Prejean’s for dinner.  Located on the northern outskirts of town it’s a large establishment that highlights Cajun cuisine, which curiously, we wouldn’t sample while there, instead ordering fairly standard items.  Joanna ordered a French 77 (gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and champagne), to start while I enjoyed a Bulleit Rye Old Fashioned, both of which went well with the bowl of Corn Chowder that we started with. 

I then ordered a La Crema Pinot Noir to accompany the Pork Ribeye entrée that included two pieces that had been brined and larded and were topped with grilled pineapple slices and served with green beans, garlic mashed potatoes and a dinner roll.  Joanna opted for a half dozen Oysters on the half shell.  Although a little disappointed that we weren’t sampling true Cajun offerings, we had no complaints about the portion sizes or quality of what we did enjoy, checking out with a tab of $122 including tip and tax.

With nothing on tap as far as sightseeing was concerned the next day, we drove out of town to get in a bike ride.  As mentioned earlier we’d spent five days or more riding in this area and our eighteen mile ride that day would take us to Port Barre where we had a lunch stop during the tour, giving us the opportunity to visit once again the local attraction, Bourque’s Super Market.  As we were on the bikes, we couldn’t avail ourselves of a loaf of their World Famous Jalapeno Sausage Cheese Bread, but recall how good it was as someone shared it with us on the bike tour. 

Pedaling through flat countryside, we returned to the car in Leonville and grabbed a quick lunch of a smoked turkey sandwich and a Frostop Vanilla Caramel and Crème soda at Champagne’s Marche, a good sized place out in the country.  We’re not talking gourmet here, but the quality was good and it did what we needed it to do, that is assuage our hunger but not fill us up, leaving room for dinner later. 

And that would be in downtown at La Carreta (an area that somehow eluded us during our stay), a decent Mexican operation not far from the house.  There we would each get a large and tasty Happy Hour margarita for $7 apiece and split one order of fish tacos and a veggie quesadilla.  The drinks were really good as was the food and the gigantic portion sizes meant we would have been better off only ordering one for the both of us.  But all in all, it was a nice way to end our brief time in Lafayette closing out our tab at $58 including tax and tip.  Our next stop would be Corpus Christi, a seven hour drive we’ve done before and figured it would be an easy one.  Boy, were we wrong.  So stay tuned for that one. 

Links

Paz’s Place: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/714372933492202449?source_impression_id=p3_1741446820_P3hb85xYcpFyMWdw

Hot Food Express: https://order.online/store/hot-food-express-lafayette-422351/?hideModal=true&pickup=true&redirected=true&utm_source=sdk&visitorId=31654195781214215d09b2

Poupart’s Bakery: https://www.poupartsbakery.com/

Acadian Village: https://acadianvillage.org/

Vermilionville: https://bayouvermiliondistrict.org/vermilionville/

Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe: https://bordensicecreamshoppe.com/

Prejean’s: https://www.prejeans.com/

Bourque’s Market: https://bourquespecialties-com.3dcartstores.com/

Champagne’s Marche: https://www.champagnesmarche.com/

La Carreta: https://www.carretarestaurant.com/menu/lafayette