SUN, FOOD, FRIENDS AND FUN – BREAUX BRIDGE, LOUISIANA

Sunday morning dawned clear, cloudless and completely still.  The fish pond was like a mirror.  We knew the forecast called for sunshine all day – YAY.  We were out walking the levees early, knowing that our good, similarly food obsessed, friends Doug and JoAnn would be arriving by noon.

As we walked, our conversation centered about lunch plans: should we suggest Poche’s restaurant – a return trip for us, but we know the food to be excellent and down-homey - or should we all try some place different, reputed to be one of Breaux Bridge’s better restaurants, Cafe Des Amis?  Oh, the pressure!  We finally decided to make JoAnn and Doug decide.

In the end, we all agreed to visit Cafe Des Amis since we wanted to take a walk around historic Breaux Bridge anyway.  Away we went.

JoAnn and Doug at Cafe Des Amis	Grilled catfish with Crawfish Au Gratin

Cafe des Amis is a small, charming, busy cafe on the main street of Breaux Bridge, just a couple of blocks from the current bridge on the site of Firmin Breaux’s original suspension footbridge.  Their claim to fame is the Saturday morning Zydeco breakfast, with music and dancing squeezed in around tables and diners.  For our purposes – conversation over great food – the quieter Sunday meal worked better.

I ordered grilled catfish with crawfish au gratin, and had already forked the first tender bite into my mouth when I remember the food glamour shot.  The sides are delicious red beans and nothing-special mashed potatoes.  The entree was, as Doug says, “flat out good”.  JoAnn and Odel had variations on the same theme; Doug ordered crawfish pie in puff pastry.  Service: poor.  Coffee: very good.  Food: Delicious.  Company: Excellent.  :)

Full bar at Cafe des Amis	Oak trees typical of the area

The day was sunny and approaching warm when we rolled out of the cafe, so we wandered a few streets of Breaux Bridge.  The photo on the right, above, is a typical scene in this part of Louisiana – HUGE oak trees casting dappled shade (if the sun is out).  It’s difficult to capture the immense size of these oaks; in this photo, the two story house provides some perspective.

We couldn’t let our friends leave without visiting Poche’s, so we stopped on the way home.  They picked up a few of the unusual-to-us, yummy Cajun specialties: boudin (a rice and pork or rice and crawfish sausage) and pistolettes (dinner-sized French rolls stuffed with meat or seafood – or sometimes ice cream – then deep –fried).  When we got back home, the sun was so warm that we pulled out the lawn chairs and relaxed on the grass overlooking the pond. 

Can’t think of a darn thing that would have improved the day.  :)