If you're heading to Cajun Country (also known as Acadiana, the region in and around Lafayette and Lake Charles, Louisiana), you'll occasionally find an honest local who tells you the truth: there aren't really any fantastic Cajun or Creole dinner restaurants. There are some okay ones, but the truth is, most Cajuns and Creoles prefer to eat Chère Vieille Mom's gumbo, not restaurant gumbo. When they go out for dinner, it's for either an item that's an overly big production to make at home on an average night (fried seafood or boiled crawfish, for example) or a different cuisine altogether (yes, there's good sushi and fantastic Vietnamese food, among other international delicacies, in Cajun country).
It's a bummer for tourists who are looking to get plates full of regional delicacies and who can't swing an invite to someone's Sunday supper, but there's a secret alternative: plate lunches.
The plate lunch is this area's answer to the meat-and-three that you'll find throughout Tennessee and the Carolinas (and it's quite similar to the Hawaiian lunch choice with the same name). Plate lunch restaurants typically serve up a short list of meaty entrees and a handful of vegetable (or non-vegetable) sides. Choose one of the former and two or three of the latter, and for around $10 (sometimes less), you're good to go.
The best plate lunch joints are often found in industrial zones (and occasionally way out in the country near farms), as the typical clientele is blue collar folks looking to pick up a quick and affordable plate of home cooking on their lunch break. And as any foodie knows, blue-collar locals (just like truckers and cops) always know where to get the good stuff.
So What's on the Menu?
Typical plate lunch entrées might be smothered turkey wings, chicken and sausage fricasée, fried pork chops, shrimp étouffée, or meatball stew.
Sides are often things like candied yams, smothered greens, smothered cabbage, okra and tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and cole slaw. A scoop of white rice is de rigeuer, as is a slice of white bread or a dinner roll (seldom baked in-house; they're not the star).
Plate lunch joints will also often have gumbo or jambalaya or some other one-pot dish available on a back burner for à la carte purchasing, and it's also not uncommon to see burgers or po-boys on offer for those who want a hand-held item.
Plate lunches are always available to go, but most places also either have a dining room or, in the case of some of the really tiny order-at-the-window joints, a few picnic tables outside.
Be forewarned, eco-conscious tourists, that plate lunches are almost invariably served in styrofoam clamshell containers. Do not be surprised by this, and perhaps just let it go this one time instead of offering up a lecture to the nice person serving you delicious food. (Yes, I've heard actual out-of-towners do this. No, I could not contain my aggressive eye-rolling. It's not ideal but vociferous words from tourists aren't likely to be the catalyst for change here.)
So Where Do I Get One of These Styrofoam Clamshells Full of Pure Culinary Gold?
My go-to plate lunch joint in Lafayette is the Creole Lunch House, at 713 12th Street. Not only are their entrées and sides consistently delicious, but they make one of my favorite foods in the whole world, Creole stuffed bread. It's a hunk of white bread with a bunch of spicy meat baked inside, but do not underestimate it for its simplicity. Get a plate lunch and a stuffed bread on the side and get ready to put yourself into a delicious Creole cuisine coma.
I also love Laura's II, which happens to be well-located for an easy stop-off if you're driving through Lafayette on I-10 (1904 W. University Ave.). Their stuffed turkey wings are to die for (they're actually smothered; in Cajun/Creole culinary terms, "stuffed" often means "cooked down with a bunch of onions and peppers and flavorful goodness" -- it's a direct translation of the word "étouffée"), and I'm a mega-fan of their meatball stew, which is made with a thick, spicy roux-based gravy that's so dark it's almost black.
If you find yourself in Breaux Bridge, you'll find excellent plate lunches at both Poché's Market, where you can also pick up some of the best boudin in the region, and at Glenda's Creole Kitchen, where Anthony Bourdain went ga-ga over a plate lunch in his Cajun Country episode of 'No Reservations.' Glenda's is a rare plate lunch joint that's open on weekends, too, if your trip isn't convenient for a weekday lunch stop.
And truth be told, it's pretty unlikely that you'll go wrong with a plate lunch anywhere you find one. The very phrase "plate lunch" tends to be a surprisingly good marker of quality in Acadiana, and at the price, it's worth trying all of them.
But it Seems Pretty Humble -- Is It Really All That Special?
Yes.
