Prejean's

3480 N. I-49, Lafayette, LA - (337) 896-3247

Overview Reviews(3) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on 4/28/2004 1:29:00 AM

Prejean's is not a cozy, out-of-the-way Roadfood café. It is a boisterous eating hall with billboards on the highway, a gift shop just inside the front door, and the sort of fun/casual atmosphere that attracts busloads of tourists. None of that repudiates the fact that the Prejean's kitchen turns out good, classic Cajun food seven days a week, three meals a day.

Hungry for crawfish? Here you can have etouffee, crawfish pie, fried crawfish, rolled into fried boulettes, wrapped in tortillas to become an enchilada, or made into bisque with or without corn and crab or artichoke. There are several combo platters that offer samples of nearly all the varieties, preferably with deep-flavored dirty rice on the side. How about gumbo? Prejean's gumbos are flamboyantly seasoned; we are especially fond of the chicken and sausage gumbo; and there are seafood gumbo and gumbo made from duck and andouille sausage.

The menu is gigantic, including such wild game as rack of elk, deer chops, and alligator (fried or grilled); and there are good old steaks for Cajun-frowners.

Despite the hordes who fill the place, especially on weekends, we have found service to be brisk, efficient and friendly. It's a nice place; and big as it is, it is the real thing. Every night at seven, a quartet of guys set up on the bandstand with violin, squeezebox, triangle, and guitar and serenade customers with bayou tunes.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

Eggplant Abbeville	Gateau Sirop
Shrimp Louella	Chicken & Sausage Gumbo (cup)
Singing Crawfish Combo	Red Velvet Cake

Rate this place

Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"Named for the nearby town known for its delicious oysters, Eggplant Abbeville contains no oysters. It is fried eggplant topped with crab and surrounded by shrimp."
Michael Stern

"One of several crawfish combo plates on the menu, "Singing Crawfish" is etouffee and crawfish pie. We like the etouffee best of all the preparations at Prejeans. That's steamed white rice at the left."
Michael Stern

"Each table at Prejeans is equipped with plenty of hot sauce, as well as a roll of paper towels nicely fitted inside an old yam can."
Michael Stern

"Big, muscular shrimp stuffed with blue crabmeat, presented in a puddle of crab butter cream and accompanied by dirty rice and a ramekin of macque choux: Shrimp Louella!"
Michael Stern

"A popular item on dessert menus here in Cajun country, red velvet cake is here festooned with ribbons of sweet icing. The cake is great but the icing is so sweet that you can hardly taste it."
Michael Stern

"Prejean's motto is "Simply Cajun." Located by the side of I-49, it is popular among tourists, but also a regular haunt of Lafayette locals."
Michael Stern