How do I find Cajun restaurants near me?

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Unless you live in South Louisiana, the chances of you actually having an honest-to-God Cajun restaurant anywhere near you is practically nil. Everyone outside of South Louisiana and even many inside of South Louisiana that calls themselves “Cajun” is actually selling New Orleans-style cuisine. New Orleans is no more Cajun than Texas is. And the authenticity of the New Orleans-style cuisine varies widely. I’ve seen brown gravy with a few pathetic looking frozen crawfish over nasty rice pawned off as crawfish etoufee.

You might be able to find passable gumbo at one of these spots. Fried crawfish or shrimp ‘po-boys’ is pretty hard to mess up, but actually getting a good one involves sourcing the right kind of remoulade, seasoning in the fry mix, and, in my opinion, the most important factor, the right kind of crusty, yet still soft bread.

Anything more complicated, if you want something half-way decent, you need to take a road trip to Lafayette, Louisiana. Skip the big touristy restaurants and hit up one of the countless tiny plate lunch joints. This is the cuisine you won’t see on Food Network. On your way out, stop by Don’s or Billy’s and get some boudin for the road. You won’t be disappointed.