Lafayette, LA and the food that you can eat there!

Here is a list of my favorite Lafayette (and surrounding area) restaurants.

Breakfast:

• Cafe Des Amis is located in Breaux Bridge and I have only been there for Zydeco Breakfast on Saturday mornings.  With items on the menu like Orielle de Cochon, Couche Couche, and Eggs Begnaud (a biscuit with crawfish etoufee and eggs) what Cajun wouldn't want to have breakfast there??
• Meche's has many locations around south LA and they make hands down the best doughnuts ever! As a kid I grew up eating a dozen doughnut holes at a time out of a white paper bag.  Now my favorites include original glazed, chocolate glazed, blueberry cake, lemon filled, chocolate filled....aww I love them all!!
• Coffee Call is located in Baton Rouge and makes a great place to stop for beignets and cafe au lait on your way into or out of Lafayette! They have crazy hours, staying open till 2am on the weekdays and 24 hours on the weekends, so anytime you are in Baton Rouge it is a good time to stop in!!
• Another Broken Egg Cafe is a new comer to the Lafayette food scene.  If you can cut it in this town, you usually deserve to stay and this is definitely true with this restaurant.  The "Flordian" is my favorite item on the menu.  It is an omelet with cream cheese, jack cheese, garlic butter, and crab...need I say more?  For Dani's graduation we had the brie and it was also fantastic!

Other:

• Cajun Sno is located off Johnston street in Lafayette and has the best, juiciest sno cones around.  Don't let the size (or condition) of the little shack fool you, the flavors here are spot on.  I don't know how they do it, but King Cake and Red Velvet taste like the real thing!  There are million flavors (and options) to choose from and I have never been disappointed.  My favorite flavor is wedding cake. This is a creamy flavor and I love the taste.  It also does not stain every crevice of your mouth when you eat it.  If I'm really hungry I get it "stuffed" with vanilla ice cream.  Yumm!  Be careful when choosing a size though, the cups run rather large.
• PJ's Coffee and Tea was my college hang out and one of my first full-time jobs. I still make iced coffee the way I learned to make it there.  I plan on making a stop while we are in town to pick up a couple of pounds of their flavored coffee.

I am currently packing up the family to head down to Lafayette, so the Lunch/Dinner reviews will have to wait a little bit longer.

Chick-fil-A

I've been meaning to write about Chick-fil-A for quiet a while but I just hadn't gotten around to it.  I had even forgotten about it with my new blog, new baby, etc.  Imagine my joy when Betsy sent me a post about my favorite fast food restaurant: Chick-fil-A.  The only thing I would add to her list is that the Chick-fil-As in our area give away FREE food in exchange for box tops at least once a year.

Enjoy:

Top Ten Reasons Chick-Fil-A is the BEST Fast Food Joint (especially for moms):

1. Great-tasting food

2. REAL food (you can tell those nuggets are made from... chicken! Most of their chicken is breaded in the actual restaurant and the french fries are actual potatoes)

3. Terrific customer service at the counter (they will even bring your food to you if you walk up to the counter with small children)

4. Even better customer service on the floor (I've had my drink refilled, my trash collected, my kids' meal prizes exchanged for ice cream--all without getting up from my seat)

5. Best kids' meal value: $2.89 for 4 nuggets, ample fries, a drink, and a toy that you can exchange for ice cream!!

6. Bendy straws for kids (why is this such a hard-to-find thing at other stores?)

7. Plastic placemats that stick to the table for kids to eat off of (again.... why don't other fast food rest'ts get this?)

8. Good kids' meal prizes (if you choose not get the free ice cream, you will usually be taking home a book or a CD instead of a junky plastic toy)

9. Pleasant dining environment (flowers on the table, clean, cheerful, etc.)

10. Truly amazing milk shakes 

Besides all this, Chick-Fil-A was started by a Christian family and is still closed on Sunday. 

Cafe 4

So the first thing that brought me to Cafe 4 was my free cupcake coupon from the school coupon book. My office mate and I decided to head there one day for lunch. Cafe 4 is located on the Union Ave end of Market Square and they have both indoor and outdoor seating. I was pleasantly surprised by the menu choices and we happened to get a great waiter. When asked what he suggested he named one item from each area of the menu (genius)! Theresa and I both took his suggestion and ordered the Lobster-Bacon Flatbread and the Pulled Short Rib and Grilled Cheese (that's right a grilled cheese with pulled short rib meat!)

I had never had lobster before so Theresa let me have a square of her flat bread and it was really good. It had applewood bacon and smoked gouda cheese. There were greens served on top and although Theresa said they were good they were a little akward to eat. My sandwich was amazing. It had a "red onion" marmalade on it that tasted like onions brewed in red wine and it really was delicious! The rib meat was deliciously tender and the concept of combining this with a grilled cheese? GENIUS! My sandwich was also served with in-house made fries and they were also really good.

After lunch we headed over to the bakery counter to collect our free cupcakes. As we were standing there two TVA employees came in behind us and seemed really upset that they couldn't find an item in the bakery case. Theresa had to find out what they were so upset about and so she asked them. "Only the best lemon bars I've had in my life!" the one man replied. They were out the day we were there but they assured us that we should try them the next time we drop by. I can't wait to do so!

I ended up choosing a gigantic mocha cupcake for my freebie. Other flavors were lemon, chocolate mint, and the list went on. My cake was actually a little dry but I'm betting it was because I didn't eat it until the next day. It was actually big enough for me to split with a friend and the mocha icing more than made up for the slightly dry cake.

If you can't tell my mouth waters anytime I think of going back there. If you have never been, make plans to go soon. If you have been tell me what you had and how it was.

More Free Chick-fil-a!!

This special has been extended for the month of March!!! I'm so bummed that I've missed it so far and that I'll be gone next Thurday morning. If you didn't catch my post in February you can read it below:


FREE Breakfast! That's right, this morning I had a free breakfast. Chick-fil-a is running a "box top" promotion in the month of February. If you live in Knoxville you can claim your free breakfast on Thursday mornings by bringing in any cereal box top. I know other cities do this in the month of February so check your local Chick-fil-a restaurants. In Knoxville the restaurants will donate the box tops for education to local Knox County Elementary schools! This morning the featured breakfast was a chicken sandwich, but it's my understanding it will be different every week.

I do love Chick-fil-a for other reasons! They are a great place to eat with toddlers. I would actually rather go in at a Chick-fil-a then go through the drive through (like all other fast food places). If you go up to the counter with your little ones they will offer to bring your food to your table. For every kiddo they will give you a disposable place mat that you can just lay thier food out on. If you don't see any placemats on thier high chairs just ask them, they probably have them behind the counter.

I also use to think to myself, "Who can really eat a 12 count chicken nugget meal?" Well, now that I have a little one with me I usually get the 12 count value meal and I eat the normal 8 and Ethan gets 4. At most Chick-fil-a restaurants there is also a person who comes around to bus the tables of your trash.

My favorite location in Knoxville is Turkey Creek. For some reason I think they are a tad bit more accomidating, although I haven't had a bad expeirence at Bearden Hill, they might just offer to do less for you.

All in all I give Chick-fil-A 5 Stars for toddler friendliness and an extra gold star for FREE breakfast!