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My friend heard about this restaurant from some co-workers. So one Saturday evening we just took off and went there. They told him it was just outside of Iota. So we wandered around Iota for a while until we just gave in and asked for directions. Turns out it is more like halfway between Iota and Basile. Not that I minded the side trip. Iota seems a lovely little town and the countryside around remarkable untouched. However the direct route is to take the second Jennings exit and head north on Hwy. 97. When you pass Hwy 98 on your left you are almost there. Don’t be discouraged by the lack of civilization. This venue appears in the middle of nowhere quite literally on a crawfish pond. D.I. Fruge started raising crawfish back when and held boils to sell his product. It proved so popular they built a restaurant that has undergone two expansions. The outside presents a tin roofed building. The inside exudes a down home feel. The first dinning room possesses walls of wood paneling with a rolled linoleum floor. Ladder back chairs surround tables with red checked vinyl tablecloths with a crawfish theme. The inner sanctum consists of all wood with a bandstand and dance floor. The walls sport memorabilia, deer heads and such.
We ordered some meat pies to start off with. They came out steaming and tasty. More an oval shape than a quarter moon I associate with meat pies they proved very spicy and I think they were made in house. My friend opted for the grilled platter while I went for the X-Lg seafood platter. His came with a cup of corn and crab chowder. It appeared thick with excellent crab and corn flavor. The platter consisted of oysters, crab cake and fish. The oysters while small (this was back in October) proved tasty. The crab cake possessed a good ration of crab to filler with wonderful seasoning to complement it. The fish while well cooked proved virtually tasteless like it had not been seasoned at all. My friend made the comment that the waitress must have told the kitchen to tone back because she was serving two “Americans”. My platter had shrimp & frog legs in a flour crust, oysters in a corn meal crust, catfish in corn flour, and stuffed crab and shrimp. Everything came out crispy, crunchy on the outside and moist and tender inside with no greasy taste. The stuffing in the crab was light and tasty and the one around the shrimp not too compacted.
However good the food it could not compare to the floorshow. This place features Cajun music every night it is open. The band the night was good but there was on couple dancing that stole the show. They danced with such vigor and “joi de vies” that your spirits naturally lifted. They certainly impressed my friend. So if you want good food, friendly atmosphere, great “chank a chank” and a life experience this establishment in the middle of a rice field is definitely worth the hour drive from Lake Charles.
SHORT SHOT
This year with my sister and friends out of town I ate my Thanksgiving meal at LA TRUFFE SAUVAGE. Again I was reminded that I don’t have to travel out of town to get world class food. From the bread to the dessert it compares to any thing that I’ve eaten in Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Houston or New Orleans.
