I Ate My Way Up and Down the Cajun Bayou Food Trail, and I’m Still Dreaming About the Recipes

First Stop: Cajun Bayou Visitor’s Center

No trip is complete without a stop at the welcome center—especially one that looks like it was pulled right out of a children’s museum. With interactive exhibits featuring videos and maps, I was able to get a sense of place before I even began my foodie journey. This is where I learned how the terms “up the bayou” and “down the bayou” are used to describe the distinctions between this subregion of Louisiana. The further down the bayou you go, the closer you get to the Gulf of Mexico. I picked up my Cajun Bayou Food Trail passport so I could collect stamps as I visited each of the stops.

Second Stop: Cinclare

The first meal of my journey was an intimate dinner at Cinclare in Thibodaux. After a day of travel, I was excited to tuck in for a good meal. I made a pact with myself before arriving that I was going to eat as much seafood as I could during my trip. And there was no better way to start than with a delicious crab aglio e olio. Fresh Louisiana crab meat tossed with spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, snow peas, lemon and Parmesan—the entire bowl was incredibly light, but so full of flavor. The crab was tender and buttery, complementing the pasta perfectly.

Dessert was nonnegotiable, especially since it was bread pudding waffles and ice cream. Yes, you read that correctly: bread pudding waffles. The waffles were topped with a salted olive oil caramel sauce that I am still dreaming of. Safe to say, it was a perfect welcome to the region.

Third Stop: Spahr’s Seafood

I will judge any breakfast spot purely based on how good its coffee is—and Spahr’s Seafood passed that test with flying colors. It was the kind of coffee I wanted to sip all day while sitting and catching up with friends. We made sure to order some beignets to go with it, and I was in heaven. They were flaky and sweet, and the perfect size for dunking in coffee.

For something a little heartier, I ordered Cajun breakfast grits. Topped with bacon bits and plenty of cheese, they were a great way to start my day. Normally the dish is topped with a fried egg, but I can’t eat eggs. The server asked my dining companion if she wanted my egg on her breakfast grits—so really, everyone won!

Fourth Stop: Politz’s Restaurant

Does it really count as a trip to the South if you don’t eat at least one po’ boy? This was exactly what I was craving when we pulled up to Politz’s Restaurant. This family-run business has been around for almost 60 years. Its menu is huge and has something for literally everyone. It was hard to decide on one thing, but once the shrimp po’ boy caught my eye, I knew that was the way to go.

These tender shrimp were battered and fried and piled high on a fresh bread roll. The sandwich was delicious, and I even started dipping it in the juice from my side order of green beans. I don’t know if this is a traditional method of enjoying a po’ boy or green beans, but I definitely recommend it.

Fifth Stop: Kajun Twist & Grill

If you have onion rings on your menu, I will order them and judge them. Luckily, when we arrived at Kajun Twist & Grill, chef and owner Anthony Goldsmith already had a heaping pile ready for us. Spoiler alert: They were amazing. Another standout appetizer was the boudin egg rolls. This fusion dish is a popular Cajun appetizer, and the filling is a mixture of pork, rice and seasonings.

I was also very happy to have a cup of the daily special, which was smoked sausage ragu patot (potato stew). It was served over rice, and I could have eaten it by the bucket. Even with all the food I was sampling, I felt like I was only scratching the surface of the variety of Cajun food available.

Sixth Stop: Griffin’s Restaurant

If I had to write a one-sentence review for Griffin’s Restaurant, it would be, “Come for the food, stay for the company.” Gina Griffin and her husband, Dwayne, joined us for our meal, and I have never felt so welcome or at ease during a meal with strangers in my life. Gina’s background in southern and Cajun cooking means that everything on the menu is incredible. I ordered a cup of shrimp-and-corn bisque that I haven’t stopped thinking about since.

Gina even gave me her secret trick for making okra gumbo so that the okra doesn’t get slimy. But I’m sworn to secrecy, so if you want to know how she does it, well, you’ll have to pay her a visit at Griffin’s. Between the food and the hospitality, I have to say that this is the first place I would visit on my next trip down the bayou.

Seventh Stop: Grady V’s

My determination to eat as much shrimp as possible carried into brunch at Grady V’s, where I ordered a Bloody Mary that came topped with a blackened Gulf shrimp. I love the versatility of brunch, because I had the options to either lean into breakfast or lunch, as well as into savory or sweet options. On this particular morning, I felt savory breakfast was the call of the day.

I got the Cajun biscuits, which came loaded with smashed boudin, pepper jack cheese and candied bacon. I paired it with a side order of crispy potatoes and loved every bite. It was a perfect toast to an incredible culinary journey.

Bonus Stop: Louisiana Gumbo Festival

When I saw that my trip overlapped with the Louisiana Gumbo Festival, I did a little happy dance. I think gumbo is a perfect meal, and I was thrilled to be in the gumbo capitol of Louisiana to celebrate it in all its glory. The Gumbo Festival has been an annual fundraiser for the volunteer fire department, and volunteers cook over 500 gallons of fresh gumbo for the occasion.

I had a chance to go into the kitchen and watch Evan Plaisance, the festival’s Grand Marshall, make the magic happen. He started cooking his family’s gumbo recipes at 4 a.m. so they would be ready for the evening’s festivities. “You’ve got 50 pounds of chicken, 40 pounds of sausage, 40 pounds of chopped vegetables and roughly about a gallon of roux,” he told me. “But for how you put it together? Y’all gotta figure that one out!”

And I definitely do need to figure that out, because this was the best gumbo I’ve ever had. It was perfectly balanced—smoky and spicy and delicious.

Final Thoughts

I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered better food or kinder people in my life. There’s hospitality, and then there’s Cajun hospitality—I think they set a new standard. Everyone was welcoming, sure, but also full of pride for their food. Most of these are family-run businesses headed by locals. The recipes have been passed down for generations, and are crucial for maintaining the legacy of Cajun cuisine. If you love food and travel, then a trip up and down the Cajun Bayou needs to go on your bucket list. And yes, I made sure to get my free t-shirt before I left.