"We want to give tourists an opportunity to experience a different kind of eating that's good for the soul, that's good for the heart."

                                                          Merline Herbert, Creole Lunch House

The Plate Lunch Experience

Meat Plus Three. Quick Lunch. Blue Plate Special. In Acadiana, it's a plate lunch. No matter where you are or what you call it, it's food served up at lunchtime that represents the home-cooking and cultural foodways of the local folks.

In a place as food conscious as Acadiana, the humble plate lunch is especially celebrated. Make a midday stop at one of Lafayette's lunch houses during the workweek and you'll quickly recognize that, among locals, Cajun and Creole food has little to do with nourishment, and everything to do with enjoyment. More than just meat and three sides, the plate lunch serves up an authentic experience of local daily life in Acadiana.

There are a few signs that let you know when you've stumbled into a genuine plate lunch restaurant. First, the plate itself: a tripartite plastic plate or Styrofoam clamshell, struggling to keep its oversized portions within their respective compartments. In most cases, the plate surrenders, and separate dishes are used to hold salads or desserts.  A roll or bread slice white, and most likely Evangeline Maid is plopped atop the food mound, sometimes separated by aluminum foil or wax paper, sometimes not.

The presentation is another hint that you're in plate lunch territory. Arrayed in cafeteria serving style, the various dishes compete to entice you; you'll find yourself lingering, undecided, while the line lengthens behind you. But don't feel bad if you can't make up your mind: the servers will be more than happy to give you a little bit of everything. If you find yourself at the Creole Lunch House, just ask Ms. Merline for the rookie plate, a plate designed for the inexperienced or the indecisive. Truth is, it doesn't really matter what you order anyway: you have to work hard to get a bad plate lunch. Pat Dupuis of Pat's Downtown says simply, "a plate lunch is somethin' good."

Clue number 3: the food. A good plate lunch house offers many satisfactions, but most loyal customers will tell you the food comes first. "I love how people are friendly here," explains one regular at a popular Lafayette lunch house, "but it's really about the food." Meals served at a plate lunch house are darn close to what you'd eat in homes around Acadiana. The food and the atmosphere of plate lunch houses evolved as a substitute for the home-cooked lunches once prepared by wives and mothers at a time when families still gathered daily for their midday meal at home. Today, the plate lunch is an invitation to visitors for a taste of what's really cooked in the home kitchens of Acadiana. In the words of one of the faithful customers at Country Cuisine, "Come see how we do rice and gravy."

It's hard to imagine that beef, pork, or chicken could taste so good as when it's been melted into gravies, stews, and fricassees. And of course, there's the seafood, crawfish, shrimp, or catfish that's served up fried or in an etouffee or courtbouillion. And for the adventurous plate lunch connoisseur, there's the garfish, the smothered liver, and the cowboy stew. Whatever you get, it's coming to you over a king-size bed of rice. For all the variety of Acadiana's cuisine, rice is the one thing you can be sure to find on your plate.

Along with the food, a vital part of the plate lunch experience is the place and the people who frequent it. The dining rooms are full of the hustle and bustle and laughter of regulars, where family photos might line the walls or a television may play a popular soap opera. Since most workers can't go home for lunch with the family anymore, the plate lunch house offers the next best thing. And if Ms. Merline has her way, you really do feel like you've gone to Mamma's or Grandma's house.

Food is a passing pleasure, of course. And the satisfactions of the plate lunch are especially fleeting, served only for a little while at midday and grubbed up by a workforce with just an hour to spare before returning to the job.  But there's also something lasting and persistent in the plate lunch experience. The tastes and smells, the places, people, and feelings surrounding that midday ritual, it all seeps into your memory after a while and makes you crave more, more of the food and more of the friendly people cooking it, serving it, and enjoying it with you.