Foodies Of Lafayette Podcast

A bottle of barbecue sauce doesn’t usually come with a war story, a carhop restaurant, and a family passing the keys from one generation to the next but Jack Miller’s does. We sit down at the Jack Miller’s facility with Kermit and Christian Miller to trace how a Ville Platte restaurant called the American Inn became the roots of one of Louisiana’s most recognizable pantry staples, still made under...

They tried to shut a young business owner down by writing a brand-new law, but they couldn’t even explain what the law meant. We’re back at Sunday Soda Fountain with David Irvin, and the story picks up as his Lafayette daiquiri shop goes national overnight, putting a spotlight on local enforcement, city politics, and the strange reality of “custom” regulation built around one business. David break...

The drive-thru daiquiri feels like it’s always been part of Louisiana, but it started as one person’s risky idea and a whole lot of reading. We’re sitting down with Lafayette icon David “Tater” Ervin, the originator of the very first drive-thru daiquiri, to hear how a forestry major turned a frozen drink machine sighting into the Daiquiri Factory and a global phenomenon. Tater breaks down the real...

Gerald Gruenig has the kind of personality you notice from across the room, but the story behind it runs deeper than social clips and zydeco nights. We talk with Gerald about growing up in Gentilly, New Orleans, with a full-blown po-boy shop under his bedroom, and how that front-row seat to plate lunches, regulars, and neighborhood life shaped the way he moves through Louisiana today. If you care...

A lot of restaurant stories start with a menu. Ours starts with a building, a chipped tile floor, and a stranger who walks by and says, “That used to be the old soda fountain.” We’re sitting down with Mike and Setareh Delcambre inside Sunday Soda Fountain in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana, and they take us through the real behind-the-scenes journey of bringing historic spaces back to life without s...

A mayor who still keeps a hand in the restaurant? That combination sounds impossible until you meet Jan Scott Richard, the Mayor of Scott, Louisiana and the owner of Cajan's. Sitting down at Sunday Soda Fountain, we follow the path from growing up in Scott to chasing soccer all the way to Milwaukee and Tallahassee, then returning home with a clearer idea of what a strong community can look li...

A 94-year run doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen by cutting corners. We’re sitting down at Poor Boy's Riverside Inn in Lafayette with Richard and Lori Hurst to hear what it takes to carry a multi-generation Louisiana restaurant forward while keeping the food, the service, and the standards consistent enough that regulars can taste the difference the second a recipe s...

A single lunch can change a city’s palate, and that’s exactly where this story starts. We’re at Poor Boy's Riverside Inn with Richard and Lori Hurst, chasing the real origin of a Lafayette restaurant that feels stitched into Acadiana itself. From a grandfather selling snowballs downtown in the 1930s to a po-boy that made customers stop and ask “what is that,” the early years are pure Louisian...

Some places feed you. Others hold your whole history. Sitting at Randall’s with Heidi McDonald and Jason Stoner, we talk about why this room feels like “hallowed ground” for so many people across Acadiana, and how Cajun food and live music can turn a restaurant into a cultural anchor for Lafayette, Breaux Bridge, and beyond. We dig into the hard part too: when COVID shut things down and the music...

He flew crabs across the country, built dance floors people would tear up with crowbars, and kept Cajun culture loud when it would have been easier to let it fade. We’re on location at Mulate’s with the legend Frank Randol, following the threads that connect Randol's Restaurant, Breaux Bridge, Lafayette Louisiana food, and the stubborn pride of Acadiana. We talk through Frank’s family history...

He moved to Lafayette because he looked at a US map and thought he was landing near the Bahamas. That one mistake turned into Poseidon, one of the most beloved Greek and Mediterranean restaurants in Lafayette, Louisiana and a place where generations celebrate birthdays, lunches, and late-night stories. We sit down with Aristos of Poseidon to hear how he came from the island of Cyprus, studied at U...

Ronald McDonald showed up at Mark Krampe’s birthday parties at home and that’s only the beginning of how unusual his food story gets. We sit down with Mark to talk about growing up in Lafayette inside a family that helped bring McDonald’s to the area, where procedure, cleanliness, and consistency weren’t buzzwords, they were daily life. That early training shaped how he sees restaurants now: stron...

A great neighborhood restaurant doesn’t just feed people, it teaches them to come back. From the outside, Acadian Superette looks like a classic Lafayette corner store. Step inside, and you find a carefully rebuilt local market and deli where the history stays on the walls while the food keeps getting sharper. We talk with the people behind the transformation: how a building dating back to the 195...

Eight hundred pounds of lasagna doesn’t happen by accident. We sit down with Joey Beyt of Joey’s, a literal Lafayette icon, to hear how a small, family-built meat market turns into what we love calling the city’s “auxiliary kitchen” a place where you can grab prime steaks, sushi-grade seafood, scratch-made soups and gumbos, and a freezer full of comfort food that saves your weeknight dinner. Joey...

A chef who learned by sanding beer boxes, waxing banquet-room floors, and listening to Creole cooks all day doesn’t need a flashy origin story. He needs consistency, standards, and a dining room full of regulars who keep coming back. From inside Nash’s Restaurant in Broussard, Louisiana, we sit down with Nash and Jenny Barreca to unpack how a family legacy in New Orleans becomes a long-running Aca...

Lafayette didn’t always know what pizza was, and Alesi’s Pizza helped change that. We sit down with the family behind one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Lafayette, Louisiana to follow a story that starts in Sicily, passes through Ellis Island, and lands in Acadiana in the most unexpected way: a WWII posting at an old Army air base and a chance meeting with a “little Cajun girl” at a downtown...

A great bakery doesn’t just sell pastries. It keeps a city’s memories warm, one loaf at a time. We’re sitting down at Sunday Soda Fountain with Patrick Poupart, the next-generation baker behind Poupart’s Bakery in Lafayette, Louisiana, to dig into how a true French bakery took root here and why people still drive in from out of town with an ice chest to stock up. Patrick shares the family story th...

What if your second act became your town’s heartbeat? We sit down with Café Sydney Mae’s David Puckett to trace a late-career leap from insurance to the line, and how that jump—grounded in family, faith, and fierce hospitality—turned a 100-year-old Breaux Bridge building into a community hub for food, music, and art. David shares the moment his daughter needed a kidney and he became her donor, the...

The smell of fried ribs hits first, then the line of boudin links, and finally the feeling that you’ve stepped into a modern Cajun country store where everything just works. We sat down with Doug Miller to unpack how Karchener’s grew from a bold bet in Scott, Louisiana into a thriving, multi-location market without sacrificing flavor, warmth, or control. The story winds through roofing crews in Au...

What makes a restaurant unforgettable isn’t the plate, it’s the person who serves it. We sit down with Nidal Balbisi—founder behind Zeus, Agave, Baba Kebab, and more—to unpack how people-first hospitality, relentless presence, and creative fusion built some of Acadiana’s most-loved dining rooms. Nidal takes us from Kuwait to LSU, through his first shifts as a dishwasher assistant, and into the fro...

A lively lounge across from a canning factory turned into a grocery where regulars grabbed bread, eggs, and ketchup after a beer—and that simple pivot launched a 70-year family legacy. We sit down with Blaine and Braden Broussard of Nunu’s to unpack how a third- and fourth-generation team built a beloved Acadiana staple known for bold boudin, cracklins, plate lunches, and the kind of customer care...

A house behind a tiny Lafayette restaurant once held a secret kitchen where a mother simmered sauces that would shape a city’s palate. From that backyard ingenuity to a French Quarter liquor store with the rare ability to sell both to-go and across the bar, Gene shares how grit, community, and a deep love for wine became the backbone of his restaurants. We walk through live-music nights at Time Pl...

A stranger in a Pueblo cafe hears the name “Todaro” and replies, “Don Calogero.” In a heartbeat, Gene’s family lore tilts from mystery to revelation, and what begins as a search for relatives becomes a tour of Prohibition-era Colorado, early Las Vegas watchmen, and the way immigrant networks quietly shaped American towns. We follow that thread back to Palermo, where a boy counts 44 steps down to t...

A near-miss with Alexandria, a sold family farm, and a steel-framed building that became Lafayette’s unofficial compass—turn left by Keller’s. We sit down with the Keller family to trace five generations of baking craft, from French roots in the 1700s to a downtown landmark that still runs on touch, timing, and tradition. This is a story about more than pastries; it’s about a living starter that l...

A small Freetown counter, a line out the door, and a brisket burrito people plan their day around—this is how Taco Sisters built a loyal following without losing their soul. We sit down with Lynn Jenkins to unpack the real story behind a 17-year run marked by steady quality, creative specials, and a culture that turns first jobs into careers. Lynn takes us back to 407 Johnston Street where Katie a...