Baton Rouge is the new heart of Cajun Country!

quote:

---

Fun on the bayou always involves food. And plenty of it. One of the most ubiquitous treats, boudin balls, can be found everywhere from gas stations to fancy butler passed hors d'ouevre trays. A good place to sample your first boudin balls is Tony's Seafood Market & Deli on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La. Boudin is typically a seasoned pork and rice sausage and the balls are made by rounding the filling, breading it and then deep frying it.

"Eat a couple of these and you'll die — but with a smile on your face," quips chef John Folse, my tour guide who describes himself as "Bayou born and crawfish fed."

Food and family are the dominant themes in southern Louisiana. Family owned and operated Tony's was started by Tony Pizzolato as a small produce store with 10 employees and is now one of the largest seafood markets in the south with 100 employees. They boil 25 tons of crawfish a day in season. The market which promotes "catfish swimming on one end, fried up on the other," also sells head-on shrimp, red fish, black drum, red snapper, oysters and alligator every which way. Louisiana is the second largest producer of seafood in the USA after Alaska, and most of the species are sold here. The deli section cooks up popular local specialties such as jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and bread pudding — all of which the chefs are happy to take out and sample.

A good place for an early breakfast that could include boudin — but just as easily alligator or green onion sausage — is Frank's Restaurant and Smokehouse on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, La., which opens at 5 a.m. This is another third generation family-run outfit that makes visitors feel as welcome as the flowers in May. It's a diner gone to heaven with all the normal morning fare but local specialties that are hard to resist. How about a basket of biscuits, sweet potato beignet balls, country sausage and gravy, chicken fried steak, or grits? All good training for a day of boudin tasting.

---