smoked tasso and sweet potato pies

The culinary highlight of the trip so far has been Prejean’s Restaurant in Lafayette. It was after all the main reason why we have gone on this trip. We have been going to the Crawfish Festival for years and we met Terryl Jackson this year as he ladled out Pheasant, Duck and Andouille Sausage gumbo. He is the executive chef at Prejean’s and this affable man had his picture and his awards all on display at the entrance to this expansive restaurant. Every taste of every dish we had last night was better than the last. Janet started out with an appetizer that was called Sassafras Shrimp. Grilled, stuffed with Jack Cheese covered by apple smoked bacon, fried and then smothered in a crawfish creole sauce, this was a meal by itself. My lightly fried alligator bits, though tasty were absolutely pedestrian in comparison.

We asked our waiter if Mr. Jackson was in and eventually the man himself came to our table. Though he did not recognize us at first we showed him the business card he had given us at the Crawfish Festival and we talked for a long time about how he was so very impressed with so many people eating Crawfish Boil. He was delighted that we had traveled so far to eat in his restaurant and then he proceeded to tell us where else to eat, although his first bit of advice was to have us return to Prejean’s for breakfast.

So, we did.

Janet and I got up relatively early for ourselves and made Prejean’s for breakfast this morning. The vast hall of the restaurant was empty save for a small number of tables near the stuffed alligator on display near the front door. The idea was to split one dish, the Napoleon. It is a sweet potato cake and lump crab cake topped by a poached egg, shrimp, Hollandaise Sauce, smoked Tasso and dusted with cayenne pepper. I got some oat meal too, but we giggled as we ate this gourmet breakfast that Janet labeled as the best she had ever eaten and we waved at the web cam at all you poor folks at home who are unable to enjoy meals like these.