A taste of Louisiana
Local knowledge is key if you want to take in all the flavors of the city
Local knowledge is key if you want to discover the delicious side of Lake Charles.
There are many things I never knew about the fifth-largest city in Louisiana. That it’s located on more than one body of water (Lake Charles, Prien Lake and the Calcasieu River). That before it was officially named Lake Charles, the area was known as Charleston. That in 1910, a great fire devastated much of the city.
For all the years I’ve lived in Houston — and the many times I passed through it to and from New Orleans — Lake Charles was always that gritty town with the dramatic flyover bridges and the lake ringed by casinos and a plethora of oil refineries and petrochemical plants.
When I did visit, it was always within the shiny excess of either Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino or L’Auberge Casino Resort. Those glam cocoons might have been great fun, but they didn’t do much to enhance my knowledge of the city at large.
That changed on a recent weekend, when I was challenged with visiting restaurants that promised to broaden my understanding of Lake Charles by where it ate and drank. As ignorant as I was about the history of the city, I was also sadly uninformed about its favorite dining spots.
Not anymore. Here is my 48-hour immersion in the tastiest corners of Lake Charles.
Best way to start the day
Looking very much like the kind of thoughtfully curated coffee shop/bakery that you’d find in the well-heeled enclaves of the Hamptons or Cape Cod, The Bekery proved to be a perfect place to chill in a sweet setting marked by an adorably furnished parlor and pleasant patio. Named for its owner, Rebekah Hoffpauir, it offers house-made scones, cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies, croissants (Saturday only) and textbook-perfect quiche. I don’t know how a shop of this quality can charge so little for a scone and cup of coffee, but I’m sure the locals aren’t complaining. 206 W. 11th St., 337-564-6132; thebekery.online
Room with a view
Loggerheads Bar & Grill looks like a private marina and club on first approach, but there are no nautical pretensions to this friendly spot on the Calcasieu River. The main dining room is almost all bar — reason enough to approve — flanked by two stone fireplaces and fronted by multilevel patios. The menu is none too taxing: wings, burgers, po-boys, salads, boiled shrimp, and fried fish or frog leg baskets. Give me a cold draft, crispy onion rings, a great house band and colorful townies to chat up and I’m all set. Great service, too. 3748 Louisiana Highway 3059 (Old Town Road), 337491-6794