Best ever: Louisiana restaurant called 'Boudreau and Thibodeau's Cajun Cookin'
I promise I’m not making this up because I’m not sure how I would have begun to make it up. I also gladly tell you that I did not discover this — and that it was discovered for my benefit quite by accident.
Columnist Chip Scoggins was working on a piece about local coaches. He typed “Boudreau and Thibodeau” into a Google search to double-check that he was properly spelling the names of the two newly hired Minnesota coaches — Bruce Boudreau of the Wild, Tom Thibodeau of the Wolves. The search gave him the spelling … and it has given us all so much more.
For in that search, he came across a restaurant in Houma, La. — about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans — called “Boudreau and Thibodeau’s Cajun Cookin’.” Chip thought of me, bless his heart, and on Monday I had the occasion to speak with Audra, a bookkeeper at the restaurant, to find out a little more about his serendipity.
*Though Audra didn’t know specifically why the name was chosen for the restaurant, Boudreau and Thibodeau are two popular characters from Cajun history. She asked me if I’d ever been to Louisiana, and when I regrettably answered that I had not, she made sure I knew that Boudreau and Thibodeau are very popular last names in the region.
*They are such popular characters that there is an entire line of Boudreau and Thibodeau jokes, Audra said. She told me I could “go online and just search for Boudreau and Thibodeau jokes. Usually it’s written in a Cajun tone — not quite proper English. That’s part of the humor in it.”
This is amazing, and it’s absolutely true. They are basically the Cajun equivalent of Ole and Lena, Sven and Ole or Eino and Toivo jokes up here, depending on how you prefer your Scandinavian humor delivered.
In most cases both of the names have an “x” at the end of them, but they are there for the world to see. There is even a “joke of the day” submission button on the restaurant web site.
This is an amusing side note right now, but this information could be good to file away should both coaches wind up as spectacular successes or failures here.
*Boudreau and Thibodeau’s Cajun Cookin’ has been around since 1998, serving lunch and dinner — and specializing in Cajun seafood such as boiled crab and crawfish as well as po boys. Audra asked if I knew what a po boy was, and I think I won her over a bit when I told her I did.
Other menu specialties include the Boudreau Burger — a “ten ounce fresh ground beef burger (that) will make ya wanna go home an’ take a nap,” according to the menu. Or you could try Thibodeau’s catch: “Fresh fish breaded an’ pan fried, topped wit’ crabmeat an’ sauteed in garlic butter.”
Are you hungry, or are you starving? (Whoops, wrong coach).
Audra made sure I knew Boudreau and Thibodeau’s is not a chain or a franchise. It’s one of a kind.
It certainly is.