Around here, weekends mean road trips, with destinations two hours from the city in any direction. The direction on Saturday was west. We headed to Baton Rouge for some boudin and cracklins. It took me a long time to join the cracklin fan club, but I have become an ardent admirer, And now I’m on a kick for cracklins. Last weekend we stopped at Cochon for cracklins to avoid a road trip west.
I was disappointed to open the bag and see pork rinds, so I asked Brad Dupont, who owns Ronnie’s Boudin and Cracklins to explain the difference. Just talking about it all made me want some hot and spicy strips of fried pork belly.
Ronnie’s Boudin and Cracklins is a two-location operation, and we skipped the one I'm used to visiting in Hammond. We stopped in Hammond but at a bakery instead. A little place called Batter is adding a location in New Orleans in mid-September. We dropped in mainly because we were passing through.
Batter is a modern bakery with a female owner. They all have a look that is clearly feminine. All are pretty and inviting. And all have minimal offerings that are frankly just ordinary. To be fair, we have for a number of years had our very own in-house baker, whose extraordinary baking gifts have ruined all others for us.
We got a cinnamon roll for Tom and a basic brownie for me. Tom’s roll was covered in a gloppy icing which he seemed to love. Cinnamon was woven throughout and the whole thing seemed intensely sweet.
The brownie I had was large and completely unadorned with anything. Nothing inside, no chocolate or nuts in or out. It was neither dry nor chewy, sweet but not especially chocolate. I prefer darker chocolate.
After a bite or two of these baked goods, we headed west again. It took a while to follow my GPS to Ronnie’s which was located through a nice 1950s neighborhood called Broadmoor. We got a few things here because I always get carried away in a situation like this. We got smoked boudin, cracklins, a crawfish pie and a meat pie, and a chunk of hogshead cheese.
The boudin is terrific. It’s every bit as good as the original link I had years ago at a party. I liked it so much I’ve made regular pilgrimages to Hammond to get some ever since. The crawfish pie and meat pie both seemed like they were not made there.
And the cracklins were a major disappointment. I have had them at the Hammond location and preferred them to the ones I had on Saturday. I think I’m on the tail end of my passion for deep-fried pork fat. These were hot and spicy but mostly fat. I have often said I love animal fats more than the next person, but this was too much.
We snacked on all this in the car as we made our way further west. We would go to lunch somewhere in Baton Rouge. Mike Anderson's had been on my mind the last few weeks, so we headed that way. A block before arriving at Mike Anderson’s we passed a place called Andy’s Frozen Custard. Just the previous week we had been talking about frozen custard on the Food Show, so it behooved us to swing through there and try it.
I was intimidated by the choices at Andy’s which seemed to be a national chain. Looking at the menu board I was overwhelmed, so when I arrived at the window to order I said, “We just want a single scoop of vanilla. Is that possible?” She smiled and shook her head as she said, "That’ll be $2.31.”
It was decadently rich and creamy, and even though I prefer ice cream I can see the appeal of the richer custard treat.
Mike Anderson's was not crowded because it was mid-afternoon, but we were told there was a wait because of server issues. I decided to go over to a favorite place of ours in Baton Rouge, Phil’s Oyster Bar. Phil’s is an institution that celebrates all things LSU, and it has been around since 1950. Peter Sclafani Jr. bought it five years ago and brought some of his Italian heritage to the food, as well as a New Orleans flair.
We have been here a few times and love it. Since we had eaten all the Cajun street food, we weren’t hungry. We just got a seafood platter, something we rarely do these days.
At $37.99 it seemed high but that is the going rate for seafood platters these days. I was underwhelmed by the sight of it. There was a large bed of ordinary fries, topped with six small catfish strips, two fried shrimp, two large stuffed shrimp, six tiny oysters, and two crab balls along with hush puppies. A ridiculous afterthought size of coleslaw that I am seeing everywhere came with this.
Every bit of this was ordinary, but not bad. Except for the tartar sauce, which was excellent. This wasn’t really a bad way to order. We split the platter and it was enough for us both to eat, without adding to our collection of takeout boxes in the refrigerator.
