Chicago to Louisana road trip-long

Road trip down I-57 from Chicago to Louisana marks our third southern trip since Turkey-day. We left predawn on a Saturday and made it to Hazen, Ark by dinner. We ate at Nick's BBQ and Catfish-1012 Bankhead Dr Carlisle, Ark 870-552-3887. St. Louis style ribs and fried catfish-no liquor as the county is dry (Hazen is not). Always busy with diners and take out orders, the place is flanked with autographed photos of country music stars (I have not heard of) and local beauty queens and cheerleaders. Tender ribs full of smokey goodness and a mild sauce. The catfish was the best here-a light cornmeal breading and perfectly deep fried without any greasy taste or residue. The sides of slaw, beans and onion rings were fine. Would rec this place if you are heading toward Hot Springs.
We next hit Hot Springs for the treatments offered at Buckstaff-as I soaked the family ate at a diner on the main drag for breakfast-they did not tell me the name.
We then drove to Eunice, La-the rice capital of Louisana. We had just missed the crawfish etouffe contest/festival-crap!- but had a delicious meal at Ronnie's Cajun Cafe 541 W. Laurel Avenue 337-457-2004. A byob place "as long as you drink it from a glass". We had a Louisana version of poutine-diced fried potatoes smothered with a crawfish and white roux gravy. Best dish here. My daughter had the alligator bites-nice and fresh, deep fried and tender, I had the crawfish bisque- a hearty brown soup with plenty of spice and crawfish-$4.50 a cup that is actually a bowl and Tom had the crawfish etouffe. Again a hearty portion that packed a lot of spice and meat. The house specialty was the sausage and chicken gumbo but we could not eat another bite. The free dessert was a cherry ambrosia-too sweet for us.
We got up predawn and went to the local donut shop and had light and fluffy glazed pillows of dough-no more Drunkin Donuts for me- and headed toward Kaplan, La to Suire's grocery-13923 La Hwy 35-337-643-8911. At the crossraods of rice and crawfish fields this friendly spot has caught the attention of the NYT, John Besh and countless other papers, magazines and food VIPS. This small grocery/cafe has all foods on offer at anytime- it is open about 18 hours a day. The owner a super friendly lady made fresh oyster poyboys, and pastries(fig cakes) as well as fried pistoulettes stuffed with meat or crawfish. She will also fry and egg, hamburger or countless other things for you. The freezer is full of gumbo, etouffe and even turtle stew. We shared an oyster po boy and pistoulette-ok- and a few pastries. We bought frozen etoufee and have not had it yet.
We then headed to Le Petite Paris Cafe -116 Main St Abbeville, La 337-342-2606 for begnets-fresh and made to order- my daughter would not share a bite.
We then went to Victor's Cafeteria in downtown New Iberia for lunch. Fried chicken, greens, red beans and rice and more etouffee filled our trays. They had cajun spaghetti with a red gravy but my youngest daughter wanted no part of the sauce so alas we got it plain. The corn bread was excellent but the cases of Jiffy cornbread mix that line the hallway enroute to the bathroom give the secret away.
We tried to go to Legnon's butcher shop but it is closed on Mondays (as most shops are) and we found Dave's Specialty Meats a few miles away. Dave is friendly and we just ate his frozen Crawfish etouffee-OMG the best we have ever had-and it was frozen!! We picked up one huge stuffed porkchop and some cracklins. We will definately go back and try more of his prepared foods. He had a lot of stuffed meats and prepared dinners too. Skip luggagge-I am turning our trunk into a cooler for our next trip!
We headed for Beaux Bridge to Charley T's Specialty Meats for boudin,andouille and tasso. Still stuffed from Victor's we still managed to eat some fresh boudin-nice ratio of rice and liver- and bought some crawfish boudin- a seasonal thing for lent-, boudin, tasso and andouille. Our favorite place for Oyster po boys, Le Cafe in BB was closed (again that Sunday -Monday closing times in La is a killer for short term travelers). We stopped by Poche's a huge operation that has all kinds(perhaps too many) of sausages, meats, and cajun themed groceries. It also has a steam table counter to sample cajun delights. We tried to buy things here but our full stomachs coupled with the commercial vibe of the place just did not tempt us. We stopped by Babineaux Slaughter House for a look see and to try the famous 'red boudin' made with blood. These can only be had a slaughter houses and are rare. They did not seem to have any hot and I did not know if our cooler would be cold enough to make the trip back to Chicago with the blood. Next time...
We ended our trip in Hammond, La just outside of Baton Rouge. We ate at Chookies- a hole in the wall joint serving the freshiest oysters- they have a special on them on Monday nights. Located on Morrison Street the place had the best Po boy oyster sandwich of the trip. Hammond also has a drive thru daquiri shop-think slurpees of any flavor imaginable- snow cone/praline shop that the girls enjoyed and a fish monger-Mike's selling boiled crawfish for $2.99 pound which we peeled and ate poolside. Fresh large shrimp for $3/pound.
Our last notable meal was in West Memphis at Hawkins BBQ-located on Missouri St.- a few miles off of I-57- for it's bbq egg rolls. Still yummy. We are planning a return trip back south soon.