K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen announced it would close this week, and that is a shame. I will admit I had not been there for some time, but from most accounts it was still a very good restaurant. It was, in its day, groundbreaking, too. I’m not sure there’s another restaurant that had as big an impact on American dining culture as K-Paul’s.
What most people will remember is blackened fish. If you were alive in the 1980s, you could not escape “blackened” things if you dined out frequently. Particularly if you ate at fast food restaurants.
But K-Paul’s was more than blackened redfish. It was a restaurant that celebrated comfort food before that was a mission statement. Chef Prudhomme was a celebrity chef when there weren’t all that many celebrity chefs, and he was an ambassador for the food of South Louisiana.
It is a shame that the restaurant is closing, but it will not be the last place to shutter by any means. It will justifiably be the best remembered.
This is not the best time to open a restaurant, but as I wrote last week there are still restaurants opening. Another fairly recent opening happened on the North Shore when The Anchor at Tchefuncte’s opened in Madisonville in June.
The chef, Michael Gottlieb, is from Savannah, where he ran a family bakery that traces its roots to 1884. The menu at the Anchor at Tchefuncte’s is fairly casual, with items such as “Crawfish-Spiced Chicken Wings, Fried Oyster and Shrimp
Po’boys, and Smoked Dry Rubbed Beef Short Rib” as options. Later this year, chef Gottlieb intends to open a fine-dining restaurant,Tchefuncte’s, as well.
As befits a restaurant on the Tchefuncte in Madisonville, there are slips at which boaters may dock. I have not been to the restaurant in person because I am not traveling if I do not have to, but I have seen pictures and the place looks spectacular.
If you have dined at the Anchor at Tchefuncte’s, please give me your thoughts. It may be a while before I have a chance to dine there myself.
