The Best Onion Rings on the Planet are in Arnaudville

There are great places to eat at every turn in Acadiana. From small towns like Arnaudville to bigger cities like Lafayette, and no-name-stops-in-the-road in-between, if you can't find good food in Cajun country well, you just aren't looking. At all. If you like fancy dress up places, you can find that, and you can also find a hole in the wall you wonder how it ever passes the health inspection with some of the best food you ever ate. It's all there. But if you want the best onion rings on the planet, go to Myran's Maison de Manger.

Because Arnaudville is our homebase, we love to eat at Myran's. Their menu boasts "food for the entire family" and that's probably true. From cheeseburgers, to fried (or boiled) shrimp, oysters, poboys, sandwiches, and of course crawfish when in season, Myran's has a very diverse menu.

I'll be honest: if it is crawfish season, I'm getting the crawfish. Every single time. I've eaten crawfish at a lot of places, at at a lot of home boils, and Myran's does the best I've ever had. Consistently. Steve and I went for lunch one Sunday and got the crawfish; it was a beautiful spring day and we sat outside on the deck overlooking the Teche. The sun felt good, the beer was cold, and we struck up conversations with people around us. We each ate 4 pounds of crawfish and they were so good that we went back for dinner and had another 4 pounds each. 

When it isn't crawfish season we usually get burgers and onion rings. The onion rings are legendary. Homemade, perfectly seasoned, with a light crispy batter, they are amazing. One time I stood outside and watched them making onion rings through the big window that faces the parking lot. Big tubs filled
with sliced onions ready to go through the batter and seasoning and into the fryer. If I had any question that that were homemade or not (I didn't), that proved it.

The boiled shrimp are also a great fallback when you can't get crawfish! They are large, perfectly seasoned shrimp and your order comes with corn and boiled potatoes. Pair that with onion rings and your belly is happy!

And don't forget dessert! The soft serve ice cream cones are the perfect ending to your meal

I love Myran's because always run into someone to talk to, whether we already know them or not, it's easy to make friends over good food. If you aren't super hungry, get a cold beer and an appetizer and just sit and watch the bayou. The view is stunning and the service is always friendly.

Bayou Teche Brewing Might the be the Happiest Place on Earth

Swag

 I found Arnaudville almost completely by accident.

To be clear, I was searching for Bayou Teche Brewing in Arnaudville, but at the time I didn't know what a true treasure Arnaudville itself really is. 

In 2018 Steve and I were in Baton Rouge for a book event. I was speaking at the Louisiana Book Festival shortly after the release of Cane River Bohemia. In preparation for the book release I had been upping my social media game and somehow discovered the brewery via Instagram.  Their feed was very effective and I wanted to find the brewery and see for myself what all the buzz was about. 

I've lost count of how many times we have returned to Bayou Teche Brewing since that first visit. We went for the beer but we keep coming back for the food, the friends, and the atmosphere. In August 2020 I posted on my Instagram feed: 

Forget Disneyland! Bayou Teche Brewing is the happiest place on earth! It is so much more than a brewery! It is Cajun Saucer pizza where you can get an Alien Autopsy with candied jalapenos, or a Smokey and the Boudin. You can get a Frozen Pineapple Express Big Fatty Pineapple slushie that is out of this world. You can get chargrilled oysters or wings or ...meatballs in marinara. Beautiful landscaping, great music, and the view outside is pure Louisiana beauty. Best of all is the people you meet here. Everyone is friendly, nobody is pissed off, there are no social clicks. You can literally sit all day, sip on a cold brew, and meet some awesome people who make you feel like family. It's guaranteed to lower your anxiety, your blood pressure, and put a smile on your face. Happiest place on earth!

Good friends

And they didn't pay me to write that, or even give me a free drink! 

It has changed a little since then: they've added a Tiki bar with super creative cocktails like the "Minty Python." Coyo's video arcade has grown exponentially! You can play classic arcade games and beautifully restored pinball machines as long as you like. New beers have appeared and new menu items too. The Kung Pao chicken cracklins are to die for., and I love the boudin eggrolls. Try a Poke Bowl! They enclosed part of the original outdoor seating to provide more air conditioning but there is plenty of outdoor seating still.

Saturday afternoon

One of my favorite events at the brewery was Song Trivia and Social Commentary which used to be every Saturday night. You could get a team together and play music trivia: the objective was to guess the artist of twenty-five songs after hearing a short clip of the song. No Shazam or phones allowed or you would be shamelessly banned! Dorsey had a hysterical comedy routine between each song; the songs changed each week but the routine didn't change much from week to week, but it was still hilarious every single time.

Song Trivia never returned on a regular basis after Covid; they did one or two editions of it since then, but I expect it was really a lot of prep work and effort to pull it off each week. In the beginning the winners could win a free beer (bottled, to take home!) for every song they got right, and there were always a couple of pity beers thrown in. The first time we played we got four songs and so they rounded us up to a pity six-pack. 

Then the Louisiana laws clamped down on promotions or some such nonsense and they weren't allowed to give away beer anymore. They gave away gift cards and swamp tour gift certificates, but it was always more fun to play for beer. 

I really miss song trivia and it was legendary; people still talk about how much fun it was.

Bayou Teche Brewing is always innovating, finding something fun and creative to stay fresh, and song trivia has been replaced by other things. There is an annual Oktoberfest event, live music Friday and Saturdays, a Cajun jam every Sunday afternoon, a zydeco breakfast on Sunday morning, and in conjunction with the Catholic diocese, Theology on the Bayou is a wonderful, well attended event over six or seven sessions every summer. There are usually fireworks at New Years and on July 4, and a luau with a spectacular burning of the giant paper mache Tiki God behind the brewery.

Perhaps the best part about this place is the people. As I said above, I've never met anybody there who wasn't friendly. People talk across tables, sit with strangers who become friends, bond over dogs, beer, and food. We have met so many people this way! We've made several lasting friends there, too. Some that we get together with every time we are in town. The employees are family and they remember you every time you come back. You are a long lost friend.

To me, it really is, if not the happiest place on earth, certainly one of the very best places to be on any given day!

A Fall afternoon

Bayou Teche Brewing is located on LA357; you can also paddle to it on the Teche as The Teche Project has installed one of their floating docks there. And you never have to leave: there is an Air BnB right across the road!

Hops growing behind the brewery