Dudley’s Grab & Geaux

I moved to Longview,Texas in 1989 to be the sales manager for John Deere Insurance Company for the East Texas area. I quickly made new friends as East Texas people are very friendly.  I always loved to cook and invite friends over.  Our new friends enjoyed  my food. I decided that I  would work during the week for John Deere and sell boiled crawfish on the weekends since no one else was boiling them at the time.  I went back to Louisiana and picked up my crawfish boiling trailer and started boiling and selling crawfish at the end of my driveway north of the loop on Judson Road. People would ask"Can  you make me some gumbo for next weekend?"  The next  thing I know, people were knocking on my door ordering different cajun dishes.  Donald Knight stopped and bought some boiled crawfish.  He had a gas station just south of  I  20 on Eastman Road.  It was where the exit was coming out of Texas Eastman.  He made me an offer.  He would sell gas, beer, and cigarettes and I would sell boiled crawfish,meat pies, crawfish pies,and Jambalaya from my trailer.  It worked great for both of us.  Now I had worked myself into a full time job.  I decided to resign from John Deere and open a real restaurant.   I found the old ALPHIES FISH AND CHIPS building that had been vacant for a few years and leased it. I opened in 1992 and a year later bought the building.  Every year since opening, we have been voted the best Cajun and seafood in   East Texas  by an annual readers poll in the Longview Newspaper. All of my success has been due to our loyal customers and them telling others about our quality of food and friendly service. The rest is history!