Rabalais' Bistro

Rabalais’ is a tribute to my grandmother, Anesia Lois Rabalais, who was a great Southern cook with strength of character and a servant’s heart. She was born Nov. 23, 1912 to Elisabeth Saucier and Peter Edgar Rabalais, a poor sharecropper and fisherman. They lived in a little French Settlement in the bayou country in Southern Louisiana called Bayou Jaune. She was one of eleven children. She left home and moved to New Orleans to work at the age of 14 making $7.50 a week. Later she worked at a Catholic Hospital near Canal Street and met her husband to be, Ted Thedford Walker, and was married in 1931. Living in the projects of New Orleans, they began to raise their six children: Peggy, Ted, Donald, Robert, Matthew, and David. They moved from New Orleans to the small town of Liddieville, Louisiana where they built their small farmhouse and worked hard tending 40 acres of cotton. Living on very modest means, the resourceful core of her Cajun upbringing was necessary to feed a family of eight. Honest and simple were the comfort foods coming from my grandma’s kitchen. Childhood memories of her handmade buttermilk biscuits, black coffee, Thanksgiving turkey gumbo, the small kitchen full of women, milking the cow, riding “Billie” the goat, and eating pecans the size of my thumb off her tree in the backyard are sweet memories to me. Rabalais’ menu is inspired by simple, but very dear, experiences of food prepared and shared with love and care. I am forever grateful for the legacy left by my grandmother who arose early each morning and prayed for her family of six children and 16 grandchildren before heading into the kitchen. Food and drink have always been a common bond, bringing people and culture together. Our hope is that Rabalais’ will become a gathering place rooted in traditional Southern hospitality that values good food, friends, family, and community. Our time honored French Cajun fare and baked goods will vary seasonally to bring fresh and delicious selections for all to enjoy. Welcome to Rabalais’!