CULINARY THRILL SEEKING: Crossing the border for culinary research

Published 11:56 pm Tuesday, June 14, 2016

My foodie field trip to Lake Charles, La., filled my senses and I can’t wait to head back for more adventure.

Thrive Magazine’s June issue listed restaurants that were voter picks. We’d never visited the Golden Nugget, so we made a date and headed over the border. We were having so much fun walking along the beach and planning bites of delicious food, I almost forgot to go to the casino.

First we hit the Charlestown Farmer’s Market downtown and gathered cucumbers, a thyme plant, sweet potatoes and a jalapeno with high ratings on the Scoville scale. A fresh carrot bread loaf fueled us for a stop at Historic City Hall where C. Delle Bates of Orange was showing his colorful art works.

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Buffi’s Peaux Boys was my husband’s pick. We found it in a strip mall and shared a crawfish sandwich. Was that a potato I spied mixed in with crawfish in a creamy remoulade? Then my eye went to yellow kernels of corn spilling out from my sandwich. That was unusual, even for me. This time it was my husband who figured that crawfish, potatoes and corn was simply a whole crawfish boil in a sandwich. Perfectly natural in Lake Charles.

A museum and some lakeside views down, I remembered that the Golden Nugget was yet to be explored. I made sure went entered the main entrance for dramatic effect and I got it. I loved the entry with an array of glass balls, slightly swinging in the chilled air. We went shopping and spent all of $5 inside, then walked over to L’Auberge du Lac Casino, a convenient parking lot away from the Golden Nugget.

Mazen’s Mediterranian Foods got our attention for our parting meal. A garlic dip with pita came to the table and we ordered a hummus topped with meat and a fish topped with flash fried oysters and surrounded by a brown butter sauce. This was a heavenly experience and we promised our server we would return one day for their famous chocolate soufflé.

darraghcastillo@icloud.com