Eating The World

The Cabin
5405 Louisiana 44
Burnside, LA

We spent our last day in Baton Rouge visiting Houmas House, a plantation about an hour outside the city, and naturally, we had some food plans to go along with our outing. When we put out an open call for restaurant recommendations near Baton Rouge and one of our readers, Justin Newhart, suggested we try the The Cabin, a spot for Cajun food not too far from Houmas House. Like many of the places we visited on our trip, The Cabin seemed to pop out of nowhere, and true to its name, was indeed a cabin. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a giant log alligator sculpture out front – welcome to Louisiana! 

It is worth noting the restaurant’s architecture, which was definitely eclectic and impressive. From the road, the restaurant itself doesn’t seem very big, however, once you are inside, the space is expansive, and contains many connected buildings. There is even an impressive open-beamed high ceiling, as you can see below. Out back there is a courtyard and a complex of other small, restored buildings including slave cabins, a general store and a schoolhouse, many of which were relocated from nearby towns. Far from being a replica of old Southern buildings, The Cabin is the real deal. 

We arrived at about noon Sunday, and the Cabin was doing a pretty brisk brunch business. The menu at the Cabin is large and decidedly Cajun, and especially featured seafood. There are many preparations of shrimp, crawfish and catfish, and you can even get a Po’Boy. For the indecisive, there are also a number of samplers such as the “Cabin Seafood platter” ($28.95) which comes with catfish, shrimp, oysters, crab fingers, stuffed crab, crawfish tails, crawfish Étouffée, and a cup of gumbo. L ordered the Crawfish Étouffée ($14.95) with a side of red beans and rice while M and his father went with the Cabin Special ($10.95) which included a cup of chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, jambalaya, and black-eyed peas. We got a plate of cornbread while we were waiting, which was a great match for our sweet tea in mason jars, our go-to drink order in the South.

Crawfish Etouffee and fixins at The Cabin Restaurant

The portions were gigantic (as you can see above), and everything was hearty and delicious. We probably could have brought some of our food home, but sadly we were off to a catch a flight home right after. The biggest hit of the day was our dessert: the buttermilk pie, which was superlative ($3.50 a slice). You can even buy the pie recipe for a dollar upon checkout. We probably should have bought the recipe, but I think we’d rather come back someday for a return trip!

The famous Buttermilk Pie

Roberto’s River Road Restaurant
1985 Louisiana 75
Sunshine, LA

Usually when someone says that a restaurant is in the middle of nowhere, it is usually hyperbole. However, if they are not exaggerating, this is the restaurant they mean. If you are driving to Roberto’s at night, it seems like you are driving into the darkness for just a mile too far, and when you are about to give up because you are truly in the middle of nowhere, Roberto’s seems to pop up just over the horizon. From the outside, Roberto’s looks like little more than a small white shack, but the inside is cozy, comfortable and a lot bigger than it looks. R4 is one of M’s dad’s favorite haunts in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, so we were very excited to try it.

Closing time at Roberto’s River Road Restaurant

We arrived at about 8:30, to a nearly full house, though we managed to snag one of the last tables. Roberto’s menu focuses on upscale casual Cajun food, especially seafood. The dish that came most highly recommended to us was River Road Shrimp (available as either an appetizer or an entree over pasta), which consisted of shrimp in a bell pepper and spicy brandy butter sauce, so we knew we had to try it. There were also several dishes that featured crawfish: our favorite Cajun staple, Etouffe; a crawfish and Portobella mushroom pasta; and the quizzically named Catfish Dot – a grilled catfish filet topped with herbed crawfish (this was the option we went for). Fish of the Day in Papillote also came highly recommended – the catch of the day wrapped in parchment paper and baked with lemon and herbs.

We started out with a cup of chicken and sausage gumbo (there is also seafood gumbo) – which was delicious  – extremely rich and flavorful. The seafood dishes were similarly tasty, and surprisingly light. For once we did not feel guilty about indulging in Cajun flavors (though of course there are fried options, too). For dessert we tried a special: cookies and cream bread pudding, which was excellent, but definitely did not need the extra sweetness of the marshmallow sauce. We managed to stick around until closing time, though the restaurant was still buzzing from a squad car full of Baton Rouge’s finest and a crowd that came in on an LSU stretch limo. Roberto’s may be off the beaten path, but it is definitely worth a little drive.