My husband and I had the pleasure of spending some time at Johnson’s Boucaniere. Johnson’s Boucaniere is a dine-in, take-out restaurant and meat speciality store. Boucaniere is known as a smokehouse.
When we walked in, so many memories of my childhood flooded me. We were greeted by Mr. Wallace Johnson who is the Patriarch of the family.
For those who don’t know Mr. Wallace’s parents opened Johnson’s Grocery in Eunice, LA in 1937. He grew up working in the store. There was no dull moment during our time chatting with Mr. Wallace. He was full of history, knowledge and wisdom. We talked with him for a while about life and things that he has seen growing up.
Mr. Wallace reminded me of my Grandmother’s friend, Mr. Adam from childhood. He was a man who had a lot of wisdom and he was never shy about sharing any of it with anyone. Mr. Adam was a cook and made many items from scratch, boudin, sausage etc. So being in their location made me feel at home.
The inside reminded me of the corner store near my grandma’s home where I grew up. Johnson’s has the neighborhood feeling. The walls were filled with all sorts of notes left by the people who have dined at their restaurant or tasted their food. Brian & I took several minutes to read some of the notes.
If you are visiting and want to take home a few items, no worries. There are prepackaged smoked meats, ribs, sausage. Johnson’s also sells Smoked Pork or Chicken Broth as well and Smoked Chicken Noodle Soup.
Mr. Johnson was very involved. He works the front area, taking orders, chatting with the customers and sharing stories . Below you can see he was weighing and pricing Smoked Sausage.
Around 11:10 the restaurant was booming. People were steadily coming in to order. Some were picking up to-go orders and many others were dining on their outside patio area.
Prior to trying the food, I was given a tour of where the magic happens the smokehouse. The smell was incredible. It was my first time ever being in a smokehouse.
Below is a view of the Pork Ribs and Chicken. All of the meat is rubbed with their in house spice rub. The meat finished nicely with a beautiful color. The meat is typically smoked for 12-14 hours.
The Parrain Special is a sandwich with smashed boudin between two slices of cheese and placed on a Evangeline Maid burger bun. The bun is spread with house made BBQ sauce and grilled into a delicious grilled cheese. Yummy indeed; the sandwich is different but in a good way.
For Dessert we tried the Hello Dolly (left) which has a graham crust, pecans, chocolate, condensed milk and coconut. Chocolaty goodness, chocolate heaven, all I was missing was a big glass of milk. The dessert was warmed and so good.
Starting next week they will be serving Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Perfect for the Fall weather.
Johnson’s Boucaniere is located at 1111 St John Street. Hours of operation is Tues.- Fri. 7am – 3pm and Sat. 7 am – 5:30 pm.
