The Louisiana Oyster Trail

The Louisiana Oyster Trail

*I visited The Louisiana Oyster Trail on a FAM Trip, all expenses were covered, but all opinions are my own. 

When I was in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana last month I had a wonderful time doing lots of exciting things. But one of the best things about visiting a different area is being introduced to new cuisine of sorts. In Louisiana po’boys are the sandwich of choice usually filled with seafood, roast beef, and turkey to name a few. But did you know that there is a special way to order them?? Me either until this trip. So here’s the official way to order your po’boy, 

Dressed–Lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, pickles

Un-Dressed–Plain sandwich 

I always did dressed because who doesn’t love a good sandwich with the fixin’s?? 

But now we need to talk about The Louisiana Oyster Trail! The Oyster Trail is a set of restaurants that serve only Louisiana oysters and was set up in 2012 and includes 26 restaurants in Jefferson Parish. While I didn’t get to experience all of them the ones that I did go to I loved. The first night we dined at the Acme Oyster House in Metairie (they also have one in the French Quarter) and it is one of the locals favorites.  The Acme Oyster House has been in business since 1910 and are known for having the coldest oysters in town. The food was delicious, but the atmosphere was just as amazing. There was a spot to watch the workers preparing the fresh oysters and let me tell you the video doesn’t do them justice. They were fast!! I’d probably still be working on my first one if I had to do it. 

 

When I travel I have a rule that was made when our daughter was little. The rule is try one thing out of your comfort zone every time you eat especially when you are traveling. So at the Acme Oyster house I had my first ever raw oyster along with Charbroiled Oysters, fried crawfish, Seafood gumbo, and  of course Seafood Etoufee. While I didn’t eat a lot of each one I tried each one but the only thing I ate one of was a raw oyster. It was all delicious but I would have to say that my favorite was fried craw-fish which I didn’t expect to really like. But I enjoyed my meal so much that first night I also made Acme Restaurant my lunch destination on the last day of the trip. The second Louisiana Oyster Trail Restaurant we tried was The Restaurant des Families located on Bayou des Familles which is a lazy waterway home to many alligators, turtles, egrets and other wildlife. We even got to see an alligator that we at first thought was a statue, but then it moved into the Bayou so we learned it was live. The meal we had here was  amazing to say the least. Upper left is an alligator stuffed mushroom with alligator sauce piquant, top right was 4 different oysters that were charbroiled. The four included Oyster Rockefeller, Oyster Lafitte, Garlic Butter and Parmesan as well as charbroiled oysters. They were delicious and filling, but next up came a trio of soups. The trio included Turtle Soup (that you pour sherry on before eating), Shrimp gumbo and of course chicken and sausage gumbo. My favorite was actually the Turtle Soup that is served with hard boiled eggs on top with the sherry drizzle (just like the locals eat it.)   But I would have to admit that while everything was delicious my favorite course was dessert and let me tell you the Pecan Pie with vanilla ice cream was AMAZING! The cobbler style Pecan Pie was the best I’ve ever eaten and let me tell you it would be worth the trip again for just that. We had a great “Taste of Louisiana” at Restaurant des Families and were made to feel right at home while we were there! So if you are in the area I definitely recommend a stop in for lunch or dinner!  Be on the look out for more Louisiana Oyster Trail restaurants because their goal is to have 40 restaurants when it is completed. Also each member has a plaque on their building showing their participation but my favorite part is the decorated oyster shells that are 3 feet tall. That’s how you can tell if they are a restuarant that serves only Louisiana oysters. I promise you will be happy with your meals especially at either one of these great restaurants.