Growing up in Louisiana, everything her family made-jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, po"boys, classic red beans and rice-was from scratch, which is what you get when you visit her family's food truck, A Taste of Louisiana.
September marked their first year in business, and this food is the real deal. I would know; Louisiana became my second home as a young girl when my mother moved to New Orleans. The fried shrimp po"boy tasted just like the ones from a famous NOLA dive, Ye Olde College Inn.
I told her how impressed I was and asked her how she did it.
"You know, the secret is in the bread," Beverly said.
When I asked her where she got her bread, she quipped, "That's a secret."
The bright red tomatoes were fresh, the shrimp perfectly cooked and crunchy, and the bread melted in my mouth. The homemade crawfish étouffée was rich and creamy, and the jambalaya was packed full of flavor. Everything is seasoned to perfection, but the food is not for the faint-hearted-it's spicy. The fried boudin balls are a must. They're a creamy pork sausage rice mixture with Cajun spices deep fried and served with a spicy homemade ranch dressing.
"We didn't go out and get new recipes; we just stuck with what we knew and grew up eating," Beverly said.
