Reasons to Get Back to Lake Charles
Golden days in Southwest Louisiana
Skirting Lake Charles by boat on its namesake body of water, I made a game of recognizing backyards of houses and rustic camps visited in my childhood. I nodded too at the casinos and their dandy riverboats, the barges hovering around the port, and the various plants, their flames flickering as eerie beacons in the sky.
I know my hometown well enough by its perimeter. But nine years have passed since I left, and it’s the streets within this Southwest Louisiana hub where I feel like a tourist. Lake Charles is rapidly outgrowing my nostalgia.
The frequency of my returns dipped just as the city hit an industrial-spiked economic boom that echoed in local dining, downtown activity, and a newly dedicated youth culture, peers of mine who are hanging around (or returning) during these golden days of new jobs and construction.
For some, and I’ll include myself here, this surge in culture is a validation of long-held hometown pride. One evening a couple of years ago, I made a quick trip back to see musician and Lake Charles native Lucinda Williams with my dad. Her father, the late poet Miller Williams, was on a residency at McNeese State University when the love-scorched artist was born in 1953.
This homecoming concert, the first in Williams’ near-forty-year career, packed the Shearman Fine Arts Theater on the campus where Williams’ father had once written and taught. We thanked her with a key to the city. She thanked us with a performance of “Lake Charles,” a song that may have originated as a story about a drug addict Lucinda once knew (“a beautiful loser,” she said, not unkindly) but has since become an anthem for a town that is frequently derided by its fellow Louisiana cities as being “basically Texas.”
The audience stood and sang along:
He had a reason to get back to Lake Charles
He used to talk about it
He’d just go on and on
I took time last month to re-orient myself with the attractions of the city. And I hope you’ll excuse me, but I’m about to go on and on.
Just passing through
Most often when people hear I’m from Lake Charles, they tell me, “Oh, I’ve driven through there!” (The runner-up: “You didn’t say you were from Texas!”)
That faint praise stings less when I consider the path they’re taking. For a motorist on the way to Houston or New Orleans, the city’s stretch of I-10 doesn’t move through the most glittering sections of town. Even its scenic climb over the water is disenchanted by the rickety heights of the Calcasieu River Bridge.
My advice: take an exit. Head toward downtown Lake Charles. There you can relax, like the landlubber that you are (more on Lake Charles’ strange pirate affinity later), and revel in an early beneficiary of the city’s revitalization efforts: downtown Lake Charles extends from the shore in a few well-tended city blocks of restaurants, galleries, antiques, and offices.
Just a short walk from the lakefront, Botsky’s Premium Hot Dogs, opened in 2013, realizes a dream of mine, that a hot dog piled high with mac ‘n cheese could be considered “gourmet.” Quality ingredients are key. When’s the last time your ballpark vendor offered foie gras or kobe beef?
Ryan Street’s the main drag you’ll want to follow. With a quick jaunt north for the scotch eggs and brawny sandwiches of the tucked-away MacFarlane’s Celtic Pub, you’ll then take Ryan south to 1910 Restaurant & Wine Bar. The interior and menu (favorites include gumbo croquettes and marinated rack of lamb) are both lovely and spare; the only danger is taking a wrong turn from the bathroom and stumbling into the (also lovely) cathedral next door—though both will serve you wine.
That’s just downtown. Restaurant Calla, located in the Walnut Grove development near Contraband Bayou, is the spot for charcuterie and a fine cocktail, along with full-fledged dishes like the Pork Porterhouse, with sweet potato salad, cornbread, and cinnamon-honey butter. And I’ve championed the gravy-soaked divinity of Darrell’s poboys to all but the most calorie-shy since decamping nine years ago. “It’s worth it,” I’d whisper. Worth the buttery bread and three kinds of cheese? Worth the drive? Both, actually. Even now that my palate’s matured quite a bit, I still recommend The Special with reverence. It’ll change ya.
When you’re quite full up on food, pay a visit to the Central School Arts & Humanities Center, erected in 1912 and repurposed as a cultural venue in 1993. The building’s entrances for “Boys” and “Girls” still stand separate, though security on this matter is lax. Along with galleries and studio space, the school’s auditorium now operates as a theater and, on an upper floor, the Mardi Gras Museum spills heaps of purple, gold, and green tulle out of six former classrooms and down the hallway in exhibits of king cake history, parades, and what’s purported to be the largest collection of costumes in the South.
Central School sits in the Charpentier Historic District (where I grew up, but there’s no accompanying museum); the neighborhood’s forty blocks get their name and style from the turn-of-the-century carpenters, attracted by the city’s ample lumber supply, who freely designed their own homes and distinguished “Lake Charles Style Architecture” from the rest of Louisiana.
A rising tide lifts all boats
When I spoke to Pinnacle Entertainment’s Director of Public Relations Kerry Andersen, she was feeling reflective. Pinnacle’s L’Auberge Casino and Resort had marked eleven years in Lake Charles on the very day of our interview. “A lot of people forget what it was like before the big resort casinos—first us and then the [Golden] Nugget.” said Andersen, “and what that has really done to the cultural and culinary scene of Southwest Louisiana.
“We’ve got eight operating restaurants of our own,” said Andersen. Options range from steakhouse Ember and Asia, with its fresh fish and fusion, to the new twenty-four-hour Modern Pantry and Favorites Southern Kitchen. “That brings in chefs; that brings in new ideas. That expands opportunities to have a conversation about our local cuisine.”
[You may also like Happy (Southwest) Louisiana Trails: Enjoy a weekend walkabout in Lake Arthur and environs.]
L’Auberge models itself as all-inclusive: if it’s doing its jobs right, a high roller never has to leave the premises. (Andersen herself is giddy about the all-hours gelato bar at Modern Pantry.) Yet the upswing in the city’s cultural offerings and even a rival casino opening right next door are taken by the resort in leisurely stride. “We’re competitors, but we’re friendly competitors,” said Andersen.
Natural resources
Over two centuries ago, Charles Sallier built a home on the lake, ultimately giving his name to the city that rose around it. In the years since, the residents have mined the land for its lumber and sulfur, ferried cattle from Texas to New Orleans, made a yearly festival (Contraband Days, held in early May) from the rumor that pirate Jean Lafitte stashed his treasure in the environs, and forged a waterway from the city directly to the Gulf, elevating Lake Charles into a lively seaport.
And still much remains untouched. The 180-mile Creole Nature Trail calls itself “Louisiana’s Outback” and affords access to swampland, fishing and crabbing, alligators, and hundreds of species of birds too. More birding delight is found at Sam Houston Jones State Park, located in the Central Migratory Flyway and well-suited for camping and day hikes as well.
[You may also like The Sleeping Beauty of Orange, Texas: Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.]
Asea, charter a vessel or bring your own to motor, fish, and photograph your way through the bayous, the lakes, the river, and the Gulf. On my last trip home, we took the boat up to Loggerheads, a bar alongside the Calcasieu River that’s reachable by car too. We sat high over the water, drinking and eating together. As the sun set behind the bald cypress, and behind the amber sea of my sweating beer glass, I vowed then to take all my beverages by the water, adrift in that late-spring satisfaction of benevolent weather and good company that makes you forget that life ever is, or has to be, any other way.
The meantime
“There’s a remarkable amount that’s underway,” said economist Dr. Loren Scott, of the various industrial projects at the core of Lake Charles’ upswing. “But you also have a lot at risk.”
From where I’m standing, I see a city that’s investing in itself, that’s making bale after bale of cultural hay while the economic sun shines.
Toward the end of our conversation, Andersen mentioned a new line of craft beers in town. “I’m actually looking at a post about Rikenjak’s soft opening right now!” I said. The newly resurrected brewpub first opened in a barn in Jackson, Louisiana, in 1992 before moving to Lake Charles in 1999 and closing in 2006.
“Oh, I meant the other brewery,” said Andersen, referring to Crying Eagle, which just launched to become Louisiana’s twenty-fifth craft brewery. She caught herself and laughed. “Just a year ago, we couldn’t have had that conversation. I think that says so much.”
Visit Lake Charles visitlakecharles.org Botsky’s Premium Hotdogs 104 West Pujo Street, Suite 100 facebook.com/Botskys MacFarlane’s Celtic Pub 417 Ann Street macfarlanescelticpub.com 1910 Restaurant & Wine Bar 949 Ryan Street facebook.com/1910restaurantandwinebar Restaurant Calla 1400 Market Street restaurantcalla.com Darrell’s 119 West College Street darrellspoboys.com Central School Arts & Humanities Center 809 Kirby Street artsandhumanitiesswla.org Charpentier Historic District “Lake Charles Historic Tour” app available for Android and Apple. L’Auberge Casino and Resort 777 Avenue L’Auberge llakecharles.com Creole Nature Trail visitlakecharles.org/creole-nature-trail Sam Houston Jones State Park 107 Sutherland Road (337) 855-2665 Loggerheads 3748 Highway 3059 facebook.com/loggerheads Rikenjak’s 3716 Ryan Street rikenjaks.com Crying Eagle Brewing Company 1165 East McNeese Street cryingeagle.com