Shannon Fender
Served on a Friday night at La Petite Affaire Boulangers in Marksville: bronzed redfish with crabmeat relish, lemon buerre blanc, zucchini, and yellow squash.
Growing up in Golden Meadow in the southern part of Lafourche Parish, Roy Guilbeau’s passion for the culinary arts was piqued at an early age. “My mom, God rest her soul, could not and did not cook,” he laughed. Taking advantage of the abundant access to the Gulf and Bayou Lafourche’s fresh seafood, he quickly became the household cook, and so began a lifelong passion for Louisiana’s homegrown culinary culture.
In restaurants, Guilbeau started behind the bar, where he translated his cooking skills into experimentation with drink recipes, flavor profiles, and cocktail products. He was working at a nightclub in Larose called HOTS, preparing to attend culinary school, when the Brennan family approached him to be a part of their new project at the time, Bourbon House. They wanted to hire him as front house manager. That experience taught him not only how to run a restaurant, but how to develop dishes using inspiration from your surroundings. He references the well-known story of Dick Brennan tripping on a pecan on his way to Commander’s Palace, the origin story of the now famous pecan-crusted Gulf fish.
Les 'Tites Affaires
After years familiarizing himself with various cuisines at restaurants like La Casa Del Sol in Thibodaux, Copeland’s Brass Pearl in Alexandria, and Broken Wheel Brewery in Marksville, Guilbeau met his business partner Tara Rodney around 2017. A college friend of Guilbeau’s wife Joy’s, Rodney grew up in a cooking family helping to batter shrimp, brown meat for rice and gravies, and make Christmas candy. A self-taught, passionate home cook, she’d always wanted to open her own business. When she and Guilbeau began exploring the prospect of working together, they soon realized they were aligned in their desire to grow at their own pace. “I liked the idea of owning a business and trying to do things on our own terms,” said Rodney.
“In my opinion, a Beauregard sweet potato grown here is one of the most perfect foods. Period.” —Cher Roy Guilbeau
After discovering the abundance of agriculture in Rodney’s home parish of Avoyelles, and the nuances of “prairie Cajun” cuisine, Guilbeau began to envision a future restaurant in Central Louisiana. He was enchanted by the opportunity to explore the foods of Rodney’s upbringing and blend them with his own bayou roots.
Guilbeau and Rodney were in the process of looking for a location to open a restaurant when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Like many others in the culinary world, they pivoted to focus on products they could make and sell from home. Though they had no formal baking experience to speak of, the two partners turned to the art of traditional French baking, and began selling their pastries at the Marksville Main Street Market. As they practiced the lamination technique of folding and rolling butter into dough and experimented with different fillings for their sweet tarts, known in traditional French baking as pâte sucrées, they quickly found themselves with extra inventory. “We just posted on Facebook one day, ‘Hey we’re home right now. We have extra pastries if you want to buy some,’' recalled Rodney. And they began to build their business in the driveway, calling it La Petite Affaire Boulangers.
Shannon Fender
La Petite Affaire Boulangers owners and chefs Roy Guilbeau and Tara Rodney.
There’s some kismet in a traditional French bakery finding itself in the middle of Louisiana—where French culture has been reinventing itself for centuries. Established in 1807, Avoyelles is one of the oldest parishes in the state, settled early on by immigrants from Belgium, France, and free people of color of African-French descent—establishing a deep French Creole heritage in the area. The name of the restaurant is an ode to Rodney’s grandmother and a nod to the Louisiana French still spoken in Avoyelles. In Louisiana French, the word “affaire” can mean a "thing" or an "object". Rodney’s grandmother “Maw Maw” Voncile, a home cook, would give a “‘tit affaire,” or a “little taste,” of what she was cooking anytime she visited her house. The phrase can also refer to a “matter at hand” or a "small business".
In downtown Marksville, Guilbeau and Rodney’s “‘tit affaire” has turned into an approachable and accessible place to explore Louisiana favorites with a French flair. After establishing an enthusiastic customer base for the driveway pastries, they moderately scaled their menu and began offering weekly breakfast and lunch pop-ups in their current location downtown. In 2023, they fully transitioned to the brick and mortar, opening four days a week for breakfast and lunch service. After four years of operating as a French pastry business with breakfast and lunch offerings, Guilbeau and Rodney recently expanded their hours to finally offer dinner service on Friday nights—beginning the journey towards Guilbeau’s long-held original vision of opening a restaurant in Avoyelles, with a menu fusing traditional French cuisine with Louisiana classics. On Friday evenings, the lights dim and table service is added, but the restaurant maintains the same cozy ambience of breakfast and lunch hours.
“When the guest is in their place enjoying their meal, when we are at our best into what we’re doing, that’s when the magic happens.” —Chef Roy Guilbeau
A Taste of Community
At La Petite Affaire, Guilbeau describes community not just as a concept but as a driving force that shapes every decision, from the menu to future investments. "What we do is for everyone,” he said. “For the community. Not just for us." On a personal level, Guilbeau explained that he has long craved the small-town way of life that he knew as a boy in Golden Meadow and is honored to discover, and help shape it, in Marksville.
This vision is reflected in the very atmosphere of the restaurant itself, which is housed in the former Raymond’s Department Store, a Marksville institution of over sixty years. It’s a place filled with memory. There’s a sofa for lounging, books for perusing, and a collection of children’s toys, allowing for the casualness and warmth necessary in a true community gathering place.
"We're starting to see that happen here,” explained Guilbeau when talking about the restaurant’s regulars, “and that's when my heart swells to know that this is something that we're providing for the community, that we're working so hard to create a place where they can feel comfortable.”
Shannon Fender
Served on a Friday night at La Petite Affaire Boulangers in Marksville: Seared scallops with Caprese orzo pasta.
This philosophy extends beyond the restaurant's walls and into the kitchen, as Guilbeau and Rodney actively seek to support and invest in local people and their products whenever possible. Lion’s mane mushrooms, lettuce, pecans, and sweet potatoes— all grown in Avoyelles—are regularly featured in pastries and dishes.
Guilbeau believes there are certain elements in the terroir of Avoyelles that produce distinct and rich flavors. “In my opinion, a Beauregard sweet potato grown here is one of the most perfect foods,” he said. “Period.”
French Flavor and Philosophy
On a recent Friday night, the dinner menu at La Petite Affaire featured crab cakes, a nod to Guilbeau’s bayou roots, atop corn cream made with Avoyelles sweet corn. Fresh, local tomatoes were the centerpiece of the tomato basil soup, and oyster mushrooms added a subtle texture to creamy risotto. For the sweet finish, they took their chocolate and blueberry croissants and made a bread pudding that could stand up against any of New Orleans’s finest and most famous.
As Guilbeau explained, one of his favorite ways to flex his culinary creativity is by taking sweet pastries and turning them savory. “Taking Cajun and throwing it inside a French pastry,” he laughed, “That’s my life!” Some of his favorite crossovers include a pan au boudin, a crawfish étouffé tourtière (hand pie), and a fish en papillote featuring Atchafalaya catfish.
Shannon Fender
Chantilly Cake at La Petite Affaire Boulangers.
The French influence can be found not only in the dishes that come out of the kitchen, but also in the mentality that shapes the way Guilbeau and Rodney run their business. Guilbeau frequently references “mise en place,” the French culinary term for gathering or putting things in place, as an overarching philosophy for the restaurant. “When the guest is in their place enjoying their meal, when we are at our best into what we’re doing, that’s when the magic happens.”
[Read our other 2024 Cuisine Issue Features—celebrating French cuisine in Louisiana, here:
Bakery hours at La Petite Affaire Boulangers from 7 am–2 pm Tuesday–Friday, with additional dinner service Friday evenings until 8 pm. (318)528-1300. Keep up at facebook.com/lapetiteaffaire.
