Prejean's 2.0

With new energy, a bastion of the bygone era of dine-in dance halls re-emerges

by

Ron Reed is adjusting to some changes. It’s just before 5 pm, and he’s settling into his regular seat at Prejean’s. Sleeves rolled up, Michelob Ultra tucked firmly into a koozie, his routine is intact, but his surroundings seem slightly foreign. This bar used to be a cavernous corner of the restaurant; it is now part of an open floor plan, with improved lighting and fixtures, a showcase sign overhead inviting guests to the Cypress Tavern. Gone is the decaying Formica countertop, replaced with beautiful sinker cypress, shining under a clear epoxy finish. Same for the rickety old barstools, the ones that would let out an uneasy creak at any shift of weight; they’ve been upgraded to comfortable metal-reinforced counter chairs. Reed looks up to a pair of new flat screen televisions and down to the new wood grain tile flooring that spans the dining room. “Look at this,” he told me with admiration. “This whole thing has changed.”

Welcome to Prejean’s 2.0, durably fashioned and adapted for the post-Covid era.

Reed has been regularly visiting Prejean’s for the past decade. When Tim Metcalf bought the restaurant in November and closed it down for the ten-week renovation, Reed anxiously awaited its re-opening. For him, it’s convenient; he lives three minutes away. But more than that, the social exchange that takes place at Prejean’s is what has continuously drawn him back to the Cajun institution along the I-49 corridor.

The forty-one year old Carencro restaurant has sustained a reputation that stretches worldwide—built on a history as rich as its famous duck and andouille gumbo. “You know what I like about this place?” Reed asked me. “I’ve met people from all over the country here.” Noting their propensity to return, he added: “and I’ve met them more than once.”

Metcalf is still in awe of what he just purchased. On a tour of the sprawling seventeen thousand square foot restaurant, he noted the enormous amount of effort and funds (close to one million dollars) that have been poured into the re-opening, a massive undertaking for a place in dire need of upgrades. With 8,500 square feet of kitchen space alone, Metcalf and crew have installed a new drive-through window for takeout service and a newly screened-in boil room decked out with a pulley system for lifting heaping pots of crawfish and shrimp. The new layout also features a cold room set at fifty-eight degrees, designated for shucking oysters and processing other temperature-sensitive seafood. Around the corner from the pastry room, he’s also set up a prep area with three jumbo tilt skillets capable of producing up to 420 gallons of gumbo a day. Almost the entire kitchen has been outfitted with new equipment, from skillets to stoves.

Welcome to Prejean’s 2.0, durably fashioned and adapted for the post-Covid era. “It’s very ambitious,” Metcalf acknowledged.  “Covid was the proverbial straw that broke Prejean’s. Prejean’s had its issues, but it was still functioning just fine pre-Covid.”

First opened in 1980, Prejean’s, along with Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge and Randol’s in Lafayette, paired a menu of classic Cajun seafood—boiled, fried, and etoufféed—with live music and dancing for the quintessential Cajun experience. A booming oil economy ate it up; tourists took note. The circuit propelled the carriers of local Cajun and Creole musical acts, including future Grammy winners Beausoleil, Wayne Toups, and Chubby Carrier.

What set Prejean’s apart was the arrival of Chef James Graham in the mid-nineties. An avid hunter-fisherman originally from Montana, Graham elevated Prejean’s food to new heights, serving up crowd-pleasing stews and savory desserts, upping the ante by mixing in wild game dishes like the popular rack of elk topped with a mushroom and andouille cream. The gumbo was the best in town. Perhaps nothing distilled Graham’s legend more than his dark roux masterpiece, which came to be sold exclusively at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and has reached near mythical status in the canon of Cajun cooking. Having won first prize at the New Iberia World Championship Gumbo Cookoff seven years in a row, Graham’s pheasant, quail, and andouille gumbo went on to establish Prejean’s as one of Jazz Fest’s most sought after food vendors for over twenty eight years, drawing a line of annual devotees and wowing artists from Jimmy Buffet to Lady Gaga.

[Read about the revamping of another Cajun staple, the Acadian Superette, here.]

After a decade of success, Graham left Prejean’s for other entrepreneurial projects, and sadly passed away in 2006 at age forty-six while living in Florida. A series of subsequent chefs kept the Prejean’s kitchen humming, but with the changing times, the restaurant lacked a clear vision for evolving. Pre-Covid, Prejean’s had settled into a role that capitalized on its established fame, featuring live music and servicing tourists, but the restaurant had lost much of its local following. Owner Bob Guilbeau, seventy-two, was eyeing retirement. His son Bud, an engineer by trade, had taken on many of the day-to-day operations. When the pandemic flatlined the tourism economy, Prejean’s was in need of a lifeline. Enter Tim and Greg Metcalf.

Second and third generation restaurateurs best known as operators of the local Dean-O’s Pizza franchise, the Metcalfs have, through decades of successful ventures and a couple setbacks, grown bolder and keener on eyeing opportunity, exemplifying a “go big” business credo. (The family also ran the now closed Deaneaux’s Boil House and Teak’s Sports Bar) “When everybody zigs, I zag,” Tim said, professing his maverick tendencies. “My wife thinks I’m crazy sometimes, but I don’t know, I’m not doing bad. It keeps me young.”

A prime example is Dean-O’s Pizza’s pivot at the onslaught of the pandemic. An already scheduled remodeling was reworked with Covid in mind—stressing sanitation, curbside pickup space, and an expansion of the outdoor patio. Dean-O’s social media pages continued an upbeat advertising of specials and to-go ordering, blending in a healthy dose of pandemic awareness updating customers on cleaning protocols and special offerings such as free lunch days for first responders. In addition, Dean-O’s capitalized brilliantly on new state rules allowing restaurants more wholesale and takeout flexibility. Stocking a line of signature “Take ‘N Bake” pizzas and bottled house ranch dressing in a network of fourteen locally-owned grocery stores, from Champagne’s Market in Lafayette to NuNu’s in Youngsville,  Benny’s in Opelousas, Janice’s in Sunset and Robie’s in Abbeville, Dean-O’s pies began flying off the shelves across Acadiana.

[Read about a first post-pandemic outing to Mississippi's oldest restaurant here.]

At Prejean’s, the Metcalfs hope to replicate that success. While the immediate focus has been on executing its new menu and drive thru takeout, plans are underway to streamline wholesale production and put Prejean’s gumbos, sauces, and even a few entrée items in more grocery stores. The Metcalfs are also keeping watch on the nearby Amazon fulfillment center, currently under construction at the site of the former Evangeline Downs horse racetrack. The new one million square foot facility is slated to bring in five hundred direct employees, and more than nine hundred indirect jobs. “We don’t know yet how Amazon eats,” Tim said. “But we’re going to find out.”

Alongside his father, Greg has taken a lead role in honing and balancing the Prejean’s menu. Their challenge: augmenting the tried and true James Graham gumbos and other classics with more updated apps, salads, and complementary entrées. The Metcalfs have brought back oysters on the half shell (a seafood favorite that had long ago fallen off the Prejean’s menu) and added fresh baked pistolettes from famed Lejeune’s bakery in Jeanerette. Chef Seth Ratcliff, a veteran of Charley G’s and Commander’s Palace, also helped direct a recommitment to quality sourcing and made-to-order cooking (Ratcliff has now left his original post as Head Chef at Prejean’s for an opportunity with his family farm; he remains involved with the restaurant on a consulting basis. The Metcalfs are in the process of finding the right person to serve as head chef). The menu now features local crawfish and alligator; oysters from Empire, Louisiana; and local greens grown in Cankton by St. Joseph’s Homestead, run by Ratcliff’s brother-in-law Trey Johnson.

“True Cajun people are gonna have the door open for whoever wants to come eat and drink with them, but you gotta take care of your local people.” —Greg Metcalf

“It’s such an iconic restaurant, it’s a challenge. Because the word from the locals lately—and I felt the same way too—is that Prejean’s used to be better when they were focusing on more than just the tourists,” Greg said. “True Cajun people are gonna have the door open for whoever wants to come eat and drink with them, but you gotta take care of your local people.” Last year, the Metcalfs were already eyeing Carencro as a possible location for the next Dean-O’s Pizza franchise. When word came around that Prejean’s was for sale, Tim seized the moment. “I was a little surprised,” Greg says of the deal his dad brokered, “but we both took it as ‘Man, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.’”

For his part, Tim’s plans encompass the entire 7.5-acre property. Part of the Prejean’s purchase included a campus of four other buildings, three eighteen wheeler trailers, and four shipping containers, most chock full of equipment (they also own the overhead billboard). Tim envisions an outdoor stage, bar, and tables, all centered around the beautiful century-old oak with a fifty-foot canopy located behind the restaurant. “We’ve got big ideas, but I think we have the means to do it,” he said. The restaurant is betting on a live music and tourism renaissance once the pandemic subsides, but they’re also taking their local guests to heart.

“We’ve got big ideas, but I think we have the means to do it,” —Tim Metcalf

Back at the bar, Ron Reed has been fêted with Mardi Gras beads and wears a wide grin. He’s easily developed a rapport with the new staff, and he  can now gaze all the way across the restaurant to the storied bandstand from his corner perch. Groups of diners, mostly local, are once again filing in to sit along the vintage red checkered tablecloths. A palpable energy is back. According to one of Prejean’s most loyal customers, “It’s gonna do well.”      

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