Worth the Drive
For a weekend road trip, Ca-John’s offers authentic crawfish dishes
Crawfish po boy, dusted in cornmeal and deep-fired. Jennifer Kornegay is the author of a new children’s book, “The Alabama Adventures of Walter and Wimbly: Two Marmalade Cats on a Mission.” She travels to an out-of-the way restaurant destination in Alabama every month. She may be reached for comment at j_kornegay@charter.net.
36 April 2013
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here are out-of-the-way places to have lunch. Then there are places even farther off the beaten path. And finally, there’s Ca-John’s Faunsdale Bar & Grill in Faunsdale. This tiny town in Marengo County (recent census data puts the population at 98) is only a few miles down a county road off Highway 80 West, but it feels like the absolute middle of nowhere and looks like you’ve stepped back in time, a rather desolate time at that. Ca-John’s is housed in a brick building whose exterior is definitely worn. A few empty lots dotted with rock and rubble around it are the only evidence of other buildings that once shared its street. But while the scene outside is a bit bleak, once you walk through the red-framed door into the Bar & Grill, the eclectic decor and the smells of Cajun spices and crawfish will put a smile on your face and leave you pondering the question looming large on a hanging banner. “Who’s your crawdaddy?” it asks. The answer? That’d be Ca-John himself. Ca-John is owner John Broussard’s nickname, earned in his childhood home of Louisiana. There, he learned to love the way his Cajun mama prepared crawfish. When he came to Alabama, he brought his crawfish cravings with him and started a crawfish farm and catering company in 1989. A few years later, he partnered with the already open (and already quite well known) Faunsdale Bar & Grill to put on the first Alabama Crawfish Festival. Soon after that, he bought the restaurant and put his name on the sign and his mama’s crawfish delicacies on the menu. He kept the crawfish festival going for 21 years, but the 2012 event may have been the last. As of press time, Ca-John’s was not sure if it would host the popular event this April. Despite the possible demise of the festival, you can still get a taste of CaJohn’s cooking at the Bar & Grill, but only on the weekends. Saturday for lunch is a good time to go. You’ll probably encounter some locals, old fellas sitting over tall glasses of sweet tea complain-
ing about politics and/or the too hot or too cold weather. You’ll also encounter an impressive display of Confederate flags and used baseball caps hanging inside the B&G’s cavernous, wood-paneled and wood-floored interior. Sit down on a wood bench at a wood table, and if it’s nippy out, imagine the warmth that should be coming (but really isn’t) from the crackling wood-burning stove in the center of the dining room. While you wait for drinks and a menu (it won’t be long) check out the entire wall covered in ink. All the scribblings are actually names; guests are free to sign the wall and leave a comment about their experience, and it looks like thousands have. The spot itself is interesting to be sure, but the draw is the food, specifically anything with mudbugs in it. The crawfish pie is good enough to have made the Alabama Tourism Department’s now famous “100 Alabama Dishes to Eat Before You Die” list and is a treat you won’t find many other places. It’s listed under appetizers and at about six inches around, it is an appropriate starter portion. That first bite will make you wish it was six-feet in diameter, and that if it was, it wouldn’t be considered rude to take a quick swim in the rich liquid surrounding bits of crawfish tail meat. The crust is light and flaky, the crawfish, delish, but it is the blend of flavors and mild heat in the filling that make the pie the stuff of food fantasies. If you feel like you’re digging around to find enough precious crawfish in the pie, you’ll think you’ve struck gold with the crawfish po boy. A generous helping of crawfish tails dusted in cornmeal and deep fried is mounded on top of lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion nestled in a hoagie-style roll and served with cocktail sauce on the side. Other items, like a darn tasty cheeseburger, are on the menu too, but if you take the time to drive to Faunsdale to eat at Ca-John’s, you ought to be eating crawfish. A Satisfy a Crawfish Craving Ca-John’s Faunsdale Bar & Grill 35558 Alabama 25 Faunsdale, AL 334-628-3240
Faunsdale
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