RECETTES DE COCKTAILS

A South Louisiana native and natural business leader, Sandra Booher is driven by processes, organization, planning, and a desire to help others. Her trademark weddings, soirees, and travel tours have garnered hundreds of 5-star reviews.

After capping off a successful career in corporate America, Sandra settled into her current roles as hotelier, wedding planner, and venue operator. Her primary goal is for all brides and grooms to walk into their wedding feeling stress-free and excited to make lifelong memories.

As a Travel Advisor, Sandra also enjoys making a positive difference in the lives of her travel clients through her passion for planning the perfect trip. Her young but growing travel company, Two Travel Gurus, has already achieved great success.

Known for her leadership and commitment to others, Sandra believes that business is an avenue for personal growth, and it continues to strengthen her faith.

In the automotive business since the early 1970s, second generation Dealer Jesse Luquette, Jr. has developed a healthy respect for the hardworking, top-caliber employees at Service Chevrolet Cadillac who not only give their all for the company but who also work hard for the community.

“What I witnessed of our staff immediately after the hurricane was amazing—they donated hard-earned money, gathered supplies, and cooked for hundreds of hurricane victims who had nothing left,” says Jesse. “It is people like this who have made the company what it is today, and I feel blessed to work with these individuals.”

Jesse is also proud to know that the company they’ve helped build supports around 200 families in the community every year.

At The Aesthetic Boutique Luxury Med Spa, Owner Michele Landry is passionate about improving her patient’s quality of life by building confidence and self-image. A strong and goal-driven person herself, Michele specializes in Aesthetic Medicine and has been honored for her exceptional Med Spa services and involvement in the community. This year, she and her practice were named Best Nurse Practitioner and Best Medical Spa in The Daily Advertiser’s Best of Acadiana awards. Her company was also honored as a Top 3 Finalist for the 2022 Community Commitment Award for the Better Business Bureau serving Acadiana.

Dedicated to continuing education, Michele attends several trainings and conferences a year aimed at improving the outcomes and safety of patients receiving injectables and other aesthetic treatments. Her consumerdriven book—written to help patients understand aesthetic injectables and finding the best injectors—is due to be published in 2023.

Having built Cajun Bug Exterminating from the ground up, Kimi Hargrave and her team recently celebrated the acquiring their second local company in a few short years in the business. Kimi credits hard work and dedication for her and the company’s success while also crediting the love and support of the greater Acadiana community.

Passionate about serving and living in Acadiana, Kimi believes in giving back to the community and sharing the company’s success with others. Kimi currently serves as the first female President of the Acadiana Pest Control Association and also sits on the Louisiana Pest Management Association Board of Directors.

Riverside Inn’s Kaliannah blends two classic cocktails befitting traditionalists who like to keep things simple for a crowd during les fêtes de famille

by Lisa LeBlanc-Berry photo by Romero & Romero

There is something undeniably nostalgic about holiday traditions. Family yuletide feasting at a favorite restaurant, helping mom twine the turducken, chilling the flutes and making classic cocktails with friends can prevail as lasting touchstones.

“We have a very festive holiday vibe,” says Lori Hurst, co-owner of the iconic Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn in Broussard, founded in 1932. “Our Kaliannah cocktail is always popular during the season. It’s basically a cosmopolitan blended with a margarita, named after the two girls who created it as a frozen drink. We later perfected it on the rocks for a banquet. It’s an easy-to-make crowd-pleaser.”

Helmed by Lori and her chef-proprietor husband, Richard Hurst, Riverside Inn has been enshrined as a holiday tradition among Cajun families for generations. The secluded setting, festooned with flickering lights, sets the stage for festive dinners ending with such distinct desserts as sweet potato beignets with cinnamon, glazed with orange-hazelnut sauce and postprandials including Rémy Martin, Grand Marnier and Irish coffee.

“It’s my own little Cajun paradise,” says Lori. “Driving in the dark, you turn into the driveway that becomes a twinkling fairyland. It’s a little off the beaten path, just off I-49.”

Elegantly presented classics such as oysters Bienville and crab cakes precede broiled Maine lobsters selected live from a tank, multi-course oyster dinners, grilled platters and a stuffed redfish “extravaganza” redolent of herbs and spices, topped with crawfish and buttery lump crabmeat.

“We were the first restaurant in the area to have a lobster tank, the first to sell alligator and the first to serve blackened redfish, created by Richard’s father, Larry, in the early 1970s,” Lori says. “Paul Prudhomme was just a kid from Opelousas who would always come over to find out what Larry was cooking, including his blackened redfish.”

While the Hursts’ Kaliannah cocktail is festive for holiday soirées, it can be creatively garnished to fit any occasion. “You really don’t taste the alcohol,” Lori adds. “It’s smooth and absolutely delicious.” ■

HOME BAR

¾ ounce Tito’s Handmade Vodka ¾ ounce 1800 Tequila ¼ ounce Cointreau 1 ounce cranberry concentrate 1 ounce simple syrup ½ ounce Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice ½ ounce Real Lemon unsweetened lemon juice fresh lime wedge and cranberries

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Rub lime on the rim of a 9-ounce rocks glass, turn upside down and dip into red cane sugar for the holidays or in black lava salt. Garnish with a lime wedge. Embellish with three cranberries on a sword pick. Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn

240 Tubing Road Broussard 337-837-4011 poorboysriversideinn.com

Pat’s of Henderson

1500 Siebarth Dr. Lake Charles 337-439-6618 patsofhenderson. com

by Eric Cormier photos by Joseph Vidrine

Good old-fashioned Cajun food is being served again, albeit inside new digs, at Pat’s of Henderson in Lake Charles.

Owner Nicholas Perioux, 44, reopened the eatery in Lake Charles in August. The restaurant had been closed since August 2020 due to what some in the Lake City regard as the first of five plagues.

In chronological order, the community suffered through Hurricane Laura (2020), Tropical Storm Beta (2020), Hurricane Delta (2020), a winter storm in 2021, and historic spring flooding (2020). All of this occurred as the world contended with COVID-19.

Those setbacks unfolded right after Perioux bought the restaurant from his family in 2019.

“We had to gut the whole restaurant,” he said. “And that did not start until after our fight with the insurance company.”

The end result is a relaxing and comfortable eatery that features natural lighting, a hip bar area and a new and improved kitchen.

By the way, the delicious and spicy dishes that customers all over the country were accustomed to at Pat’s of Henderson, are still being produced.

Perioux’s team designed an eatery where visitors enjoy wonderful food in a relaxed, naturally lit setting befitting of a southwest Louisiana destination eatery. TRY THIS!

Savory Sampling 1

Crawfish Bisque This complex yet velvety tasting crawfish delicacy is a staple dish at Pat’s and with a side of French bread is culinary heaven.

Crawfish Dinner The ultimate mudbug combo which includes fried crawfish, a crawfish tart, bisque, étouffée over rice, boulette, and stuffed bell pepper — goodness to the 10th power. 3

Crab Dinner Let your mind imagine the delightful flavor on a plate with crab boulette, gumbo, etouffee over rice, stuffed crab, fried crab cake, and stuffed bell pepper. 4

Half & Half Catfish Courtbouillon Fried or grilled catfish on one side of the plate and catfish cooked in Cajun-inspired red sauce on the other side of the plate — yum. 5

Grilled Ribeye Steak Perioux is proud of the restaurant’s steak grilling capabilities and meat dishes are enhanced with the 1855 Black Angus Beef brand product.