A-Bear’s Cafe’Down-home cooking at Houma’s best

A friend and I stopped in to visit A-Bear’s Café in Houma. When I’m in the mood for some down-home cooking, I look for a mom and pop-type restaurant.

Well, this is the place as momma Jane and poppa Curly were present as usual, cooking for customers, cleaning tables and running the register.

Their picturesque restaurant is reminiscent of a bygone era. My mind wanders as I picture one of those old country general stores from the 1920s, with people talking over coffee in the rocking chairs on the porch.

Being completely built of cypress, it still has the bead board plank walls. It is a cozy little place tucked a bit off the main road in the middle of a gravel parking lot.

Our waitress greeted us promptly and we ordered our beverages. Looking over at the specials board, I decided to order the soup of the day. The corn and shrimp soup ($3.95/cup) arrived right after the giant drinks with some fresh French bread and butter.

The soup was a pleasant concoction of shrimp, corn, and potatoes swimming in a rich tomato broth with just the hint of cayenne. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the traditional Cajun flavors within.

Looking over the menu, I saw many different items, all sticking with the Cajun theme of the restaurant. The crab fingers ($6.95), fried okra ($3.95), and boudin bites ($3.95) are just a few of their appetizers. They also offer seafood or chicken and sausage gumbo by the cup or bowl served with potato salad.

I had a bowl of the chicken and sausage gumbo ($6.95) on a previous visit that came loaded with chicken and was a perfect lunch meal.

Also on the menu are the usual fried seafood items on a bun or French loaf. They have something unique in a crawfish burger ($4.95). This is something I would like to try on another visit.

You can order green salads loaded with cold meats and even fried crawfish tails when “in season.” Since the crawfish produced in China always seem to be in season, I will assume that A-Bear’s only uses Louisiana crawfish, which would be a plus in my book. I find Chinese grown crawfish smell and taste like fish left on the dock too long. They have none of the sweet flavor from the crawfish fat that we get from our own locally grown variety.

Under the “Cajun Specials” section of the menu, we chose the homemade hamburger steak with grilled onions and the shrimp A-Bear platter.

The hamburger steak ($9.95) was an elongated slab that had a nicely browned exterior then covered with sweet grilled onions and topped with brown gravy served with a bowl of red beans and rice. I enjoyed the flavors of the meat and onions together in this hearty dish.

The shrimp A-Bear platter ($13.95) was a large portion of medium sized shrimp that were fried to perfection then topped with a rich and buttery crab flavored sauce and served alongside a bowl of green beans. I could still see the small bits of onion used for flavor.

The signature crab sauce is also served atop fried catfish fillets ($10.95).

I finished up the meal with a delicious wedge of homemade bread pudding ($3.95). There offer many other homemade desserts like the peanut butter pie that sounded good. I wish I had more room to try more dishes but the portions at A-Bear’s are large by anyone’s standards. You will certainly not leave hungry from this eatery.

A-Bear’s Café is mainly a lunch destination as they are closed for dinner on all nights except Friday when they offer live Cajun and country music and “all U can eat” fried catfish fillet dinner ($9.95). I will definitely make it back on a Friday to enjoy a night of Cajun music and good straightforward food.

This a good local restaurant with large portions to guarantee you leave full. I will be back to sample more of their menu items and you should too.

A-Bear’s Café 809 Bayou Black Drive, Houma (985) 872-6306 Restaurant Hours: Monday through Saturday – 10:30 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. Friday only: 5:15 to 9 p.m. (dinner, Cajun and country music)