Diner finds new Houma home

A subset of Houma citizens lost a fixture in their dining rotation June 28 when the Lunch Basket caught fire and burned down.

But now, owners Bob and Claudette Dungan work daily in preparation to re-open the restaurant in a new location – 4900 La. Highway 311 – where they will replace Pacino’s as the diner to share a wall with the Shell station at the X-Stop.

“We’re shooting for [opening] Labor Day weekend,” Bob Dungan said. “Hopefully, the Tuesday after Labor Day, but I don’t know, it could be the middle of September.”

Danny Leblanc owned Pacino’s, and a mutual friend told the Dungans that Leblanc was looking to get out of the restaurant business. The Lunch Basket owners initiated contact and the two sides struck a deal.

The location, which housed Raceway before Pacino’s, was chosen because it offers quick access for the Lunch Basket.

“I needed to get into something that I could get into fairly quickly,” Bob Dungan said. “I’d like to be downtown because that’s where I was, but there is a lot of area out here.

“It’s a restaurant that was operating and I could get into it and it wouldn’t take much time to roll it over.”

The Lunch Basket burned down in the early hours of June 28. The official cause is categorized as “undetermined,” but Bob Dungan said they think they know the source.

“The state fire marshal is 99 percent sure it was the main electrical panel in the back,” he said. “But since they knocked the building down [while extinguishing the fire], there was no way he could tell for sure.”

Although food will not be served in the new location for at least a month, some of the Dungans’ customers dropped by to check on the progress, and some even offered to help with anything from pressure-washing the walls to scrubbing the floors.

The abundance of support through cards and letters has been “unreal,” Bob Dungan said.

While they may miss some of the walk-up business that comes with the downtown location, it could be offset by the loyal customer base and benefits of the new location, such as easier access and more parking room for commuters.

X-Stop owner Art DeFraites III said he thinks the “access of the residence” is the most appealing commodity and the drive-thru will help the evening business.

“There is a high population of workforce in the area, and the evening business should pick up,” DeFraites said.

In the meantime, the Dungans show up to the new location every day before they launch into their daily routines – permit application and aesthetics.

“It’s a lot different than it was 27-and-a-half years ago,” Claudette Dungan said in reference to the paperwork needed to get the restaurant ready for business.

When they do re-open, they will begin with an abbreviated but similar menu until the staff becomes acquainted with the new environment.

“We’re probably going to go with a limited menu to start with because it’s a smaller kitchen and a smaller area, but we’re going to sell the things we sold for the most part,” Bob Dungan said.

The interior will have similar vibes – checkerboard tablecloths and a homey atmosphere, Claudette Dungan said.

Pacino’s and Raceway each operated as a restaurant by day and a bar room at night, but the Lunch Basket will not retain the nightlife. Instead, they will operate from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with the intent to open for breakfast after they settle into the new location.

The Dungans will defer management of the Lunch Basket to their daughter Carlette. Bob and Claudette were the same age, 31, when they opened the original diner in 1982.

Months after the original Lunch Basket burned down Bob and Claudette Dungan set Sept. 7 as a target date to reopen the restaurant in its new location, the X-Stop on Highway 311 in Houma. ERIC BESSON