[MarignyBywater] Mulate's at SoFAB

Thu Jan 8 15:37:02 EST 2009

Mulate's, The "Original Cajun Restaurant"

This weekend at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum

Mulate's at SoFAB

January 10, 2009

2 p.m.

 Signing and Tasting

location:  In the Southern Food and Beverage Museum Store

*get free museum admission with purchase of a Mulate's Cookbook in the
Museum Store!

Mulate�s is known as the original Cajun restaurant, famous for preserving
and celebrating the food, music and culture found in the small towns and
along the bayous of south Louisiana. But the restaurant that prides itself
on being true to its roots would never have opened its doors if owner Kerry
Boutté hadn�t ventured out of Cajun Country and into restaurants and dance
halls of New Orleans, Houston and even Europe.

Of course, it all started in the small Cajun town of Arnaudville where
Boutté grew up. His mother Ida was a renowned Cajun cook. Boutté watched her
prepare everything from gumbo and fried chicken to fried calf�s brain and
corn maque choux. He didn�t learn how to cook at her stove, but he learned
how to appreciate good cooking. All of the recipes on Mulate�s menu find
their roots in Ida Boutté�s kitchen.

Boutté�s own passion for preparing good food started with a job in a meat
market in his late teens. Later, he honed his skills working with the Landry
family at Don�s Restaurant in Morgan City and in Houston, ironically, as a
manager. In an effort to put out the best product he could, Boutté learned
every aspect of the business. He spent time in the kitchen creating his own
dishes and learning how to dish out delicious authentic Cajun food night
after night. Before long, he knew having his own restaurant was the only way
he  could  make the decisions and give his customers the meals and the
experience he had in mind.

What Boutté envisioned was an entire experience-beyond just food-based on
the  Cajun culture he loved. Like most Cajuns growing up in the 1950s,
Boutté took his Cajun lifestyle for granted until he spent some time in
another part of the world. In the late 1960s, he went into the Army and
ended up near Frankfurt, Germany. It was there that Boutté developed an
interest in art, something he shares with patrons to Mulate�s, where works
of local artists cover the walls.

Boutté�s experience in Germany also introduced him to beer gardens, places
where  people  of  all  ages  came together to eat, drink and dance to
traditional German music. Thousands of miles from home, Boutté immediately
saw the connection to his own Cajun culture, where families gathered in
their homes to enjoy good food and a unique musical tradition, both passed
down from generation to generation. Enjoying the food, music and culture of
the German people, Boutté began to think about creating a similar feeling
back home, where the culture was just as fascinating and the food even
better.

After a few years in the restaurant business, Boutté was ready to make his
vision come to life. In 1980, he opened Mulate�s in a small, nondescript
building in Breaux Bridge, not far from his hometown. His staff consisted of
one cook, two waitresses and himself-more than enough to serve the two
customers who came through the door the first day. The first month netted
three thousand dollars in gross sales, but Boutté knew word would spread. He
stuck to his goal of serving authentic Cajun food with consistent quality.

Mulate�s survived and grew, and after several months Boutté began looking
for ways to feature Cajun music in the restaurant. He booked local musician
Zachary Richard, and on the first evening Richard played, Boutté knew this
was it-the food, the music and the atmosphere he wanted for Mulate�s. Only
one thing was missing-the customers. That first night, no one came, but
Boutté signed Richard up for another night the following week. Eventually,
people did come and Mulate�s became known for its Cajun music.

Featuring Cajun musicians at Mulate�s not only helped launch a revival of
Cajun music. It helped to bring the Cajun culture into the international
spotlight. Boutté turned to musicians like Richard and Michael Doucet, who
played traditional Cajun music, and to old-timers such as Hector Duhon and
Octa Clark. He opened up a space in front of the bandstand and welcomed
people to dance. Soon the nights that Mulate�s offered live music were the
restaurant�s hottest nights. He gradually added more musicians until the
restaurant had live music seven nights a week.

Even in its first few years, Mulate�s attracted people from around the world
as well as locals. Visitors and travel writers spread the word about how
much fun they had at the little restaurant. With the World�s Fair planned
for New Orleans in 1984, Boutté saw an opportunity to spread the word even
further. He began planning a year in advance, contacting tour bus operators
and bringing them to Mulate�s for a taste of what he could provide their
customers.  In  no time more than a hundred busses signed up. When the
World�s Fair came around, not only the tour busses, but dozens of other
visitors who had read about Mulate�s in newspapers and magazines made the
trip to Cajun Country to experience it for themselves.