# Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches A 2-day, ~140-mile Southern road trip from Lafayette, LA. It chains Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie and US 90: Rice & Rails. - **Days:** 2 - **Distance:** ~140 mi - **Starts in:** Lafayette, LA - **Themes:** Food, Music - **Routes chained:** [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor), [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) Acadiana's gas-station gastronomy, done as a discipline: boudin links eaten off the casing in parking lots, cracklins by the wax-paper bag, and the sacred meat-and-gravy plate lunch. Saturday timing doubles the music. ## Why this itinerary works Starting in Lafayette, LA, this 2-day itinerary connects Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie and US 90: Rice & Rails. It suits travellers interested in barbecue, boudin, oysters & tamales; blues, country, jukes & jamborees. The day-by-day bases let you split roughly 140 miles into a sequence of visits rather than trying to cover every linked route end to end. Use the daily highlights to decide which places deserve your longest stops. ## Day by day ### Day 1: The Scott gauntlet Best Stop versus Billy's, 500 yards apart in Scott (eat both; the tiebreaker is cracklins), Johnson's Boucanière in Lafayette for smoked boudin, plate lunch at a Cajun meat market counter, Borden's scoop, Blue Moon porch by night. Overnight Lafayette. Start with a link at each Scott counter and compare the rice, liver and seasoning before buying more for the road. A plate lunch is the main meal; save the ice cream or music stop for a break rather than forcing another tasting. Lafayette keeps the evening local and the westbound departure simple. Confirm live-music nights and carry a cooler if taking perishable food home. Highlights to consider: - **Evangeline Oak** (St. Martinville) — Where Longfellow's exiled Acadian lovers were said to part. The Acadian Memorial next door names the real deportees of the Grand Dérangement — the sadness under all the romance. [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor) - **Breaux Bridge** (Breaux Bridge) — Crawfish Capital of the World (legislature again, 1959). The Saturday zydeco breakfast tradition lives at Buck & Johnny's — dancing before 10 a.m. is not optional. [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor) - **Vermilionville & Borden's** (Lafayette) — A living Acadian-Creole village with Sunday jams, the Blue Moon Saloon's porch dancehall — and Borden's (1940), the last old-line Borden's ice cream parlor anywhere. [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor) - **The Boudin Capital** (Scott) — Officially 'Boudin Capital of the World' by legislative resolution (2012). Best Stop and Billy's sit 500 yards apart — eat both, vote with a second helping. Boudin is breakfast here. [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) - **Frog Capital of the World** (Rayne) — Frog murals on every wall, a frog festival each spring, and a cemetery famously (per Ripley's) facing the wrong way — north-south instead of east-west. The frogs once shipped to restaurants worldwide; the murals stayed. [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) ### Day 2: Rice & gravy west US 90 west: Rayne's frog murals between bites, Crowley for rice-and-gravy country cooking under the opera house, Jennings' boudin balls — and if it's Saturday, swing north to Fred's Lounge first and earn the calories dancing. Highlights to consider: - **Fred's Lounge** (Mamou) — Open Saturday mornings only, since 1962: live Cajun French radio from a bar the size of a living room, dancers spinning by 9 a.m. Tante Sue's rules are posted; obey them. [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor) - **The Boudin Capital** (Scott) — Officially 'Boudin Capital of the World' by legislative resolution (2012). Best Stop and Billy's sit 500 yards apart — eat both, vote with a second helping. Boudin is breakfast here. [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) - **Frog Capital of the World** (Rayne) — Frog murals on every wall, a frog festival each spring, and a cemetery famously (per Ripley's) facing the wrong way — north-south instead of east-west. The frogs once shipped to restaurants worldwide; the murals stayed. [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) - **Grand Opera House of the South** (Crowley) — A full 1901 opera house hidden upstairs above storefronts — closed in 1940, sealed like a time capsule, gloriously restored. Crowley's International Rice Festival (October, since 1937) is among Louisiana's oldest. [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west) ## Practical planning Budget an average of about 70 miles per day across the whole trip, or roughly 1.6–2.3 hours behind the wheel at an assumed 30–45 mph back-roads pace. This is a planning estimate, not a measured time for each leg: transfer days can be longer and rest days shorter. Add meal stops, tours, ferries, traffic and hikes separately; use each day's navigation link for current driving estimates. ### Overnight bases - Day 1: Lafayette - Day 2: near Crowley, LA ### Best season & route notes - [Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/cajun-corridor): Hurricane-season summer is steamy — festival season (spring/fall) is the move. - [US 90: Rice & Rails](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-west): Time it: Rayne Frog Festival (May), Crowley Rice Festival (October). ## Frequently asked questions ### How many days and miles is Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches? Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches is a 2-day trip of about 140 miles. ### Where does Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches start? It starts in Lafayette, LA. ### Which routes does Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches chain together? It chains Bayou Teche & the Cajun Prairie and US 90: Rice & Rails. ### Where are the overnight bases on Boudin, Cracklins & Plate Lunches? Day 1: Lafayette; Day 2: near Crowley, LA. ## Related itineraries - [The Red Dirt Roadhouse Run](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/red-dirt-run) — 6 days, ~900 mi - [The Old Spanish Trail: Full US 90](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/old-spanish-trail) — 8 days, ~1000 mi - [The Deep South Grand Circle](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/deep-south-circle) — 14 days, ~1700 mi - [The Whole Hog](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/whole-hog) — 28 days, ~4300 mi - [The Long Way to the Opry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/music-epic) — 21 days, ~3000 mi - [Beyond the Sabine: El Camino to the Alamo](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/beyond-sabine) — 7 days, ~1050 mi --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/boudin-loop Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-04