Janie Andre, one of the co-owners of Bergeron’s Boudin and Cajun Meats of Shreveport, seemed satisfied and exhausted when I met her on July 30, just four days after the specialty meat shop opened for business at 7805 E. Kings Highway. In three and a half business days, she said, the shop had sold more than four truckloads of food. I watched as a steady stream of enthusiastic customers filed into the shop, filling baskets with Cajun meats like jalapeño and cream cheese-stuffed chicken breasts, bell peppers stuffed with rice dressing and frozen containers of seafood gumbo and Crawfish Étouffée.
Like most Cajun specialty meat shops, Bergeron’s tempts visitors with a variety of prepared, ready-to-eat treats in addition to the deli cases and frozen sections. Here, you’ll find crawfish and crab pistolettes, boudin balls, cracklin, barbecue sandwiches and a variety of meat pies. The fried boudin balls, at only 89 cents apiece, are fantastic – spicy, crispy balls of rice and pork sausage that are battered and deep fried. If you’re a pork lover, your taste buds will thank you. Your cardiologist will not.
Speaking of cardiology: My absolute favorite thing at Bergeron’s Boudin and Cajun Meats of Shreveport would be the cracklins. Slabs of pork skin and bacon deep-fried until golden brown and covered in Cajun spices, these decadent treats have been warm and delicious on all three of my visits to Bergeron’s. Further research may be required, but these may be the best cracklins I’ve ever had.
On my last visit, a man in physicians’ scrubs was next to me in the check-out line.
“You wouldn’t happen to be a cardiologist?,” I asked.
“Actually, I install pacemakers,” he replied with a smile. “I have some business cards in the truck.”
View a set of photos of Bergeron’s Boudin and Cajun Meats.
Bergeron’s uses their Facebook page as a main website. They can be reached by phone at (318) 670-7204.
