Featured photo: Creole sauce piquant purchased from a vendor at Mudbug Madness in 2012.
Each year around this time, I start planning what I’m going to be eating at Mudbug Madness. The annual crawfish and zydeco festival will return to Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport for its 33rd year, May 26-29, 2016, with music headliners including Wayne Toups, Terrance Simien, and country music songwriting powerhouse Shenandoah (see the full line-up here). This year, when a web search didn’t yield any info on food vendors at Mudbug Madness, I bugged the good folks at Downtown Shreveport Unlimited until they sent me a spreadsheet listing every single dish that will be for sale at the festival. In addition to the usual awesomeness (lots of boiled crawfish, jambalaya, beignets, etc.), I found a few genuinely surprising participants.
Maybe the most surprising vendor on the list, in my opinion, is Lasyone’s Meat Pie Restaurant from Natchitoches. I’ve honestly never met a meat pie that I didn’t like, but the uniquely flaky crust of a Lasyone’s pie – available in traditional ($6), crawfish ($8) or mushroom ($6) – will be a welcome sight among the Mudbug Madness vendor booths. Another welcome sight? LaRouge Steak, Seafood and Soul Food will be serving Shreveport-style stuffed shrimp ($8), a wonderful addition to any local festival. This particular spin on stuffed shrimp, which has its origins in the kitchen of Freeman and Harris Café, is becoming more and more visible at events throughout Shreveport and Bossier City.
Any O’Cajun, a Slidell-based vendor that regularly appears at many of the top food festivals in Louisiana, will be serving crawfish beignets ($6) and crawfish mac n’ cheese ($6). Big Wil & The Warden will have deep-fried brownies ($5), among other things. Shreveport-Bossier’s own Some Like It Hot Food Truck will have crawfish-stuffed burgers ($8) and crawfish-stuffed chicken burgers ($8). And, of course, there’ll be lots and lots of boiled crawfish available for purchase as well as lots of ways to quench a thirst.
What are you looking forward to eating at the festival? If you have a favorite dish that you look forward to eating at Mudbug Madness each year, please let us know in the comments.
