Cajun food will make its way to Texarkana in a matter of weeks.
Lagniappe Specialty Meats will offer a whole range of Cajun-prepared meats, introducing Texarkana to the southern Louisiana dining experience with lagniappe, Creole for "a little extra."
Owners Bobby Duhon and Ellis Taylor, both from South Louisiana, recruited Ted Campbell to help make their dream happen. Lagniappe has been under construction for eight weeks in the 4100 block of Jefferson Avenue, across from Jefferson Avenue Marketplace.
Campbell, the project's on-site manager, came to Texarkana in 1989.
"I'm a former cropduster," he said. "A friend of mine later said Texarkana needs a Cajun specialty meat store, and now we are making it happen."
Campbell added up thousands of flight hours as a pilot, but he eventually found himself branching off into real estate and contract work.
"I flip stuff, buy, sell, build new. I did it while flying, during the off-season when the farmers didn't need my services," he said, experience that led to Campbell acting as on-site manager while Lagniappe is built.
Campbell said he is already looking ahead to the store's opening and the long list of culinary experiences it will bring to Texarkana. Some of the Cajun specialties Lagniappe will offer include a "whole range of specialized, high-quality beef dishes, pork and chicken, not to mention various seafood offerings," he said.
"We will give you ribeye so tender you can cut it with a fork," Campbell said. "Stuffed brisket, quality ground beef. Among our pork offerings, you can get stuffed pork chops, ground pork and Cajun-style sausage."
He also mentioned southern Louisiana specialties such as boudin, prepared in all sorts of ways, including fried.
"Nothing will get trucked in, as far as the prepared meats go," Campbell said, "We will be making everything on-site." He said even after construction is complete, a considerable amount of time will go into preparing the initial stock for the customers before the doors open.
"We will be making all this and have it on our shelves before the first customers come in," Campbell said. "The plan is to have samples ready so those who don't know these dishes can get a chance to try them."
Naturally, crawfish will be a staple-boiled and in gumbo and jambalaya, among other dishes.
"Have you ever had a turducken?" Campbell said, referring to the dish that combines turkey, duck and chicken meat. "You'll have your chance when Lagniappe opens."
Eventually, they want to open a satellite store in Texas. Lagniappe Specialty Meats will open to the public in about eight weeks.