If you find yourself on a quick day trip to the Shreveport-Bossier City area and long, in a couple of meals, to experience the bookends of what makes this little corner of the Pelican State such an enticing home to eateries, you might try biscuits and steak.
That is to say, buttermilk biscuits called whiskuits at Whisk Dessert Bar, situated at 724 Azalea Drive in Shreveport, not far from the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, itself a great travel destination in the city.
Whiskuits here are a delicious treat: part perfect biscuit, part tasty filling for a biscuit "sammie," including: sausage, poached egg and green onion; fried chicken and honey butter; bacon, poached egg and white cheddar.
For this writer, it was the smoked salmon and caper cream cheese that proved most alluring because travel brings to mind a former home in the Pacific Northwest, and that means salmon is a breakfast or brunch necessity. You can also get a whiskuit with, according to the menu board, "Just a Buncha Bacon." I'm all in.
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Elsewhere, Whisk Dessert Bar is dedicated to the same from-scratch bliss in the form of cookies and other desserts. The thinking here is that "Death by Chocolate" cookies may provide a good way to go, if you gotta go.
Distinctively-tasting beignets were another treat on this particular Saturday morning visit. When Blake Jackson, chef and owner of this well-lit, modern and relaxed establishment, talks about his food and keeping it local here, you can tell it's a project he adores. So should others.
But then there's the steak, which is to say thick, hearty steaks in a one-of-a-kind spot: the Longwood General Store north of town in Mooringsport, La., also not far from a powerful sight to see: the grave of blues great Lead Belly.
Parked at 3502 Louisiana Highway 169, Longwood General Store is what the name suggests: a convenience store.
That said, it's also not what the name suggests, and that's a fine restaurant spot for true backwoods culinary beauty in the form of "Longwood's World Famous Steaks," as the menu touts, and delicacies like the onion loaf, which is essentially a basket of fried onions clumped together like a wiry onion sculpture. It's big. Bigger than you imagine it might be, and it may make you gasp audibly as it descends, like the mothership of all fried felicitations, upon your busy table.
Southern fare is where it's at with Longwood. Put simply, you may wind up paying for a massive ribeye enjoyed on the restaurant side, but you may also get boudain balls, an egg roll, Coors Light and NoDoz to go at the Longwood General Store counter. The service doesn't have much in the way of fanciness, but it's upfront and friendly, if busy. Get your steaks Thursdays through Saturdays.
This country store and kitchen also has a casino, while a sign out front states simply, "Truck Stop." Another sign promises "World Famous Steaks," and you better believe it. And enjoy.