Creole Lunch House

PHOTOS BY CARLIE ANNE COLLECTIVE

37 Delicious Years

By Kristina Charles

If you’re looking for a hot, old-fashioned, home cooked meal, you need to try the Creole Lunch House located on 713 12th St. in Lafayette. The southern cuisine is known for their stuffed breads and plate lunches served fresh daily.

Merline Herbert worked in the school system for 22 years as an elementary school teacher and principal. She decided after retirement that she and her husband would take a leap of faith into Merline, a passionate cook and mother of 2 boys, knew she loved cooking, eating and feeding, but she said what stumped them in the beginning was not knowing what to cook and what their specialty would be. But just like most things in life, and as the saying goes, “The answer is right under your nose.” Merline and her husband decided they would cook what they make at home: home cooked, soul food meals from the heart. On June 23, 1983, Merline and her family opened what is now still called “The Creole Lunch House.” “We started the restaurant and I was scared but it was exciting and ended up being a beautiful experience,” said Merline.

“We started in a smaller building (originally a tutoring center) in the backyard then we moved into this building a year and a a brand new avenue in their lives, restaurant entrepreneurship.

couple months after opening up because we started producing our creole stuffed breads and we used that little building to get started,” she added.

The Creole Lunch House now has a large USDA approved processing plant that produces their Creole stuffed breads on Distribution Drive in Lafayette. Over the years, the restaurant had 5 locations: Johnston Street, Northgate Mall, Lake Charles Mall, Lafayette Regional Airport (8 years) and they have participated in Jazz Festival in New Orleans. Due to the LFT airport location, Merline says her food has been tasted by celebrities and pilots flying in throughout the world looking for a home cooked, rice and gravy meal.

“It’s been a real thrill feeding my customers and they are very receptive to our food. I've received a lot of compliments and they keep coming back,” said Merline.

There’s one customer who comes to the restaurant and has been a loyal customer since the first day the restaurant opened in 1985. He brings her candy, fruit cake and all sorts of treats. She says, there’s a father and son that comes every Thursday. Customers enjoy the sweet spirits of Merline that some have even named her “Grandma.”

“You know...being a teacher and a principal of an elementary school, I was with people all the time and working with children so it’s nice to be able to communicate, laugh and talk and I don’t have to grade them,” she said jokingly.

Merline prides herself and her restaurant in putting family time first. She said she only wants to open Monday through Friday, no holidays, (similar to the school system) to ensure she has enough time to spend with her family.

You will find her famous red beans and rice, mustard greens, chicken fricassee, fried pork chops and speciality stuffed breads served with love and care upon arrival from Merline. All entries are served with vegetables of the customers choosing. “I always tell them, if you’re going to pay for it, you get the vegetables you like and you’re entitled to two. And if you look at me hard enough, I’ll give you a little extra something else.” Luckily, if you are a firsttime customer, they offer you a “Rookie Plate” meaning you get to sample whatever you would like to taste with your meal free of charge.

If you want a taste of authentic Creole food, made fresh daily with a whole lot of love, head to the Creole Lunch House, you won’t be disappointed.

Kristina Charles is a senior at Loyola University in New Orleans studying Mass Communications and Journalism. She’s worked in print journalism for the past year and a half and is known for stories that pertain to fashion, lifestyle, and recognizing youth work in the community. She was formally the Director of Education for a modeling and acting school for 4 years and worked in several cities in the U.S. teaching teens how to use self-confidence in order to reach their goals. Kristina loves to work, and loves interior design, fashion and art.