Stories, Cuisine, Other Unexpected Pleasures

No voodoo lady worth her spells ever gives up her gris-gris bag of good and evil powders, potions and talismans, all used for either bestowing blessings or wreaking havoc on a person or place within her domain.

While a few such ladies may remain in the backwoods and bayous of southern Louisiana, one of them in bygone days must have pulled out all the stops in giving this town and its surroundings a lode of blessings to be envied by just about any place on earth.

Start with natives as high spirited and hospitable as you can find--born storytellers anxious to regale you with hoary and colorful anecdotes of their Indian-French-Acadian-Creole history. Now add a zest for good living that is best expressed by an imaginative style of cookery unlike any other in the country with its melange of styles and flavors.

Baton Rouge has long taken a back seat to New Orleans, a fact that local citizens consider a mere oversight on the part of less-informed folks. They have the same dreamy Mississippi flowing by, the same antebellum-and-older plantations in their backyard, including some 30 gorgeous examples of Greek Revival and other styles set in waves of camellias beneath moss-hung oaks.

The local Cajuns--a corruption of the French Acadians who fled Quebec under English pressure--use the word lagniappe to describe an unexpected pleasure or gift bestowed gratuitously and in good spirits.

Here to there: American and Delta will get you there, both via Dallas.

How long/how much? Give the town and surroundings about three days, split evenly between the two. Lodging costs are moderate, even on the plantations that take guests, marvelous dining the same.

Spring and fall are beautiful here, winter best for viewing the camellias, summers ranging from hot and humid in town to a bit of relief along the Mississippi or on the bayous. Getting settled in: Residence Inn (5522 Corporate Blvd.; $64 to $69 B&B; double) is an all-suite affair that gives you bedroom, large living room, full kitchen with all the necessary gear, then tosses in a Continental breakfast as lagniappe. New, bright and sparkling, one couldn’t ask for more comfort.

Tezcuco Plantation (Darrow, La., 20 miles south of Baton Rouge; $50 to $65 double, full Creole breakfasts), built in 1855, is one of the later antebellums, those built in the 30 years before the Civil War.

The main house is Greek Revival, made from swamp cypress and bricks from the plantation kiln. Many of the guest cottages are former slave quarters of clapboard, each having wood-burning fireplace, equipped kitchen, bedroom and living-dining area.

The Pilothouse Restaurant overlooking the Mississippi has a full Creole menu, jazz breakfasts on Sundays. Tezcuco gives you a wonderful taste of true plantation life.

The Myrtles Plantation (St. Francisville, La., about 25 miles north; $55 to $75 double, plantation breakfasts) predates the antebellum period, having been built in 1796, and is said to be America’s most haunted house, the scene of about 10 murders during its history.

Marvelous plaster friezework and faux bois, the technique of making plaster door-and-window frames appear to be wood. Stunning grounds with gazebo on lake behind house, a tavern for that mint julep, special Mystery Weekends during which some startled guest is proved to be the killer of William Winter, who owned the place from 1852 to 1871.

Regional food and drink: Mix and modify the styles of French-Cajun-Creole cooking and you come up with a table full of delights at almost every meal, many glorified with a sauce or roux to give them a unique character.

Seafood abounds, but the freshwater crawfish is king, eaten here in great mounds year-round but best in spring and summer. A few other staples: boudin, a sausage of ground meat, rice, garlic, green and white onions; cochon de lait, roast suckling pig; gumbo and jambalaya; grillades, a stew of garden vegetables and bits of round steak, often cooked over coals in an iron spider-pot with four legs. Nothing beats a black-pot breakfast of plantation stews, the big meal in those days, cooked and served under oak trees beside the Mississippi.

Moderate-cost dining: Juban’s (3739 Perkins Road) will start you with a Creole gumbo, oysters bienville or deep-fried crawfish, Cajun popcorn hereabouts, and then move on to the likes of Louisiana soft-shell crab stuffed with shrimp and crawfish or blackened Gulf redfish. Lots of non-seafood fare also. Juban’s has plenty of greenery and artwork to go with its Vieux Carre decor, a fine place.

Ralph & Kacco’s (7110 Airline Highway) is the seafood palace to end them all. A huge and very popular place where the decor is erratic eclectic and the atmosphere borders on bedlam at times. Anything that swims in on the menu is prepared very well. First-timers trying hush puppies here will develop a drawl after the first few.

Joey’s (10565 Florida Blvd.) is far more elegant than the last, its menu reflecting it with such as escargots bourguignonne, lobster bisque, grilled quail and filet au poivre vert. But they stay close to home with Louisiana turtle soup and redfish, pan sauteed or blackened. Also patio dining at this handsome place.

Going first-class: Nottoway Plantation (White Castle, La., 20 miles south; $115 double with breakfasts), built between 1849-’59, is the South’s largest plantation home, a Greek Revival-Italianate house of 64 rooms. Right on the Mississippi, it has hand-painted Dresden porcelain door knobs, carved marble mantels, lovely period furnishings and the whole place supported by 22 massive cypress columns with Corinthian capitals. Handsome grounds, a 65-foot ballroom and a very formal restaurant on the same scale.

Lafitte’s Landing (Donaldsonville, La., near Tezcuco Plantation) is owned and presided over by John Folse, the brightest young star in the firmament of Louisiana’s chefs. Folse, Cajun from his family roots to his lilting speech, has become the equal of Paul Prudhomme as a Cajun-food emissary.

His Creole, cottage-style restaurant, built in 1797, serves the likes of: oysters Marie Laveaux, named for the most famous voodoo queen; a Cajun boudin that includes alligator meat, delicious; leg of rabbit stuffed with crawfish; boneless breast of quail with oyster dressing in wine sauce.

John’s collection of primitive art is more than impressive, everything about Lafitte’s Landing done with great style and finesse.

On your own: One of the most fascinating places we’ve visited in some time is the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum, actually a five-acre plot that re-creates a farm community of the 18th and 19th centuries, most of the buildings original and moved here: blacksmith shop; mule-powered cane grinder and open-pot sugar house; Acadian, dogtrot and shotgun houses favored by early settlers.

Baton Rouge’s bevy of nearby plantations puts you in a quandary, but may we suggest a visit to these: Rosedown Plantation for its magnificent gardens and statuary; Magnolia Mound, circa 1791, for French Creole architecture outside, Empire and Federal rooms within, a working plantation kitchen of the 1700s; perhaps to White Oak Plantation for a meal of crawfish crepes and cochon de lait.

And for a close-up look at the natural beauties of the bayous and swamps, head for Whiskey River Landing at nearby Henderson, La.

Your boat tour will last about two hours with a local guide, then have a go at those crawfish at the landing or at one of the typical restaurants facing each other across the river in Henderson.

For more information, call the Baton Rouge Visitors Bureau at (504) 383-1825, or write (Drawer 4149, Baton Rouge, La. 70821) for a brochure on the city and surrounding area, plus guides to hotels, restaurants and plantations, many of which take overnight guests. Ask for the Baton Rouge package.