Dinner Report: Becca's in Shreveport, LA...

If you are in Louisiana, you are required by law to eat some sort of Cajun food, so I have heard, but after finishing a day of business on the road, my co-worker and I didn't have the urge to go driving all over the place looking for the official Cajun Restaurant of Shreveport. Instead, we asked the front desk lady at our hotel for something close and she suggested a place called Becca's - next to the O'Reilly's Auto Parts. Make no mistake, you can get your crawfish etoufee and some spark plug cleaner in the same stop, and I'm all about efficiency.When you first pull up, think of a San Antonio hole-in-the wall; this isn't going to be fine dining on the top of a tower, but it just might be something good inside. Right away, we were greeted and the staff (all of them) greeted us and was happy to hear that the hotel had recommended the place. For just a split second, I wondered if they were surprised, but maybe they weren't.The interior of the place has a nice rustic feel to it. You've seen that look before where they try to make you forget you are in a shopping center by making the place feel rustic. Lots of moss and tree limbs and such. I enjoy eating in a place like this because they know if I was looking for something a bit more elegant, I wouldn't have pulled into an O'Reilly's for dinner in the first place.I didn't know it when we walked in or even until I read the sign on this door, but they have some of that video poker action going on. Yes, get some Jambalaya and win some money. Of course, we passed on the poker and got straight to the vittles.The special was Snapper Barataria, and though I have never heard of it before, our waiter recommended it over the blackened catfish I had originally ordered. And I should mention that our waiter was awesome. He could have been a character in a movie and I don't mean that in a bad way, just that he seemed to embody what I would imagine someone from the area would be like. I hope that isn't stereotypical or anything.The dinner came with a house salad. I ordered Ranch dressing, but the waiter brought their house dressing. And he was right. I have never had a salad clear my sinuses like this one did. Good stuff! My co-worker ordered the same, but he also got a cup of some crawfish soup. It looked inedible to me, but he ate it up pretty quickly. I guess I'm just not ready for that.When dinner came out - pretty quickly in fact - it smelled fantastic. In addition to the salad, the snapper was served with a "twice baked" potato. Mine had been baked at least twice, maybe more; but it was good on the inside gooey, cheesy parts. From what I gather, the Barataria comes from the name of a town in Louisiana and is also French for the word "fraudulent". I'm guessing this Snapper Barataria is named after the town and not the French word. It had some sort of white sauce with little shrimp mixed in it and lots of seasoning. I love hot, spicy foods and this hit the mark in a big way.

Our waiter and other folks on the staff kept in touch but weren't intrusive. We never had to worry about iced tea glasses being filled, but at the same time, they never hovered. For example, my co-worker casually asked about the possibility of hush puppies, even though they weren't part of the platter we ordered, and within several minutes, our waiter returned with some he had just fried up. Then when we both asked for take-out boxes, he brought us some more hush puppies to take with us. Outstanding.

I am no expert on Cajun food - I have to confess that most of the names of the dishes just make me queasy in spite of not even knowing what they really are. I can't tell you if Becca's was best place to eat around this part of Shreveport, but it sure hit the spot. That and extremely solid service and friendly folks make it worth a visit if you happen to be here.