Cafe Des Amis, a renowned restaurant in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana known for its cuisine, art, music, and atmosphere, is reopening after being closed for five months due to a fire. The restaurant achieved worldwide acclaim for its zydeco music performances and creative energy. Locals and visitors alike are eager for Cafe Des Amis to resume its role as the heart of the community. The owners are passionate about sharing their Cajun culture and bringing people together through food, art, and music.

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MIER 23, 2002
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Cafeservingandswingingagaine
I
Barabra L. Nelson
t bnelson@theadvel'tiser.com
~ BREAUX BRIDGE -
3 They will cometo enjoythe
a music.They'lltakein some
g art. Before they're done,
11 theymayeveneatbeignets
'- andEggsBegnaud.
d Different things to
dtiIerentpeople,Saturday
,- I mornings in Breaux
. Bridge are about to return
e to normal. That's if you
a consider a zydecobreak-
[- fastnormal.
I- "It'~ the music," said
GregGuirard,thefeatured
11 artist at Cafe Des Amis,
r I whichreopenstodayafter
..I beingclosedforfivemonths
r I because of a fIre. "It's crazy.
It's people having a great
time, feeling uninhibited.
The last time I came, people
were dancing on the tables
and in the kitchen. The
l1 placewaspacked."
e In June, the restaurant
11 that achieved worldwide
11 acclaimforits atmosphere
l' and cuisine was closed
because of a flre that
l' destroyedmuchof the liv-
i- ingquartersof Dickieand
e CynthiaBreaux,the own-
" ers. The downstairs cafe
,- sustained heavy smoke
'1' damage.
s After a five-month
1- restoration effort,with staff
.e members volunteering
y
RC. Piazza/ppiazza@theadvertiser.com
CafeDesAmisin BreauxBridgewill reopentodayafter
beingclosedforfivemO(lthsbecauseofafire.
their time to recreate the
cafe's original appeal, cafe
devoteeswillfeelthe energy
onceagain.
"It's a microcosm of life
in this area," said Todd
Mouton, Development
Director of the Acadiana
Arts Council and loyal cafe
customel: "The Breauxs
know how to create a place
where creative ideas and
artistic thinking is nul"
tured. For a lack of a better
word, it's the vibe. The place
hasspirit."
Today's feattu'ed zydeco
artists, Thomas "Big Hat"
Fields and his six-member
zydecoband, are glad to be
back.
"Youmeet peoplefrom
all over the world there,
because that's the f11'stplace
people go on Saturday
mornings," Fields said.
"We've played all over the
world- NewYork,Balti.
more and in Europe. It's just
a one.of.a-kind place, even
in Louisiana."
Out-of-townersfell in
love with the cafe fu'st.
"There are only a few
restaurants around the
state where people route
their trip around having a
meal there," said Dan
Rees, a Breaux Bridge
attorney and customel;
whose favorite dish is the
spinach andouille sttlffed
drum topped with crawfish
etouffee.
But it took awhilefor
locals to [rod its charm.
"We did not get local
acceptance until people
came from out of town,"
Dickie Breaux said. "To the
locals, we were a normal
run of the mill cafe."
When the locals did
come,they made the place
the pulse of Breaux Bridge,
where conversation flowed
as freely as the scent of a
well-cookedmeal. It's also a
gathering place.
"It's become a confes-
sional, where people come
and talk about their prob.
lems," DickieBreaux said.
National newspapers
and magazines have writ.
ten ravereviewsonthe cafe,
This yeal; it made Bon
Appetit magazine's 2002list
of the top 10 "great neigh-
borhood restaurants in the
South."
"It's hard todescribe,but
when youare there, youcan
justfeel the warmth," said
BudPeltier,a cafecustomer
whose favorite dish is the
bread pudding. "It reminds
me of the old days when I
went to a care with my
parents. "
The 1890s-era building
itself is part of the
ambiance. The place used to
be a general mercantile
store. In 1925, a fire
destroyedthe building,It
was resurrected as Pel-
lerin'sFuneralHome.
"The hero here is the.
history of the building,"
Breaux said.
In keeping with that his-
tory. the freight elevator
that once carried bodies to
the second floor has been
fashioned by artist Toby
Rodriguez into the cafe's
hostess stand to symbolize
the cafe's rebirth.
"It's a functional sculp-
tt11'e,"Rodriguez said. "It
was the funeral home's
stairway to heaven. We are
calling it 'resurrected' to
memorialize the flre itself
and for what the CafeDes
Amis went through after
the flre. Weraised the cafe
from the dead."
Cynthia Breaux, an
artist herself, has madethe
cafea gallery to feature tal-
ented local artists. Guirard
will get to display more
than 60of the framed pho-
tographs of the Atchafalaya
Basin at the cafe.
"I've been trying to
get in here for six years,"
said Guirard, whose art
and photography books
have earned national
recognition.
The whole place has a
nice warm feeling and the
lighting is great. And
there's something about
Cynthia. Her energy per-
meates the place."
The beams holding up
the roof of the cafealsocan
be considered works of art,
and some peopleare invited
to sign their names. A star
of a well.known movie
signed the wall,
"I worked with Robert
Duvall on the movie,"
Guirard said of the movie
"The Apostle," which was
filmedin Catahoula. '~t the
end of the moviehe was get-
ting a pot bellyfrom eating
here."
From the local artwork
to the homespun Cajun cui-
sine and the zydeco per-
formers, CafeDesAmis has
reached a wide audience of
cafeconnoisseurs.
"What makes a town a
destination isnot the Burg.
er King, or an Outback
Steakhouse or whether you
have a Wal-Mart," Breaux
said. "It's about a unique
place where you really get a
sense of what the location
is all about."
The day of the fire, the
couple gathered what they
could salvage, while know-
ing all along they would be
back. Their passion, and
that of their staff, was their
motivation.
"It's obvious no one is
going to get rich here," said
Dickie Breaux. "It's not
about money. It's a lot more
than a restaurant. It's a way
of life."
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