BBQ in Lafayette: A Guide to the Best Barbecue Spots

Blanchard’s began as a food truck and now smokes Texas-style out of a spot on West Pinhook Road. The brisket is the reason to come, and some say its bark is worth the drive on its own. Plates come with one, two or three meats plus two sides and bread, and the sides are so good they threaten to steal the show. Smoked potato salad, chipotle slaw and a green chili corn casserole all hold their own. If you want the signature order, get the poutine, which is hand-cut fries buried under gravy, queso fresco and your choice of meat. Blanchard’s serves lunch only, Tuesday through Saturday, and posts on social media when they sell out, which happens often. Come early and come hungry. 

The name is Acadian French for smokehouse, and the family history goes back to Johnson’s Grocery, opened in 1937. Lori Walls, granddaughter of the original owner, reopened the business in 2008 using her family’s recipes and techniques. The brisket is a genuine contender for the best in town, and the boneless country-style ribs are right behind it. While the smoked boudin on the menu is not barbecue in the strict sense, skipping it would be a mistake. If it’s your first time visiting Johnson’s Boucaniere, we recommend stopping in for weekend brunch, where you’ll find the Nanaine Special, a boudin-stuffed grilled cheese on a biscuit with house-made BBQ sauce. It’s the kind of thing you order once and then think about for months. Save room for bread pudding, if you can.

Took’s has run an unassuming meat market on Johnston Street for more than 30 years, and the barbecue side of the operation is almost an open secret. Their Sunday BBQ plate lunch has your choice of brisket, ribs, pulled pork or pork steak, each served over rice dressing with two sides. Plate lunches run on weekdays too. The counter itself is the other reason to stop, with more than a dozen varieties of house-made fresh sausage, bacon-wrapped filets, stuffed pork roasts and the deboned stuffed chickens that regulars swear by. Ask how to cook whatever you buy and follow the instructions exactly. That is the local protocol, and it works.

Laura Broussard started selling plate lunches out of her Lafayette home in 1968. Her granddaughter Madonna Broussard runs the Laura’s II kitchen now, through a fire and more than one relocation, and the stuffed turkey wings have become locally famous enough that Cook’s Country sent a crew down to reverse-engineer them. They’re close to two pounds each, browned, packed with garlic and spices, and braised in their own juices. Stop in on a Sunday for barbecue turkey legs and ribs alongside sides like rice dressing and baked beans. Madonna calls it soul food, which is exactly right. Anthony Bourdain ate here on his last trip to Cajun Country, so it’s up to you to see if it’s really worth the hype. 

The newest name on this list opened on Avenue C in Broussard and created its whole pitch around a local frustration. Sunday barbecue is a tradition here, but Sunday only comes once a week. 337 BBQ keeps the pit going the rest of the time, with brisket, ribs and pulled pork available on days when most of the competition is closed. The setting is casual, and the operation runs until the meat is gone, so treat posted closing times as optimistic. 

Telly’s is a Moss Street kitchen that leans hard into Southern comfort food and hearty portions. Like others, Sunday is the barbecue day, and the turkey wings are the order, served with potato salad and homemade mac and cheese. The rest of the week, you can find baked and stuffed chicken, red beans with sausage and turkey necks, smothered okra and rice dressing. Plates come out heavy enough that most people leave with a second meal. 

Shane Wiggins grew up in central Texas and brought that style with him, which makes Deuce’s the closest thing in Acadiana to a Hill Country meat market. He runs it out of a truck with a drive-thru window on East Main Street in Broussard, smoking brisket and pulling chicken wings off a rotisserie smoker. The surprise hit turned out to be breakfast tacos, made fresh each morning with brisket, pulled pork, chorizo, bacon or hash browns, which built a following among people driving the Lafayette to Houma corridor in the early morning. 

The most Louisiana entry on this list is a convenience store on Johnston Street, and locals will tell you that is not a contradiction. Keno and Linda’s family-run market sells some of the area’s best boudin and cracklins, with variations including pepper jack and mac and cheese boudin balls. Sunday morning brings the barbecue plate lunch, and it moves fast, so aim for 10:30 rather than noon. Stuffed meats, marinated ribeyes and a well-regarded turkey roll are all available to take home and cook yourself.