Ponchatoulas

Ponchatoulas was founded in February 1996, by original owner Johnny Gaudet, who then partnered with Chris Garriga in 2004. With a passion for good food and fun, Gaudet opened the restaurant on the bustling Park Avenue in downtown Ruston. The building housed a fire station in the early 1900's, complete with the big red fire truck and even horse-drawn carriages lining the downtown streets. Some years later, the location became a landmark for one of history's music legends, Elvis Presley. Presley recorded in an upstairs studio of the then KRUS radio station. It wasn't until the late 1980's that the building was converted to a restaurant, not much different from the current site. The full-service restaurant offers patrons a wide variety menu that includes appetizers of seafood gumbo, fried mushrooms and boudin balls, as well as from the fryer servings of fried crawfish tails, shrimp, oyster and catfish. Ponchatoulas is famous for their crawfish étouffée, red beans and rice, crab cakes, poboys, and white chocolate bread pudding. Open for lunch and dinner, patrons often come for the free live entertainment and happy hour drink specials. The restaurant's Cajun ambiance will make you feel as though you are sitting in the French Quarter of New Orleans. If you'd rather take that New Orleans feeling home to your dining table, Ponchatoulas makes it easy with heat and serve to go orders.