By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
When Don Pastor was looking to move his restaurant to Arkansas from the Texas-Louisiana coast, he pondered four locations: Rogers, Fayetteville, Conway and Jacksonville.
How did Jacksonville beat out the other possible locations for Cayenne Cajun Cuisine?
Pastor said there were three reasons: His aging parents, the diversity of Little Rock Air Force Base and the red carpet treatment by Mayor Gary Fletcher and other city officials.
“The mayor’s office was very instrumental in my decision,” the restaurant owner said. “I’ve never had a city rollout the carpet like that for me. Every time I turned out someone from the city was asking, ‘What can I do? How can we help?’”
Pastor married into the world of Cajun cooking some 30 years ago. “I was raised in Texas and my wife’s family is from Abbeville, La. A friend introduced us and it’s been great ever since,” he said.
She introduced Pastor to Cajun heritage, and back then he develop a habit of working 70 hours a week six days a week. “That’s long and hard hours for someone else, I finally figured out and decided to go into business for my self,” he explained.
Pastor said a close friend who had been in the restaurant business for 30 years showed him the ropes.
Pastor opened up the Cajun Cookery down on the coast near Orange, Texas almost 11 years ago. “When it came to Cajun cuisine I was just one of many that seemed to be on every corner. We were somewhat taken for granted,” he said, which is one reason he likes his Jacksonville area customers. “Our diners really appreciate our style of food. It’s something they don’t get everyday. They are more excited because it’s something different.”
And what is different?
Pastor said it’s a number of things. First, it’s the freshness of the food. “I make a trip down to the coast at least once a month to pick up 500 pounds of alligator and 400 pounds of boudin. “Our alligator is farm raised and our boudin has been made by the same Cajun family for generations,” he explained.
Even though the restaurant offers a variety of Cajun food from gumbo to etouffee to fish galore, alligator seems to be the most popular item. “I don’t know if it’s because of curiosity or the novelty of it or the growing popularity of the Swamp People television series,” Pastor said.
“All of Cajun food is authentic and from scratch and no preservatives,” he said. The restaurant even blends its own breading and seasonings. “We start off with 50 bags of flour and cornmeal and five gallon buckets of seasonings,” Pastor said, adding that even the oil is cholesterol free and has no trans fats. We have the healthiest fried foods.”
Pastor knows that Cajun food is not for everyone and offers a menu full of more conservative choices such as an Angus cheeseburger, chicken fried steak, chef’s salads, Philly cheese steak and chicken.
Even though he enjoys being close to his parents and his brother, he hasn’t moved his wife and son up yet. “He’s a senior this year, so he and my wife will be up here after school ends.” But he makes the 800-mile round trip to see them at least once a month, so what if it coincides with his alligator and boudin run. It’s a run he hopes to continue to make long after his family moves up to Jacksonville.
“Right now it’s tough,” he said. Even though he was just one of many on the coast, his business thrived. Here everyone that visits seems to love it. “We have a lot of repeat customers, but we are looking to increase our traffic. We just aren’t where we need to be yet,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s the location or if the economy has caught up with us. But we’ll continue to serve up the best Cajun food we can.”
Pastor’s restaurant, located on John Harden Drive just past the air base in the Quicksilver Plaza may be hard to get to, but you know you are in the right place when you get there.
The give away?
The 10-foot alligator on the ceiling and the seven-foot by the buffet and the numerous alligator heads mounted on the wall.
The restaurant, which has been open since March, serves lunch and dinner. “We offer a buffet at both times as well as menu items,” Pastor said. The eatery is running a lunch special right now with a number of items priced at $5.99 and a big dinner menu.
So as they like to say in Cajun country, laissez les bons temps rouler.
