12 COOK’S COUNTRY • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019Illustration:^ Ross^ MacDonaldT
HE TURKEY WINGS at
Laura’s II in Lafayette, Louisiana,
are an impressive sight: prob-
ably close to 2 pounds each, well
browned, and served without the gravy that
is prevalent on every other dish.
The area along the drumstick of each
wing is “stuffed” with a mixture of garlic and
spices, of which cayenne is surely one, while
the others remain secret. Braised in their
own juices, these wings give new identity
and life to the otherwise bland turkey dishes
most of us non-Louisianians know and, if
not love, tolerate.
“This is soul food!” owner Madonna
Broussard tells me. This is the cooking she
learned from her grandmother and mother.
Madonna’s grandmother, Laura Brous-
sard, ran a restaurant out of the back of her
house in the 1960s. It was one of Lafayette’s
first soul food “plate lunch” spots, where
working-class residents could find a square
meal for a reasonable price.
The restaurant and home were destroyed
by a fire in the 1970s, and Laura’s relocated
to a residential neighborhood. In 2000, the
restaurant moved again, to a busy com-
mercial strip on West University Avenue,
reopening as Laura’s II—a name chosen to
acknowledge that the location had changed
while reassuring longtime customers that the
food had not.
Today the dining room is tight but friend-
ly, with carpeting throughout, a combination
of painted and exposed-brick walls, and six
skinny windows hung with venetian blinds to
let the afternoon sun dribble in.
Customers, who line up early for the
lunch rush, are greeted with the sights and
smells of the day’s entrées, from smothered
pork chops to shrimp fricassee. A crew of
women scrambles behind the counter, writ-
ing down orders, scooping out generous
portions, and shouting back to the kitchen
for fried chicken and stuffed turkey wings.
All this activity reflects the spirit of
Laura’s original restaurant. Madonna tells
me with a sincere look in her eyes, “When
people eat here they are gonna feel like this
is a home. And it’s a good home.” Additional
photos from our trip to Lafayette can be
found at CooksCountry.com/mar19.Customers pile up in
front of the service coun-
ter during the weekday
lunch rush at Laura’s II
(top). Owner Madonna
Broussard (above) writes
down the day’s menu on
a dry-erase board. The
stuffed turkey wings are
ready for service (above
right). The restaurant has
survived despite a devas-
tating fire and more than
one relocation. In 2000,
it moved to its current
location (right).A Louisiana
“Plate Lunch”
Original
ON THE ROAD
Text by Bryan Roof; photos by Steve Klise