BY DANNY GARRETT
Before I moved back to Lake Charles, I lived in Baton Rouge. The recent flood brought me back to my hometown.
While I was living in the capital, I often noticed that restaurants were there one day and gone the next. Their existence was transitory. I’ve lived in more than a few places in the United States, and I’m not accustomed to this.
In my two and a half years in Baton Rouge, my beloved Oscar’s Ice Cream & Pizza Joint on Perkins has expired. Mouth watering, I rushed there one evening to devour the tricolor tortellini and perhaps their cookies and cream ice cream for dessert. Instead, I found myself staring at an eviction notice taped to the front glass doors.
One afternoon, I went inside Reginelli’s, hankering for pasta, but was met with something else entirely. Seemingly overnight, Reginelli’s turned into an Irish pub. I was still hungry nevertheless. I walked over to the bar and asked for a food menu. There wasn’t one. There wasn’t even food there. The bartender asked if I’d like a beer. I declined, leaving hungry and dejected.
Why did this keep happening? Now that I’m back in Lake Charles, and have escaped the deluge of the century, I thought I’d investigate. My hometown isn’t immune to restaurants that fizzle and pop. There once was a Johnny Carino’s. There once was a Back Yard Burgers. There was also The Porch.
To investigate well, I had to do more than seek out the dead. I had to seek out the living.
I thought it best to visit, dine, and speak to the owners of local restaurants that opened in the last few years and whose success hadn’t slowed down. I chose Walk-On’s, Calla and LaVoglia.
Walk-On’s
I felt at home when I first walked inside this ESPN-rated No. 1 sports bar. To my right, pictures of McNeese and LSU athletes decorated the walls. I recognized LSU’s Justin Vincent first, and then McNeese’s Kevin Hardy. I could tell you a few stories about Kevin. All good, of course. Walk-On’s will bring you down memory lane like this.
C.O. Vallet, also the owner of Cowboys, owns the restaurant. Julie Mack is the sales and marketing manager. Both of them were able to provide me with the low-down on why they’ve been so successful in their first year.
“It’s a unique deal. Walk-On’s isn’t the same as other restaurants. It’s an age 8 to 80 business. It’s for singles and families,” said Vallet.
I know what he refers to. 78 flat screen TVs line the restaurant’s walls. I visit Walk-On’s every so often, and I don’t have to worry about missing anything in the sports world. On Saturday mornings, I can watch Houston play Oklahoma on one screen and watch Serena volley with Azarenka on another.
I understand the singles part, too. I’ve yet to visit Walk-On’s with family and friends. Usually when I go, I go for the lone wolf bar experience. The bar has 50 beers on tap. My favorites are the local Parish Canebrake (the hint of sugarcane in the beer is a welcome treat) and the hoppy Shiner Bock out of Texas.
However, others come to Walk-On’s for a more diverse and social dining experience. Mack, the sales and marketing manager, explained to me that groups often come for the fantasy football draft. And the restaurant will clear out the back banquet room for a family baby shower.
“We take care of our customers,” said Mack. 
They certainly take care of their customers’ palates. Your normal sports bar prides itself on its beer and fries. Walk-On’s isn’t a normal sports bar. It sells everything from Fried Louisiana Catfish platters to Cajun Ribeye.
“Food and atmosphere.” Those are the two major ingredients for Walk-On’s success, according to Vallet.
The Walk-On’s atmosphere shouldn’t be mentioned without including its employees. Throughout our conversations about the restaurant, Vallet and Mac spoke very highly of the young men and women who create such a lively and friendly atmosphere.
I had the privilege to speak to two employees. Their input helped me understand why the restaurant was a great place to be employed at.
Victoria Dubroc and Madalyn Broussard are two employees who’ve worked with Walk-On’s for a while. They had nothing but uplifting words to say about the company. For Dubroc, it’s the “fun, family, and best friends” that keep her excited about coming into work. For Broussard, it’s the “sisterhood” and the excellent food. The latter keeps the customers happy, and both of the young women feed off the appreciation.
Walk-On’s will continue to evolve and expand. In conjunction with providing excellent food and atmosphere, both Vallet and Mack want to give back to the community. The company has already donated quite a bit to local schools in the area, and it helped flood victims from the recent disaster in the Greater Baton Rouge area.
Next on the list is expansion. Walk-On’s already finds itself at a great location on Common Street, next to McNeese, Lake Charles’ major university. Vallet now plans to expand the restaurant into Beaumont, starting construction later in the year, hopefully opening in the spring of 2017.
Calla
Calla, a portmanteau of “Calcasieu” and “Louisiana,” is located in quite the unique spot in Lake Charles. The restaurant’s off West Sallier; it congregates in a mixed-development neighborhood with other small businesses. For those not familiar with mixed-development plans, a hint’s in the name. It’s all mixed. The neighborhood’s called Walnut Grove, and the place is gorgeous. Lanterns hang from ceilings and stand tall from poles. Quaint garden and town homes flank the businesses to the east. Bricked walkways line and grace one’s steps in every direction.
Calla’s located to the front of this neighborhood. The restaurant’s a welcome sight. The closer I came to the building, the more my senses were stimulated. As I walked up its iron stairs, Calla’s speakers serenaded me with first Lyle Lovett, and then Boxcar Willie. I stood outside for a bit, enjoying the third selection — George Jones’ “Why Baby Why” — all the while enjoying, too, an exclusive view of Walnut Grove and the relaxing ambience of Calla’s outside patio.
While I was looking, Matthew Savoie walked out onto the patio. I told him I was catching a pattern with the music. “Yeah, David’s a real Texas boy from Cypress,” he said.
David Sorrells is the executive chef and owner of Calla. Originally from Texas, he’s been a chef for 18 years. His career has taken him to Las Vegas, Napa Valley, Colorado and now Lake Charles. The last is mainly his wife’s doing. She’s an audiologist who found work in the Lake area.
I met with Sorrells and Savoie to get to the bottom of why they’ve been so successful in the two years since they’ve opened.
Sorrells stopped me when I employed the phrase, “so successful.”
“It’s been a challenge, and we’ve had our obstacles,” said Sorrells. But, he says, these challenges made the restaurant better. They proved the restaurant’s staying power.
One of the first main points that Sorrells focused on when it came to a restaurant’s success was that it filled a niche. Calla’s a New American restaurant that combines culinary passion and creativity with atmospheric comfort and laid-back luxury. As Sorrells noted, you can find restaurants “like this in Houston and Dallas a dime a dozen.” But not in Lake Charles.
Calla
He was correct about finding and filling the right niche. I was born and raised in Lake Charles, and this was my first time experiencing a restaurant like this in town.
I and my mother dined at the restaurant the following night. The day before, Sorrells and Savoie (great names together; they should open a law firm, too) told me that food is about fellowship. The interior design of the restaurant — the long wooden community tables and the candles on top of them — epitomized a personal experience. Who better to experience this with than my own mother?
Mom and I ordered two different meals so that we could share each other’s plates and widen the “gastronomic” — a favorite word of Savoie — experience. My mom ordered the gnocchi and I the cheeseboard. Our waiter, Dylan, was highly knowledgeable about the menu. I had more than a few cheeses to choose from, and I couldn’t decide. I just knew that I wanted a cheese that was sweet and creamy. Dylan recommended the Red Hog cow cheese. His delivery was confident, smooth, and trustworthy. I trusted his suggestion.
I’m glad I did. The meal didn’t disappoint. The cheese was sweet and creamy, as he said it would be. And, to my great surprise and delight, everything surrounding the cheese was delicious, too. The peaches were pickled. The nuts were spiced. The olives were fresh. The honey was consistently textured.
I went over to my mom’s side of the table to try her gnocchi. Now, I’ve had gnocchi before at Tujague’s in New Orleans, at Lilette’s in the same city, and in authentic Italian restaurants in Boston’s North End. And this was hands-down the best gnocchi I’ve ever had. It was light. It was distinctive — the beurre fondue and sottocenere made it so. The shaved black summer truffles atop it all took the cake. High compliments to the chef.
After the meal, and even before, Matthew Savoie’s performance was thespian-like. He spoke to every guest. He explained the menu and meals to a T without missing a step. He was a walking and talking culinary dictionary. Every gastronomic adjective he employed hit home with precision. He described truffles as “woodsy and earthy.” He further described the beurre fondue and sottocenere in the gnocchi as “herbaceous.” He described choice desserts on the menu as “sweet and coy.” It was a delight to hear.
Sorrells remarked that it’s the restaurant’s goal to “nurture our customers.” I felt this the night I dined there. My mother felt the same.
When our entrée was finished, and my mom and I were calculating the gratuity, Savoie brought a Variety of Chocolate dessert for my mom, replete with dulce de leche ice cream, chocolate coconut ice cream, chocolate powder and a meringue cookie. Death by cacao beans. The dessert was delicious.
It was a sweet gesture, pardon the pun. Everything was sweet, respectful and well-placed.
I’ll definitely be back for more.
LaVoglia
LaVoglia is another restaurant that’s opened in the past year in Lake Charles. It’s located on Nelson, south of town, not far from Gauthier Road. Last month, I dined there for my birthday. I sometimes take Nelson as an easy route home, and I’d always been curious about LaVoglia.
The restaurant’s classy and well-put-together. The waiters wear white shirts, black vests, black bow ties and black slacks.
Trying a new restaurant when you’re a vegetarian is often a little risky. You never know if you’ll have a good selection to choose from. I breathed freely once I read the menu. There was bruschetta, a veggie pizza and a wide variety of pastas. But I’m a sucker for eggplant, so I chose the eggplant parmesan.
I was pleased. It’s not always easy to deal with eggplant in the kitchen. Make a wrong move, and you could end up with a rubbery and a tough dish. This wasn’t the case at all with my meal. The bread covering the eggplant was crisp, and the eggplant itself was soft and full of flavor.
On the side, I had vegetables. Usually, this is where meals go wrong with me. The vegetables, in most situations, are bland at best and freezer-burned at worst. To my delight, LaVoglia’s side vegetables were nothing of the sort. The broccoli, squash, zucchini, and purple onions were fresh and freshly grilled. To top it all off, all of this came at a reasonable price. It was a privilege to share my birthday with LaVoglia this year.
The next month, I sat down with the owner of the restaurant to share my appreciation for its food, and to get down to business and learn the secrets of the restaurant’s success.
His name’s Wayne Holman, and he’s a transplant from Tell City, Ind. I told him of my fine birthday dining experience. He was glad to hear the news. He quickly jumped into his inspiration for the restaurant, which helped me understand why I had such a nice dining experience.
He grew up in rural Indiana. Everything was field-to-table at his household. The philosophy around the feast was one that celebrated whole foods.
LaVoglia
Diversity entered into the picture by way of his large extended family’s mixed heritage, which spanned France, Belgium and Germany. Holman fondly reminisced, “On the table was French breads and pastries; German foods: kraut, sausage and wiener schnitzel.”
Thus, the major idea of the restaurant is to bring the wholesome experience he shared with his family to LaVoglia. He’s quite serious. To match the Old World European flavor of his ilk, he has first-generation immigrants cooking the meals fresh, never frozen, in the back of the house. There are no vats — all meals are individually made for a special guest.
Holman noted it was no coincidence I easily found a meal that suited my dietary needs. In the next two weeks, he’s rolling out a new menu that makes this vegetarian intentions explicit. It’ll highlight the meals that are gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian.
Holman knows that great food and a great atmosphere are key ingredients for a restaurant’s success. However, he doesn’t forget his staff. For team meetings, he asks a football question: “If a football team like the Texans are already successful, why have a draft?” The clear answer: to get better.
That’s what Holman wants out of his staff. As owner, he’s made the restaurant as professional and consistent as can be. So his employees can feel safe to grow and get better without any surprises.
Even though Holman is from Indiana, he respects Louisiana and its cuisine a great deal. He described Lake Charles as the “epicenter of the food universe.”
Holman has owned and operated many businesses throughout his life: oil, construction, cattle — you name it. The restaurant business is now among them. His respect for people, food, and the state will take his business a long way.
Final Thoughts
Now that the interviews are completed, the notes have been collected, and the verdicts reached, I know the key ingredients for a successful restaurant.
Walk-On’s, Calla, LaVoglia — even though these restaurants have highly different styles, a common thread connects them. The owners and operators are well-experienced. Each of them found a niche that needed to be filled in the Lake Area. And all possessed a great respect for food, people, atmosphere and a growth mindset.
The next time I see new restaurants, which I tend to like, not following this game plan, I’ll manage my expectations. I’ll keep in mind that they may be living on borrowed time. Until then, I’ll enjoy restaurants that follow the proper game plan for staying power.
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