Cajun on wheels

Six months ago, René and Rena LeBlanc were weighing moves to Illinois and Florida.

Now they’re bringing Cajun cuisine to northeast Indiana.

The LeBlancs’ Cajun Cafe food truck is finishing its fourth week in business serving Adams and Wells counties with plans to be in Jay County down the road.

The food truck has a floating schedule posted each weekend on its Facebook page, with visits this week to Monroe, Bluffton, Berne and Decatur. There are already plans to provide food during weekend events at The Tipsy Glass winery in rural Bryant, and René said he’d be interested in expanding service elsewhere in Jay County.

“We’re open to new things,” he said. “If someone invites us and there is a place to park, we’ll give it a try. That’s what we’re looking for. If we can get four or five good spots a week and be there consistently, we make money, the customer’s happy, it’s win-win.

“We’re still feeling out our different towns … The towns we go to that are real receptive, we want it to be kind of predictable and change a little bit as we see fit.”

René and Rena (née Rowell), a Berne native and South Adams High School graduate, met at Counter Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and bonded over their involvement in service activities. They married in 2016 and when the youngest of their three children started school at Duke University in August making them empty-nesters, they decided it was time for a move.

René had a job opportunity in Pensacola, Florida, while Rena pursued an opening at Greenville (Illinois) University, her alma mater. They were visiting Rena’s family in Adams County when she learned the Greenville job didn’t pan out, and that sparked a conversation.

“I asked her, ‘Are you ready to go to Pensacola or do you want to stay here?’” said René. “And here we are.

“We came up to visit for two weeks, and here we are six months later.”

Wherever they went, René — he started as a dishwasher at The Crescent in Abbeville, Louisiana, at age 15 and worked his way up to cook before moving on to become a cook at Bourbon Street Cafe and a server at Chartres House in New Orleans — wanted to bring Cajun culture and food with him.

So in November he bought a trailer and spent the bulk of three months renovating it and preparing it for food service while also working part-time as a cook at Chalet Village in Berne. The predominantly black trailer with red stripes, white lettering and the fleur-de-lis held a soft opening Feb. 26 in Berne and has been trying out various locations since. (It’s open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today in the Kroger parking lot in Decatur.)

The Cajun Cafe menu features classic Louisiana favorites like crawfish étouffée, gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and catfish and shrimp po-boys, each served as part of a combo with a drink and side (maque choux, hushpuppies, potato salad fires) at $9.95 or less. Desserts of bread pudding and pecan pralines are also available. (For the full menu, visit lacajuncafe.com.)

René, whose best friend growing up had rice fields and crawfish ponds, is partial to the crawfish étouffée.

“It's a unique seafood,” he said. “You don’t see it across most of the country like you do shrimp or fish.

“I’ve just eaten crawfish all my life. I really enjoy the flavor and how the crawfish bring out a unique flavor in the étouffée.”

Just a month into their venture with René as the chef and Rena his part-time assistant, the LeBlancs have already started to get invitations to summer festivals and fairs, including Swiss Days in Berne and Bluffton Street Fair. René said he’ll be evaluating those opportunities and wants to make sure the truck can handle the customer volume before committing.

Regardless of where the food truck is stationed, the Louisiana native who has moved to his wife’s hometown is ready for summer.

“I made it through winter,” he said, laughing. “I am so looking forward to spring and the weather changing and just see what the sunshine brings out.”