Mathilda's surprise

By Steve Beard and Troy Meier

Entry 6. Sunday, October 17, 2004

Click photos to enlarge

While I was still snoozing, Troy took off on a little early Sunday morning sightseeing. Instead, he ended up getting chased by a couple of crazy rednecks who apparently did not like our Chevy Blazer with Texas plates tooling through their 'hood.

He was driving crazy through these gravel roads as if it was something out of "Dukes of Hazard" -- without, of course, that cute girl with the Daisy Dukes. Once he lost these two Cajun lunkheads from the Welcome Wagon, he was then surrounded by a few gnarly and rabid dogs who were trying to climb up on to the hood of the car and slobber all over the windshield, barking and carrying on. The way he told me the story, it was like a scene from that wicked Stephen King movie Cujo with the psycho St. Bernard. Eventually, he floored it and the dogs gave chase as he left them in a cloud of Louisiana dust.

Just another sleepy Sunday morning in Eunice.

While he was out, however, he did notice smoke drifting through the sky and discovered a little shack called Mathilda's Country Kitchen off the main drag. She was busy getting ready for the after church crowd.

He came back to L'Acadia Inn to get me and our hosts, Lance and Kelly Pietre, had left us donuts and boudin, an out of this world Cajun sausage. While we were chatting with some of the folks in the lobby, one of them described herself as a "coon-ass" (yes, I know that it is offensive, but that is what some Cajuns call themselves). When we asked what exactly that was supposed to mean, she said that they were named after raccoons. "They take pride in eating anything. They would even eat roadkill if it was fresh enough," she said with a chuckle. Okay, that was the quote of the day.

We packed up our stuff and headed off to the surprise of the morning. When you see Mathilda's Country Kitchen, it literally is a shack that could only hold a few dozen customers and maybe two more families on the front porch. What came as such a shock to us was that this turned out to be the hot tip of the trip. After having eaten the ribs at world-famous Interstate and Rendezvous, I can only say that Mathilda's rocked our world. This is not to take anything away from the kind of places that are made popular from being profiled on the Food Network or the Travel Channel, it is simply to say that sometimes you stumble upon a tray of food that makes you consider changing political parties.

For us, it was all about the sauce. It was from another planet! When we inquired she let us in on a secret I'm sure the locals would love to find out. Here's the deal: First, she started with someone else's -- namely, Pig Stand brand -- to which she added a myriad of spices, finely diced onions, peppers, and what appeared to be (and taste like) sweet pickles. Added to that was sugar, garlic, ketchup, and vinegar. While we would not want to let the cat of the bag about the sauce, there is virtually no way that anyone else could replicate it.

The crowd was very interesting. There was one Cajun family bedecked in camouflage who had been bow hunting all night and tracking a deer. Inside, there was a large black family who had just gotten out of the Church of God in Christ service. Troy asked one woman, "How was church?"

"Church was wonderful and we took communion," she said. "The preacher's sermon was just wonderful."

I was outside and an elderly man was sitting on the porch. I asked him if I could take his picture. He got up, came close to me and said: "I am a man of God, I don't want any funny business." I said, "Yes, sir. I understand." I am not sure what he thought I was going to do with the photo, but he sat back down and let me take his picture.

Mathilda Johnwell (her husband Morris is the pitmaster) was really gracious to come out and chat with us when the crowd thinned out a bit. She was humble and quite content to serve food in her little corner of the world, knowing that she was doing what God wanted her to do. "I prayed and asked God to help me," she said. She needed all the help she could get in the beginning. She moved to Eunice in 1983 as a soon-to-be-mom trying to figure out how to make a living. Her sauce, which she does not bottle and sell, made her a local favorite.

"People always say to me to improve this place or make it bigger, but I like what I have here." We did too. If you go to Tony Roma's because you like the interior design, you might not get the vibe of Mathilda's. But if you are within driving distance of Eunice, Louisiana, do yourself a favor and seek out Mathilda's Country Kitchen for some of the best ribs, pork steaks, hot links, and chicken on the planet. It is the real deal.

We found this cool graveyard in Eunice (okay, I like graveyards). Anyway, the clouds were wild and there was Jesus. Wow. It was like that scene from the Blues Brothers when they saw the life-size crucifix in the stairwell and felt the fear of the Lord. I love that movie.

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