Friday’s lunch special at Suire’s Grocery & Restaurant in rural Kaplan, Louisiana is always the same: an irresistible stew of local turtle meat simmered for hours in a dark reddish-brown gravy, shiny with the gleam of a well-polished family heirloom. The family-owned spot in Vermillion Parish is famous for plate lunch and staples, long a must stop for families heading west along the coast, the place to stock coolers with food for their hunting and fishing camps. The Suirre’s are geniuses at rustic, Cajun cooking, smothering, simmering frying and baking hearty platters guaranteed to satisfy.

Laura Williams Broussard’s signature brown gravy has been simmered by three different generations, ladled over meat and threes since 1968. For years folks from all over Acadiana lined up to taste Laura’s gravy. Now her granddaughter Madonna Broussard is doing her proud at Laura’s II which she opened more than two decades ago on University. A magnet for students from the nearby college as well as regulars and workers from the neighborhood, Laura’s II is known for oversized baked stuffed turkey wings, smothered okra, and some of the best rice and gravy in the universe.

Farm-to-table and Southern style meat and three plate lunches usually don’t intersect. Which is exactly why Scratch Farm Kitchen in Lafayette deserves a visit. Owners Jamie Vickery and Kelsey Leger source from Louisiana and Mississippi farmers and offer vegan, vegetarian, and meat options. Their plate lunches cost a little more — $14 compared to the usual $10 and under — but everything on the plate is either made, cured, fermented, or raised by them or folks they know. Their meat and three is a protein which might be jerked chicken salad, pulled mojo pork, or a veggie patty and sides like pickled beets, hash potatoes, grits, or grilled broccoli. The plate lunches aren’t just pretty, they’re delicious.

In Cut Off, Louisiana, Donna Harris oversees the kitchen at Cher Amie’s, a 60-seat family-run eatery that serves Cajun specialties and a lot more. Harris created all the recipes on the menu and stretches beyond the usual boundaries with globally-accented dishes like bang bang shrimp, crawfish queso, and healthy options including blackened mahi with grilled veggies and seared tuna salad. The softshell crab pasta and softshell au gratin are real crowdpleasers, as is the shrimp lovers platter with bacon shrimp, coconut shrimp, stuffed shrimp, fried, and grilled shrimp served with rice and hushpuppies.

There are a handful of excellent reasons to cross the (thankfully widened) Huey P. Long Bridge to the West Bank. At the top of the list is Mosca’s, an esteemed family-run Creole Italian roadhouse that sits along a dark stretch of Highway 90 West. Opened for business in 1946, the restaurant’s storied history includes ties to the late Carlos Marcello, a New Orleans crime boss who also happened to be the landlord and a regular — can’t fault his taste in food. The unchanged menu includes garlic-infused specialties like barbecued shrimp, baked oysters, and of course the Chicken a la Grande, roasted with tons of fresh garlic, herbs, and white wine. Sounds simple right? You try making it at home. Mosca’s is always better.

All aboard for Lola, the New Louisiana restaurant in a train depot setting that is really worthy the trip. Chefs Keith and Nealy Frentz have been upping the culinary bar in Covington for more than a decade, creating game-changing fare at this stylish downtown eatery. At lunch, tuck into homespun baked goods and from-scratch platters (tip: get the chicken salad). For dinner, expect a white tablecloth setting with the likes of sweet tea roasted duck breast adorned with dirty popcorn rice, collards, and savory pot likker.

Chef Jeffrey Hansell and wife Amy are the talent behind white tablecloth eatery Oxlot 9 in Covington’s posh Southern Hotel. Hansell, a native of Waveland, Mississippi, dishes creative coastal-inspired Southern fare, supported by an impressive cocktail program. The restaurant is pricey but worth it, thanks to polished dishes such as the softshell crawfish Caprese with grilled green tomatoes and crab boil mozzarella, and the pan-fried Louisiana rabbit with house tasso. Sunday brunch is an affordable way to enjoy this special spot.

Take one bite of the tagliatelle with locally foraged mushrooms and truffled mushroom jus, and it’s crystal clear why Del Porto chef/owners David and Torre Solazzo are three-time James Beard semifinalists for Best Chef in the South. Sophisticated, flavorful, and gorgeously composed contemporary Italian plates will please to no end, while the yellowfin crudo and seafood risotto are swoon-worthy. They just opened the Greyhound gastro pub, a promising follow-up.

If it’s a bayou view you crave, it doesn’t get prettier than Palmettos on the tranquil Bayou Bonfouca at the historic site of Roberts Landing. This waterfront restaurant has been dishing southern charm and hospitality along with a Louisiana-inspired menu since 2002. Enjoy local seafood on the wrap around deck, where gator sightings are not unusual.

If you’ve never explored the sweet old town section of Slidell, it’s a real throwback, with locally owned shops and friendly eateries like KY’s Bicycle Shop. Originally a millinery store in the early 1900s, the historic building had a run as a family-owned grocery, then took off as a bike and lawnmower shop in the late 1960s. The welcoming bar and restaurant, with its ceiling scape of two-wheeled transportation, serves a freewheeling American comfort menu of breakfast, fried seafood, burgers, and plate specials.

White Pillars is a showstopping space, an old mansion restored to its original 1905 splendor after suffering significant Hurricane Katrina damage. The setting is a beautiful backdrop for James Beard Award nominated chef Austin Sumrall’s unfussy mix of Cajun, Creole, and new Southern cuisine. Whether he’s serving briny oysters that were in the water just hours ago, having fun with shrimp corn dogs, or reinvigorating eggplant Josephine, an original menu item that layers eggplant with marinara, crabmeat, mozzarella and hollandaise, Sumrall’s eye for detail and sense of flavor is spot on.