ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602140001
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
After three years of serving up jambalaya, gumbo and shrimp po' boys downtown, the owners of the Lagniappe cafe have put a lid on Roanoke's first Cajun restaurant.
"Closed forever," says a sign on their door at 127 Kirk Ave. S.W. The restaurant shut down last week.
Sarah Brown, who ran the place with artist-cook husband Derek, said they had no financial backing and couldn't sustain the cafe.
"Finally," she said, "things were really rough and we couldn't get anybody to help us. We had really dug at it and tried to keep it going." She said they might consider reopening if investors come forward.
The tiny eatery was wedged among the Trasco surveying instruments store, Plowshare Peace Center, Jonathan Rogers' law office and a meeting place of Alcoholics Anonymous.
But the Browns don't blame their side-street location for the business failure. Texas Tavern is as small as Lagniappe and has little more visibility on nearby Church Avenue, Sarah Brown said. "And it's been there forever."
"I think it was a multitude of things" that forced the closing, she said - tightening corporate budgets that trimmed their catering business and Roanoke's unfamiliarity with Cajun cooking. "I think we were too different." Both the Browns were reared in south Louisiana.
At Lagniappe, decorated with Derek Brown's oil paintings, pottery and stained glass, he cooked a spicy melange of Cajun and Creole dishes - red beans and rice, crawfish etouffee, oysters en brochette poulette, natchitoches, alligator Creole and berry mousse.
LENGTH: Short : 37 linesby CNB