Creole Cookin’
For more than 50 years, Lasyone’s Meat Pie Kitchen has been serving “soulful Louisiana Creole” fare that features its internationally known meat pies — think empanadas stuffed with flavored meats and spices. Sharing the menu are crawfish pies and Cane River Mud Pie. Family owned and run, this 115-seat hot spot ships worldwide and has garnered raves in Southern Living, Gourmet and The New Yorker and has fed a slew of household names, such as Charles Kuralt and the stars of “Steel Magnolias.” The filming shot it to fame. In September, the Meat Pie Festival will offer samples of specialty beer and a “lotta hotta meat pies.”
Plantation Country
Three major plantations near Natchitoches beckon visitors to peek into the past.
The first, Melrose Plantation, is its own entity. Its 1883 main house is a haven for artists and writers and hosts Louisiana’s longest-running arts and crafts festival. Clementine Hunter, a field hand and cook at Melrose, became one of the South’s premier primitive artists. Groups can use an outdoor reception space.
The other two properties, which can be toured but not rented, are part of Cane River Creole National Park. Oakland Plantation, with 17 original outbuildings, is a National Bicentennial Farm; Magnolia Plantation has a gin barn and former slave hospital.
Paddle and Pedal
Whether team building or touring is a group’s goal, Cane River Paddle and Pedal can provide exciting options. On Rue Beauport Riverfront, which just completed a $4 million restoration, this company can tailor an adventure, starting with guided river tours. Its equipment includes stand-up paddleboards; single and double kayaks; hydrobikes, which are pedal bicycles on pontoons; and something called a Hobie Mirage Eclipse.
“It’s a stand-up paddleboard with handlebars,” said Gerry Kiefer, company owner with his wife, Julia. “You step on it like an elliptical machine to propel through water.”
Team building can include competitions, exercises or staged “rescues” on stand-up paddleboards.
Other Meeting Venues
On the banks of Cane River Lake, newly constructed Beau Jardin and Roque House Gardens provides an intimate setting complete with waterfalls for an outdoor event of up to 100 guests.
Seventy-five can gather outdoors for before-meetings or after-hours events at Cane River National Heritage Area’s Grand Ecore Visitors Center atop a bluff overlooking the Red River. “It’s a great place to see the region’s topography,” said Rebecca Blankenbaker, public relations director of the Heritage Area.
At the Fort St. Jean Baptiste Historic Site, costumed interpreters offer a taste of French colonial history. An escape from the replica fort adds team building extraordinaire.
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Location: Northwest Louisiana
Access: Interstate 49, connecting with interstates 10 and 20; Alexandria International Airport, Shreveport Regional Airport, Natchitoches Regional Airport
Major Meeting Spaces: Natchitoches Events Center, Chateau St. Denis Hotel, Natchitoches Conference Center, Church Street Inn
Hotel Rooms: 972 hotel rooms and 125 bed-and-breakfast rooms
Off-Site Venues: Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, Lafayette Street, Beau Jardin and Roque House Gardens, Grand Ecore Visitors Center, Prudhomme Roquier House, Rue Beauport Riverfront
Contact Info:
Natchitoches Convention and Visitors Bureau
800-259-1714
www.natchitoches.com
