Worth Noticing

• By ROXANNE C. HARE
• Special sections editor
• Published: Jun 14, 2009

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Sometimes – especially in south Louisiana – there are unique places in communities that are hiding in plain site. They’re the attractions tourists might revel in, while others pass them by.

The Cabin restaurant might be one such place. Baton Rouge residents would benefit from a 20-minute drive to Ascension Parish in Burnside for dining in an atmosphere that recalls the history of Louisiana.

Although it might seem like one of the area’s best-kept secrets, locals are well-versed in the offerings of the eatery.

Countless residents dine there, have meetings there and even hold special occasions there. For locals, The Cabin also serves as a landmark. And most in the area know that the Robert family owns the restaurant and its land, as well as the nearby Cajun Village cottages, whose quaint charm draws overnight visitors.

The restaurant serves down home favorites like country-fried steak and grilled pork chops. And, of course, there is  Louisiana fare like seafood, po-boys, gumbo, red beans and dirty rice. Buttermilk pie or bread pudding is the signature way to top off a meal. And, there is a good selection of wines and beers, with some Louisiana cocktails thrown in for good measure. The prices are family-friendly, with most entrees hovering at the $12 range.

Another draw – perhaps even more so than the food – is The Cabin’s historic significance. The building is actually an old slave dwelling from Monroe Plantation, dating back about 180 years. Antique artifacts, tools and children’s toys scattered about the long front porch and yard are some of the first things to greet guests.

Outside, a bubbling fountain, foot bridge, water well and giant, cypress-carved alligator provide conversation pieces and an area to linger. On a recent evening, some graduates posed for pictures with their families against this backdrop.

The Cabin actually consists of several buildings attached to each other, explained Joel Robert, whose father, Al,  opened the restaurant in the early 1970s. Weather boards from the outside of each connecting building are visible inside the next.

One such building is “The Burnside General Store,” which provides extra dining space away from the main dining room. The room is chock full of pieces like jugs, tin containers and sepia photographs.

Another dining area, “The Fern Room,” is adorned with iron skillets “from all over the country,” Robert said, and keeps with the historic theme.

The most dramatic room architecturally is the garçonnière-like main dining room, whose four massive cypress beams were manufacturer’s rejects obtained for a bottle of Old Crow bourbon.

In most restaurants the restrooms are just an afterthought, but at The Cabin, no detail is spared. If it weren’t for the “ladies” and “mens” (sic) signs, guests might not know what they were. The restrooms were constructed from a cypress water cistern, and from the outer facade, that’s exactly what they look like.

Through the rear French doors of the main dining room, the history lesson continues in the courtyard. It is surrounded by several historic buildings – one that housed the first black Catholic school in Louisiana, St. Joseph’s, and two others that were slave cabins from Helvetia Plantation in Convent.