By Malcolm Butler
Man do I miss the ole Blue Light Cafe.
Anyone who has lived in Ruston for more than 20 years probably knows what I’m talking about.
Nostalgia at its best. A cultural experience to say the least.
Located on the south side of Ruston, the Blue Light Cafe was once the hot spot for soul food in our parish. A mecca of mouth-watering, home-cooked, Southern delicacies.
Although it has been closed now for some 15-odd years (best to my memory), the home that housed the Blue Light Cafe still remains. Sometimes I will drive by just for old time’s sake.
That old blue wooden house with the splintered paint coming off the outside walls. Those brick steps leading up onto the front porch. And the old screen door banging closed on its hinges.
Man, I miss that place.
The food was worth way more than you paid for it. And the menu was a Who’s Who – or in this case a What’s What – of the best the south has to offer in soul food cooked to perfection.
Fried pork chops. That was my go to. The pork chop was so big that it arrived at your table on its own plate. Your side items had to come out on plate No. 2.
Baked chicken? Flavored to perfection. Falling off the bone. Baked in a way that I sure have never been able to master or even come close.
And the sides. Oh, the sides.
Candied yams. Turnip greens. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Rice and gravy. And I’m sure there were more.
And how about that hot water cornbread.
You want your cornbread? You dang right I do.
And last, but certainly not least, banana pudding on Fridays!
And to wash it down how about some sweet tea or maybe a coca cola brought to you in a can with a glass of ice?
As good as the food was — and trust me for those of you who never experienced it, it was good — the experience and the atmosphere was even better.
You would park across the street in the grass “parking lot” or along the side of the road.
You walked up those brick steps onto the front porch and through the screen door which would bang behind you on those hinges. And as you entered you were greeted by some of the friendliest people that Ruston had to offer. And we all know Ruston does friendly about as well as any place in the world.
You sat on the old bar stools at the formica countertops, grabbed one of the white pads of paper and a pencil and filled out your order by hand. Don’t forget to write your table number on your order. Then you headed to your table.
Remember those old tables, each one numbered with black stickers? And those old bench-like seats covered with the plastic-like upholstery … that were sometimes cracked, sometimes duct taped. As my friend Jim Oakes articulated, those would be “antique” pieces if you could find them these days.
Back before the Blue Light Cafe closed, I would always recommend it as a must do when TV crews and TV talent would ask for suggestions when they rode into Ruston to televise a Louisiana Tech sporting event.
I remember telling Lee Corso and Co. that they wouldn’t be disappointed in the food or the experience. And the next day prior to kickoff, guess what they couldn’t quit talking about? You guessed it, the food and the friendliness at the Blue Light Cafe.
Ruston was fortunate enough to have a couple of those old soul food establishments back then. Remember Sara’s Kitchen over by Ruston High School? And there was the Russell B’s about a block from the Blue Light Cafe.
They were melting pot-type places where the young and the old and folks from all demographics would meet and enjoy some of the best soul food the South had to offer.
Anyone for reopening the Blue Light Cafe?
My taste buds vote yes!
