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Driving through Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, it is easy to miss Suire’s Grocery and Restaurant if you are not paying attention. The building sits along the highway, modest and unassuming, the kind of place locals recognize instantly, and newcomers might pass without realizing what they are about to miss. Then you notice the menu, spray-painted directly onto the facade, facing the road. No printed menus. No chalkboards. Just a clear signal that this place has nothing to prove.
I arrived just after daybreak, when Suire’s opens at 5:30 a.m. Inside, the rhythm of the place was already established. Regulars moved easily through their routines, hunters stopped in midmorning after leaving the duck blind, and the kitchen worked with the quiet confidence that comes from repetition and care. Suire’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner from sunup to sundown, six days a week, and has done so for nearly 49 years.
How Suire’s Began as a Country Grocery Store
Suire’s did not begin as a restaurant. It began as a small grocery store run by a family that lived just two miles down the road.
“This started as a grocery store. It was all groceries. That was a storage room in the back. Seven years later, my mom told my dad, the Lord told me to tear down the shelves and put tables.”
— Joan Suire
Joan Suire was just 19 years old when her parents bought the store from its original owners in 1976. Her sister, Lisa, was still in school, and their father was a rice farmer. Joan, her parents, and later Lisa ran the store without any grand plan. They learned as they went, responding to what their neighbors needed.
When grocery shelves were cleared to make room for makeshift tables, something shifted. The store became a place where people lingered. Over time, that simple decision shaped what Suire’s would become.
Two Sisters, One Shared Rhythm
Today, Suire’s remains family-owned and operated by the Suire sisters. Joan manages the business side of the store, while Lisa runs the kitchen as an accomplished cook. Their roles are distinct but deeply connected.
“We are a team. We have six employees, and everybody does their part.”
— Lisa Suire Frederick
That teamwork is built on long days and early mornings.
“It’s a lot of hours. I get here at five in the morning. Last night I left at seven. Hunting season’s coming up.”
— Joan Suire
Hunting season shapes the daily flow, bringing in customers whose internal clocks are set by sunrise and season. Suire’s moves at its own steady pace, anchored by routine and reliability.
Cooking What They Were Raised On
Every dish at Suire’s is tied to a family recipe and a memory.
“Everything that you see in our menu, all our baked goods that we prepared, the food we serve is the food that we were raised on.”
— Lisa Suire Frederick
Shrimp and egg stew, fried chicken, and rice dressing are not menu concepts. They are meals the sisters grew up eating week after week. The kitchen serves the same food they were raised on, prepared the same way, without shortcuts.
Each recipe carries a story, not written down but lived and repeated.
Turtle Sauce Picante, Cooked With Time and Care
Suire’s most beloved dish is turtle sauce picante. Lisa cooks the turtle every Friday, and it is a labor-intensive process. The turtle meat simmers for hours before it is finished with tomato sauce, bell peppers, onions, and a bit of roux, seasoned simply with salt and pepper.
“A lot of love. I have to cook it. A lot of love. Very long time.”
— Lisa Suire Frederick
For those unfamiliar with turtle sauce picante, the dish surprises. The meat is dense and steak-like, not sinewy or dry, and not overly gamey. It is served over rice, often alongside velvety cornbread, whipped potato salad, and a piece of fried chicken.
While the turtle itself is cooked on Fridays, Suire’s serves turtle sauce picante six days a week, starting at 5:30 a.m. For hunters stepping out of the duck blind or locals beginning their day at dawn, that consistency matters.
Baking by Hand, Every Single Day
The baked goods at Suire’s are as rooted in family history as the savory dishes.
“Each one is individually made. No conveyor belt. Just loving hands right there in our little kitchen.”
— Lisa Suire Frederick
The large tarts, made from sweet dough and filled with fig, blackberry, strawberry, coconut, or peach, come from their grandmother’s recipe. Pecan pie, a brother-in-law’s recipe, becomes especially popular during the holidays, with more than 600 sold in a single week at peak season. Peanut butter balls melt in your mouth. Cream cheese pastries, fudge fig cake, and cookies rotate through the kitchen.
Something is baked every single day.
A Place That Feels Like Home
What keeps people returning to Suire’s is not novelty, but familiarity.
“I love when somebody sits down, eats the food, and they’ll come to the counter and say, ‘That was just like my grandmother’s.”
— Lisa Suire Frederick
That sense of home shows up in small details. Suire’s still offers credit accounts, a holdover from its country store roots, where workers charge meals to their employer. Locals know the menu by heart. First-time visitors read it off the building itself.
“I came here ten years ago, and it tastes exactly the same.”
— Joan Suire
Visiting Suire’s Grocery and Restaurant
Suire’s remains an old-fashioned Mom-and-Pop operation, offering homestyle cooking, homemade baked goods, plate lunches, and grocery items under one roof. In addition to meals served on site, the store sells prepackaged Cajun foods, including turtle sauce piquant and fettuccine, alongside everyday grocery staples.
Address: 13923 Highway 35, Kaplan, Louisiana 70548
Phone: 337-643-8911
Fax: 337-643-3154
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed on Sundays
What Remains After Nearly 49 Years
Before leaving, I made sure to have one more taste of turtle sauce picante. When a place has been cooking the same food the same way for decades, you slow down. You pay attention. The flavors are not designed to impress. They are designed to feel steady and familiar.
Suire’s Grocery and Restaurant has lasted nearly 49 years by honoring what already worked. Family recipes moved from the home kitchen to the stove. Grocery shelves gave way to tables. Long hours, early mornings, and shared work shaped a place where people return because they know exactly what they will find.
What began as a country store became a community table, one built on consistency, care, and the quiet confidence that comes from doing one thing well, day after day.
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