Off-the-menu dishes you'll want to try

Ever been at a restaurant with a good idea of what you were ordering when a dish going to another table caught your eye? Ever asked your waiter or waitress what the dish is called? And what is in it?

Ever been told that dish isn't on the menu?

Off-menu specials are more common than you might expect at Acadiana restaurants, especially classic restaurants that have seen many regular customers and many menu updates.

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Perhaps best-known of the off-menu subculture in Lafayette is La Fonda's fried chicken, which regularly places in the top three for best fried chicken in the Times Best Of contest each year.

"I like the mystique of it. It's the secret that's not so secret," says Stephanie Gagnard, the daughter of La Fonda's founder Lee Bob Cox. "And I like that we have fried chicken. I like that we're known for fried chicken. And I like that it's not displayed on the menu."

Sometimes, off-menu items are former menu items that have been cut. Other times, off-menu items are customer creations that gain popularity when other customers see the entree being served at another table. Then there are the seasonal items that are so popular they never make it on the menu at some restaurants, and there's the rare dish that's so difficult to make that only one person in the restaurant is privy to the process.

But no matter what the origin of these off-menu specials, there's one thing that's certain: You have to know about it to order it.

Here's your insider guide to ordering off-menu items at a few local restaurants:

1. La Fonda, 3809 Johnston St., lafonda1957.com, 337-984-5630

This Tex-Mex restaurant is best known for its potent margaritas, but it's also a place to find off-menu specials, many of which are not Mexican in nature at all.

The crispy, juicy fried chicken is the best-known one.

Fried chicken was on one of the earliest versions of the menu at La Fonda, which opened in 1957. Cox even opened a local fast-food restaurant called Yankee Doodle in the late '60s to serve some of La Fonda's most popular menu items: fried chicken, tacos and enchiladas. But as La Fonda became busier, Cox opted to close Yankee Doodle a few years later to expand La Fonda.

The fried chicken was cut from the restaurant's menu to save space, according to Gagnard, but the restaurant never stopped serving it.

"I like it because it's special," she says. "It's special, and we like our customers to feel special and be in the know, to feel like you're part of the history here."

In addition to fried chicken, La Fonda has a lengthy list of secret menu items.

There is the super nacho, which is the restaurant's basic beef nachos with jalapenos topped with lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. And there's the waiter-style nachos, which is the beef nachos with jalapenos cooked until the cheese is browned and crisp.

There are the appetizers of sauceless chicken wings served with homemade dressings; the chili con queso with taco beef, sour cream and guacamole; and the Don Briggs, which is a ribeye steak topped with queso, onions and peppers that is diced and served with toothpicks.

The entrees include the two- or four-piece fried chicken with new potatoes and the Don Briggs' ribeye steak, which is the same as the appetizer without the dicing and toothpicking.

"There are so many things," Gagnard says. "Where do I stop? We're known to accommodate."

Gagnard's husband, Ryan, says there is a charm to serving off-menu items. There are few places you can order fried chicken on white linen.

"The restaurant doesn't create the menu," he says. "The customers are the ones who build an off-the-menu selection. We have regulars here who have their way of doing things. Nothing ever dies. If it was on the menu once, we will make it, so we have more than 57 years of off-menu items really."

2. Don's Seafood Hut, 4309 Johnston St., donsseafoodonline.com, 337-981-1141

This classic Lafayette seafood and steak restaurant has a number of off-menu specials.

Dawn Landry LaBorde, a partner in the restaurant, can't even count how many off-menu items Don's serves.

"No is not in our vocabulary for our customers," LaBorde says.

You have the items that have never been named: broiled mushrooms stuffed with shrimp and crabmeat stuffing, a lump crab au gratin with shrimp seafood-stuffed potato, a crab cake with crawfish sauce and boiled crawfish when it's in season.

Then, you have the named dishes.

There's the spicy cat, an entree of spicy, fried catfish topped with shrimp and crabmeat etouffee. There's the Joe salad, named for regular customer, Joe Dupuis, who orders a simple chopped salad with tomatoes, olives, boiled egg and cheese when he's "watching his girlish figure." There's the hamburger Pontchartrain , a hamburger steak with grilled vegetables and a spicy Don's sauce. There's the shrimp scampi pizza, one of the restaurant's newest off-menu creations.

And finally, you have the showstoppers.

There's the gumbo fried rice — fried rice made with gumbo juice instead of soy sauce that is topped with any number of proteins, such as ribeye steak, grilled shrimp or jumbo lump crabmeat. There's the steak etouffee. There's the homemade hamburgers.

"We have a cheeseburger that will make you slap your grandma twice," LaBorde says with a laugh. "We have some of the best hamburgers around that a lot of people don't know about."

Some items come about because of a customer. Others come about because of employee creativity in the kitchen.

And some things are former menu items that have been taken off to make space for new offerings.

"When we took seafood fried rice off our menu, I thought my customers would fall out of their chairs," LaBorde says. "It kind of makes you feel good because you know people love your food.

"And really, ordering something that's not on the menu makes you feel special."

3. iMonelli Restaurant, 4017 Johnston St., imonelli.com, 337-989-9291

This favorite fine dining restaurant is known for its regular off-menu specials, many of which are fresh fish dishes that are available most of the year but don't make it on the menu due to their sometimes limited availability.

There are probably 20 off-menu items, according to chef-owner Brian Blanchard.

"It's endless," Blanchard says. "We've gotten to the point that we'll name things after customers just so I can remember what it was exactly."

There's the gluten-free, non-fat sea bass with organically grown vegetables; the fried softshell crabs with lump crabmeat and seasonal vegetables in a lemon-butter sauce; and appetizer of shrimp and scallop over grits.

But there's one special off-menu entree that stands above the rest, the veal occhiata.

This dish is so difficult to prepare that Blanchard only allows customers to order it when he is working in the kitchen.

"If you mess it up, it's bad," he says. "There's a fine line between superb and horrible."

The tender veal of the entree is covered in a burned anchovy sauce over homemade angel hair pasta.

Veal occhiata is a dish Blanchard won a gold medal for 25 years ago in the Acadiana Culinary Classic competition. While it has never been on the menu at his restaurant, customers regularly order the dish.

"It's only for people who know about it," Blanchard says. "And I have to be here to make it."

4. Broaddus Burgers, 1940 Moss St., broaddusburger.com, 337-534-4520

This locally owned burger joint is known for its completely customizable burgers, wraps, shakes and other fast food.

Most wouldn't expect this spot to serve up fancier off-menu fare.

But during duck season — in November and December — you can order off-menu duck kabobs. During the Lenten season — the time between Mardi Gras and Easter — you can order a crab cake burger.

"The only way people know about the menu items is through social media," says the restaurant's owner Shawn Broaddus. "Keeping up with us on Facebook and Instagram is the way you'll find out about it."

Broaddus Burgers' duck kabobs are made from bacon-wrapped duck breast, bell peppers, pineapple, purple onions and a spicy fig preserve sauce. The fig preserves are made during the summer from figs picked from family trees.

The crab cake burger is made from a homemade crab cake that is topped with crawfish etouffee.

"It allows you to have more fun at work when you have off-menu items," Broaddus says. "It breaks the monotony of making the same burgers every day, and it allows our regulars to get something different."

5. De Gaulle Square Bistro & Bar, 1 De Gaulle Square, degaullesquarebistro.com, 337-981-8085

This River Ranch restaurant formerly known as Village Cafe has seen a number of name and ownership changes through the years.

But one item that has disappeared from the menu is still available to customers who ask for it: the foie gras.

The seared foie gras appetizer is served with seasonal pairings such as local honeycomb and goat cheese.

"The reason why it's an off-menu item is because it's a pricier item," says Courtney Vincent, a partner of the restaurant. "It's $24 for the seared foie gras appetizer, and one of the things we're sensitive to as new owners is coming down on price in some areas."

An appetizer that exceeds the $20 mark stands out on restaurant menu that is meant to be affordable.

But regular customers who remember the Village Cafe offering often ask for the appetizer, so the owners are happy to accommodate.

"It's a fun little off-menu item that people in the know know to ask for," Vincent says.

6. Deano's Pizza, 305 Bertrand Drive, deanospizza.com, 337-233-5446; 2312 Kaliste Saloom Road, south.deanospizza.com, 337-534-8092

This classic Lafayette pizzeria is known for its crispy, Cajun pies.

And while Deano's offers rotating lunch specials and monthly pizza specials, most don't ever truly rotate off of the specials list.

"First of all, our menu is huge. It's really huge," says the restaurant's owner Tim Metcalf.

"Second of all, limited-time offers are exciting.

"The third thing is that if you come in as a regular customer, and it's not on the menu and you ask for it, I can make you feel very special. That's my methodology."

What does that mean?

That the August pizza of the month special, the Cajun Samurai — fried shrimp glazed with yum-yum sauce on an olive-oil crust with green onions, crunchy chow mein noodles and Parmesan cheese — is available year round to anybody who orders it.

It also means that the Mardi Gras po'boy — a French roll filled with ham, turkey, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and honey mustard — isn't just available during Carnival season.

"You don't want to disappoint your customers," Metcalf says. "So we'll make them feel special and make it happen."