Harper family serves up Louisiana classics
KINGWOOD — A taste of Louisiana has arrived in Preston County, thanks to Cory Harper.
Harper owns Cat Daddy’s Ragin’ Cajun Cafe on South Price Street in Kingwood. He said he does the cooking, while his wife Elaina makes the salads, and their three children help out. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner.
“I was born in Carencro, Louisiana, ” Harper said. “I worked in my cousin’s restaurant while I was in high school. After graduating, I went to work in the oil fields.”
He said when he injured his arm and was laid off, he came to Preston County.
“This (restaurant) opportunity came up. I thought there was no better time to give it a shot.”
Harper said he likes cooking and makes his own seasoning blends and dipping sauce.
“I make my own homemade sausage for the po’ boys,” Harper said, referring to a traditional Louisiana sandwich, which almost always consists of meat — usually roast beef or fried seafood, often shrimp, crawfish, fish, oysters or crab. The meat is served on French bread. “They say if you love your job, it’s not work. This is not a job to me. It’s something I love.”
Among his offerings, Harper serves up shrimp, boudin ball, sausage and barbecue sausage po’ boys. Side dishes include, boudin balls (boudin is pork sausage made with rice and seasoning, usually stuffed into a casing. For boudin balls, you remove the casing, roll the mixture into balls, and bread and deep fry them), season fries and two types of rolls. Voodoo rolls are deep-fried egg rolls filled with crawfish in a creamy, cheesy sauce. Bayou rolls are deep-fried egg rolls filled with boudin and pepperjack cheese.
Harper said COVID has not been a big detriment to business, but it does require extra work to keep the public and the employees safe.
“It hasn’t been that bad. We’re going a little bit above and beyond with sanitizing,” he said. “We wipe the tables down between customers, we keep the distancing and we ask that people wear masks. They (diners) work with us on this, so it’s not an issue. They respect us, and we respect them.”
He said the restaurant offers eat-in and take-out options.
“I love interacting with people,” Harper said. “Back home in Louisiana, people would come over and we’d fix food and have a good time and good conversation.”
He said living in West Virginia continues to take some adjustment.
“It’s not flat,” he said. “The deer hunting is amazing compared to back home. The mountains and rivers are beautiful. I came here in 2013, and the one thing I’m still not used to is the winters. Louisiana is hot.”
Harper said a recent phone call from a neighbor was a surprise.
“I got a call from a neighbor telling me there was an alligator next to my pond,” he said. “She said it might be an iguana. I told her I would check it out.”
Harper said he has caught alligators in Louisiana, where they are common. He said the largest one he caught was six feet long and, the largest one he saw was about 11 feet.
He said he drove home and went down to the pond.
“It was a three-foot alligator,” he said. “What’s the chances a Cajun will find an alligator at his pond in West Virginia?”
He said he tried to catch it, but it buried itself in the mud. He said when he went down to check the next day, he was told someone from a zoo came and got it.
Cat Daddy’s is at 119 S. Price St. Hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-7:30 p.m Monday, Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Call 304-216-1695
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