Noah’s Cafe is a plate lunch restaurant that offers soul food. They have daily plate lunch specials that include delicious dishes such as fried pork chops, meatball stew and shrimp stew. All of the plate lunches come with two sides and your choice of a dinner roll or a cornbread muffin. Aside from the plate lunches, they offer a grill menu that includes burgers, wraps, po-boys, etc.
On Tuesdays, they offer lasagna, smothered chicken, pork and sausage jambalaya, fried pork chops and meatball stew. On Wednesdays, they offer turkey wings, pork roast, spaghetti and meatballs, red beans and sausage, fried pork chops and chicken fried steak. On Thursdays, they offer meatloaf, red beans and sausage, chicken fried steak, BBQ ribs and shrimp stew.
On Fridays, they offer hamburger steak, red beans and sausage, fried pork chops, chicken fried steak, crawfish etouffee, fried catfish, seafood jambalaya, fried shrimp, grilled catfish with jambalaya and smothered okra with chicken and sausage. On Saturdays, they offer baked chicken, red beans and sausage, grilled pork steak, fried pork chops and smothered oxtails.
On Sundays, they offer BBQ ribs, BBQ pork steak, BBQ half chicken, BBQ sausage and pork roast.
I discovered Noah’s Cafe about a year ago on a whim. My usual plate lunch place was closed, so I asked in a group on Facebook called “Foodies of Lafayette” where else I should go for a plate lunch. The recommendations flooded in and a majority of them said Noah’s Cafe and to specifically try their fried pork chop plate lunch.
I looked up directions for Noah’s Cafe which was conveniently located minutes from my house.
From then on, my usual has been a fried pork chop plate with rice dressing, potato salad, cornbread dressing and a dinner roll.
At the time of writing this, it was a gloomy day filled with rain. I wanted to get some comforting food, so I decided on Noah’s when I saw that shrimp stew was on the Thursday menu.
I got the fried pork chop and shrimp stew plate lunches and the same sides for each plate which included rice and gravy, cornbread dressing, a dinner roll and potato salad.
While waiting in line to order, you’ll see a fridge with bottled beverages to your right. Right next to the fridge, there is a table with packaged sweets. To the far left, is a soda fountain if you prefer having a cup instead. I saw a special drink they had on the counter that was made in-house but I forgot to look closely and see what it was. However, the last time I got it, it was watermelon juice. I ended up deciding on a bottled root beer.
Shrimp Stew at Noah’s Cafe.
I went around lunchtime, so there were many people there. The customer service was excellent and all of the workers were friendly.
The shrimp stew plate lunch was steaming when I opened it. It was garnished with green onions. It added a nice touch to the presentation. My plate was filled with a lot of medium-sized shrimp and one egg. I thought the plate was very well seasoned and balanced. The cajun flavor was definitely there.
The fried pork chop was crispy, moist and tender. I gradually tore off pieces of it to dip in ketchup. I would get a spoonful of rice and gravy for every bite of the fried pork chop. The fried pork chop itself was very well seasoned.
The sides were all delicious but the star of the show had to be the cornbread dressing. The texture of the cornbread dressing was like rice dressing. It doesn’t look that appetizing, but I promise it’s so good. It was creamy and full of flavor and it looked like it had the holy trinity in there.
The dinner roll was fluffy and airy. The potato salad was filled with chunks of potato. It had the right consistency and was delicious. The rice was a little hard for my liking but the portions were huge and filled me up.
The only other thing I have ever tried from here was the meatball stew plate lunch. I remember the meatballs being huge and the gravy being flavorful.
Their prices are normal for a plate lunch. The shrimp stew was $17, the fried pork chop was $15.50 and the root beer was $2.50. My meal came out to $37.96.
Noah’s Cafe is open everyday except for Mondays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are located at 2310 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy B, Lafayette, LA 70506 and about 10 minutes from campus.
Overall, they are one of my favorite plate lunch places. I go to them whenever I am craving a fried pork chop or cornbread dressing.