When you walk into Tommy's Fish House Market and Restaurant on Perkins Road in Prairieville, it's almost like taking a trip to the restaurants that line wharfs and waterways in New Orleans. Decorated with antiques collected from across the state, authentic pirogues, captain's wheels, waterfowl, seafood and signage line the walls of the restaurant. The décor creates the feeling of being at a camp on the water, while the smells of simmering seafood waft deliciously from the kitchen. This restaurant is Tommy DeLaune's way of bringing the best of New Orleans to Prairieville and Baton Rouge.
Thirty years ago, Tommy worked in New Orleans as a salesman at a wholesale seafood distributor. When the company he worked for went out of business, Tommy purchased an F-150 pickup truck and headed to Venice, Louisiana. Each day, he would load up his truck with shrimp, crab and fish and bring it back to New Orleans to sell to his former clients. When he saved enough money, he bought a box for the back of the truck and then a refrigerator unit. His business grew from there.
Before long, Tommy had purchased a five-acre seafood dock in Bayou Bienvenue, the only seafood dock within New Orleans' city limits. He began processing the seafood brought to his dock and supplying it to a large number of clients, including 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of seafood to Rouse's Supermarkets each week. He then opened an 18,000 square-foot processing plant in New Orleans East.
"Our seafood is all carefully inspected and top quality," said Chalin DeLaune, who partners with his father in Tommy's Fish House. "We don't accept second-grade seafood from fisherman. We only take the freshest product. We've built our reputation on quality, and we take pride in that."
That same philosophy applies at the restaurant. On Friday and Saturday nights, the seafood buffet is overflowing with fresh boiled shrimp, crab and crawfish, fried frog legs, catfish, seafood pastas, etouffees and gumbos. Every bowl of gumbo has a delectable crab in it, and customers can eat as much as they want from the buffet for $21.95.
The seafood market features a variety of fish, such as grouper, snapper, redfish and speckled trout, not normally found fresh in markets. "My father's dream has always been to open a restaurant. After Katrina, we decided to build one in Prairieville. Long before we opened, my brother, Sean, sold shrimp at this location out of the back of his truck. He built us a client base long before we opened the restaurant. We offer so much more than the usual shrimp, crab, catfish and tilapia," Chalin said. "We like to give our customers a little something more. That's what they've come to expect from us. Customers can dine in and then take some fresh seafood from the market home with them."
A customer favorite is the Crab and Pepperjack Dip, which is served with homemade tortilla chips. Overstuffed New Orleans-style po-boys are another specialty of Tommy's Fish House. They are so big-a foot long-that many people choose to split them. Made with the finest French bread from Gendusa Bakery in Gentilly, customers can select from fried or grilled shrimp, fried catfish and oysters, fried or blackened alligator, soft-shell crab, roast beef, hot sausage, hamburger, fried or grilled chicken or the house favorite-the Big Easy, which features hot roast beef, ham, Swiss cheese and gravy.
"I order the bread every night, and it is made fresh at the bakery in the wee hours of the morning," Chalin said. "My dad's trucks pick it up and bring it here daily."
There are many secrets to the success of this restaurant which opened in September 2008. "We use lemon oil in our seafood boils," explained Chalin. "We add an ounce to each hundred-pound boil. That adds that nice lemony flavor. It's $200 for a gallon of lemon oil on a good day, but that sets us apart. I love that lemony flavor in seafood."
Tommy's Fish House is a family endeavor. Chalin, the only member of the family who lives in Baton Rouge, runs the restaurant for his father, while brothers Sean, Ryan and Christian help out on weekends. Tommy's wife, Maria, is the CPA in the family and handles all of the administrative and accounting work for the restaurant, dock and processing plant.
"My dad loves that we all work together. He comes here on weekends and enjoys talking with our customers. My dad has never had hobbies; he just loves to work. It's not unusual for him to be still working at two in the morning. He doesn't stop, even at sixty years old," Chalin said.
Chalin says that the oil spill in the Gulf has already begun to affect the industry. "We have been forced to move toward the west to look for shrimp, which has raised fuel and labor costs," he said. "We also have to buy in bulk now to prepare for future shortages. Another problem is that BP has hired a lot of the shrimpers and fisherman, so even though they could be fishing and shrimping in unaffected areas, they are not doing so, which means that the shrimping industry is stagnated. When supply goes down, price goes up."
He also explained that they have not seen any contaminated seafood on their dock. "Wildlife and Fisheries would not keep zones open if they weren't safe. The seafood is definitely safe to eat, as it undergoes rigorous inspections. We wouldn't sell it if it weren't because our reputation is built on the quality of our seafood."
Fortunately for the family, business is still good. Customers flock to Tommy's Fish House for a combination of authentic New Orleans cuisine and atmosphere and the live music that is featured on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 6:00 p.m. Mike Miller plays an acoustic variety of music on Thursdays, Jim Hogg
treats guests to his popular version of country/gospel on Fridays, and Rick Ledbetter and the Get Back Trio get down with classic rock on Saturdays.
The restaurant, located at 37306 Perkins Road is open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, please call (225) 673-1799.