by KAREN LAGRANGE COX
On Second and Morgan Streets sits Nash’s Restaurant, a stable in Broussard since 1999. The restaurant was formerly a home which was built in 1908 by Edmund Comeaux.
Nash Barreca and his wife Jenny, owners of Nash’s, turned the home into the restaurant and opened on October 5, 1999 and has been serving those in the Acadiana community and those visiting the area ever since.
Barreca is a fifty-four year veteran of the food industry. When he was fourteen years old his father Nash Sr. told his son to get off of his bicycle and go to his restaurant to learn to cook. At that time Barreca worked at his father’s restaurant one to two hours a day. That was in the New Orleans area where Barreca grew up.
When the restaurant cooks peeled shrimp, his grandfather Frank told Barreca to tell the cooks to whistle while they peeled. When questioned why, the elder Barreca said it was to ensure the cooks didn’t eat the shrimp.
While Barreca’s father had his restaurant, his mother ran the catering. She catered to fifteen of the Mardi Gras crews in New Orleans at the time and at one time made and delivered five-thousand finger sandwiches.
While recollecting these stories from his younger years, Barreca was smiling from ear to ear.
When asked about the past stories of spirits at the restaurant, Barreca said back in the early years there would be things that would fly off the shelf and the chandelier would shake. He also noted there was one time when the chandelier shook and shook; he thought it was his son and friend who were playing rough upstairs, however they were outside playing at this particular time of the chandelier shaking. Another time a customer came in late at night and kept looking inside one of the rooms. He told Barreca there was a young boy playing in the room. There was no boy there. Barreca later learned a young boy about three or four years old who lived in the house in the early 1940s had passed away back then. When he learned of this young boy, he thought back to the time when the customer kept seeing a boy playing in the other room. Perhaps he saw the spirit of the young boy who had passed away.
Barreca considers whatever spirits that were there were good spirits and that they no longer visit, perhaps because the spirits got used to Barreca and his family being there.
For his restaurant, Barreca likes to serve unique dishes, not institutionalized products.
There are over fifty menu items at Nash’s. When asked which one he would recommend, Barreca quickly replied with “the veal and spinach cannelloni” while noting all of the items are good. Also included on the menu are Veal Orleans, Veal & Spinach Cannelloni, Soft-Shell Crab Lafayette, Grilled Atlantic Salmon, Grilled Amberjack and Angus Cut Steaks and more.
Nash’s Restaurant also does catering plus hosts rehearsal dinners, birthday parties, Christmas parties and for other occasions. Call Nash’s at (337) 839-9333 for a quote or for more information.
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