Spending a weekend in the great city of New Orleans is a right of passage for anyone living in South Louisiana. Whether you go there for an event, business or just leisure, you are going to see some sights and eat some amazingly delicious food. The menu should definitely include a crowd favorite, which is New Orleans style BBQ seafood. Gj Curbside has recently brought in a new seafood cooking sauce that has been perfected by the creators, Donna & Eddie. Let Donna tell you all about it.....
Born and raised in South Louisiana, Donna Boudreaux Laurent, along with husband Eddie, have spent the last 9 years perfecting Donna’s Creole Bay Sauce. After figuring out one key missing ingredient and getting final approval from family friend, Mr. Rick, Donna achieved her goal bringing her Creole Bay Sauce to market. GJ Curbside is excited to offer Donna’s amazing sauce to our customers! We also love the story behind Donna & Eddie’s Cajun creation that we would like to share.
Throughout her life, Donna was surrounded by some amazing Cajun cooks, including her grandmother and mother, Shirley. As a kid growing up, Donna noticed how her mother’s cooking would always draw a crowd because no one would miss Shirley’s cooking. Shirley’s amazing cajun dishes were a huge influence on Donna and inspired her love for Cajun cuisine.
As a hairdresser by day, Donna is naturally creative and enjoys fulfilling her creative side in the kitchen. Donna had a particular love for New Orleans style BBQ shrimp dishes and one day decided to try to put her own spin on it. Not knowing where this road would lead to, Donna continued to work on her recipe for 9 years, adding and changing ingredients. She knew it would take time to achieve the perfect flavor profile, but continued on with lots of encouragement from her family and friends.
Finally, Donna made a breakthrough and realized that she found the perfect ingredient that her recipe was missing, white wine. She tried many different types of white wine and realized that Sauvignon Blanc finished off the recipe with pure perfection.
Throughout the 9 years of trial and error, Donna would cook her creation for family and friends and everyone wanted Donna’s recipe, but she kept it close to the chest saying that one day she will bottle it and they will be able to buy it at the store.
With the final recipe ready and a plan to bottle it, Donna needed a name for her creation and a label. After pouring her heart and soul into this endeavor, she wanted both to be special and most importantly, to represent the Cajun culture.
Donna and Eddie are avid fishermen and have had fishing camps in Dularge and Grand Isle Louisiana. They have spent many years fishing in the waterways around these areas. When it came time to name the new sauce, Donna and Eddie referred to their fishing charts. When Donna saw the name “Creole Bay,” she immediately knew it was perfect.
Back at the Dularge fishing camp, Donna and Eddie’s neighbor “Rick” loved to test Donna’s recipe changes. His encouragement was key to helping Donna continue to work on her ingredients. He would always tell her that she was on to something and that one day she would accomplish her goal. Unfortunately, Rick succumbed to cancer and never got to see the finished product. In Rick’s honor, Donna prints a red heart, filled with the letter “R” on every label.
In addition to the tribute to Rick, the label features an image of a rooster in a hammock, the company name “Crack of Noon” and the tagline “Boudreaux Certified.” As Donna and Eddie grew older in age, they realized that their fishing trips were starting later in the day and eventually were not getting on the water until noon, which led to them naming their fishing team “Crack of Noon.” Donna carried that over to the new sauce company and used their trademarked logo of the rooster in a hammock as well.
When asked one day if her product was Certified Cajun (an actual certification), Donna told Eddie “Mais baby they wanna know if I’m certified cajun, me Donna Boudreaux who’s daddy is from Dulac and her mama is a Breaux from Bayou Black!” Eddie replied, “I don’t know what that Certified Cajun stuff is but you are Boudreaux Certified!”
A personal message from Donna, “Happy eating! Love made me do it!”
Check out Crack of Noon's website and Follow Crack of Noon on Facebook & Instagram!
Buy Creole Bay Sauce Now!
St. Mary's Martini Night Was A Shake.....Not Stirred!
St. Mary Golf & Country Club hosted a Martini Night that had an unbelievable turn out. GJ Curbside was proud to supply the horderves for the event. We were also very excited to be joined by our friends at JT Meleck Distillers and Seven Three Distilling. They were able to feature some of their amazing locally distilled vodkas. The martinis were delicious! St. Mary also brought in some local live entertainment that made for a great party!
In addition to supplying the food items, we held a few raffles in which we gave away product, gift certificates and more! It is always fun to surprise our customers with a free gift featuring one of our amazing products, that we are so proud of.
We have had great success partnering with St. Mary Golf & Country Club on these events. It is always a fun and friendly atmosphere filled with Southern hospitality that just warms your heart. These events are open to the public, not just St. Mary Club members, so be sure to watch out for the next one. You don't want to miss it!
