The Jambalaya Shoppe in Denham Springs, Louisiana, is adding a buffet, and the local chamber has put a celebration on the calendar. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, at 11 a.m., with visitors invited to stay for lunch afterward.
The Livingston Parish Chamber’s event notice identifies the new buffet as an addition to the existing restaurant at 7755 Magnolia Beach Road, Suite E. It also says the business has been under new ownership for the past two years.
That makes the news a change in how an established Cajun restaurant serves its food, rather than an announcement that The Jambalaya Shoppe is opening in Denham Springs for the first time. The chamber event runs from 11 a.m. to noon Central time, but the notice does not establish October 27 as the buffet’s first day of service.
The restaurant already has a menu built around Cajun lunch territory. Its official location page lists weekday specials including red or white beans and rice on Monday, pork roast and gravy on Tuesday, chicken stew on Wednesday, shrimp fettuccine on Thursday, and fried fish with crawfish étouffée on Friday.
Those are published restaurant specials, not a confirmed list of dishes included in the new buffet. They do, however, help explain why an AYCE addition here is worth watching: this is a kitchen where the lunch conversation already involves gravy, rice and the prospect of another helping.
The larger business traces its origins to Stefan and Cheryl Fontenot’s Gonzales operation in the early 1990s. The Denham Springs announcement concerns this location; it does not establish a buffet rollout across the chain.
Regular restaurant hours are listed as 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Buffet-specific hours, the adult price and the full included lineup have not been established in the announcement.
For now, October 27 is the confirmed celebration date. The next useful detail is what will be on the buffet when the ribbon gives way to lunch.
