A dream come true

Ronnie Arnaud fell in love at first sight.
The object of Arnaud’s affection though wasn’t a gorgeous woman, it was instead one of Ville Platte’s historical buildings, the historic Bank of Ville Platte located at 102 W. Main Street.
“When I walked into this place for the first time I knew it had to be mine,” Arnaud said. “The look, the atmosphere and everything about it. I mean I had never been in a restaurant this nice. I had to have it. This was my dream restaurant.”
That dream restaurant is called Allons Manger.
The 46-year-old has been working in the restaurant business for his entire adult life. He started out as a dishwasher at his aunt’s restaurant The Pelican in Eunice at the age of 17. He would work there for 19 years learning everything he could from his aunt, who dispersed more than her fair share of tough love.
“She was tough on everybody,” Arnaud said. “She was the meanest person I ever worked for. I even quit a few times but when I got into business for myself I called her up and thanked her. Because that toughness prepared me to run my own place. She taught me everything I needed to know.”
That first business was a little truck stop-casino restaurant, which he had to borrow $800 from his mother to get in, but after less than a year Arnaud had built up enough capital to open up his own place. That place would become Ronnie’s Cajun Cafe in Eunice.
According to Arnaud the most challenging thing about owning your own place is learning to trust others to put out your creations.
“The hardest thing in the restaurant business is making sure someone’s food goes out right when you are not there,” Arnaud said. “That’s a hard thing to do.”
Last year, Arnaud decided to sell his place in Eunice and opened up Krazy Cajun on Main Street in Mamou. It wasn’t long after that Arnaud found out about the bank building.
The building dates back to 1906 when it house the Bank of Ville Platte, later known as the Evangeline Bank and Trust Co. Pam and Shawn McGee purchased the property in 2001 and spent nearly a decade remodeling the place to its original glory and added a bricked-in courtyard area for outside dining.
Opening in 2010, LaVielle Banque became a popular location for civic meetings such as the Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce and the Evangeline Parish Tourism Commission, even having former Governor Bobby Jindal speak there, as well as numerous other events.
From 2012-13, current Chamber of Commerce President Renee Brown had leased the space and ran the restaurant, The Cocks Tail.
But after that closed, one of Ville Platte’s oldest buildings sat empty until late last year.
“Pam (McGee) put so much work into it and Renee did such a good job but then it was empty,” Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce Director Camille Fontenot said. “People were calling us to come and hold events there from outside the parish. We were so glad when Ronnie said he was taking over. Now people can use it for a restaurant or for a graduation party or bridal party. We need that in our town.”
With the structure in great shape, and still decorated from McGee’s remodeling years earlier, Arnaud hit the ground running. The father of nine (six boys, three girls) held a soft opening on Dec. 7, 2015 and is still in the process of putting the finishing touches on a grand opening. Menus will be arriving later this week and new signage for the building, as well as the two parking lots (one across Main Street and the other behind Evangeline Drug Store).
Allons Manger is currently open Tuesday from 10:30 to 2 p.m., and Wednesday through Saturday it is open from 10:30 to 2 p.m. and then from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Arnaud, who is a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, initially was just going to cook what he had been making for decades, but a conversation with Brown changed his mind.
“I had to learn a lot of stuff,” said Arnaud, who recently took third place in the Professional Entree category for his Cajun Tators at The Annual Tasters Choice held on Feb. 3 at LSU at Eunice. “I am used to cooking Cajun food, like rice and gravy and gumbo. I came here and I was planning on doing just that but Renee Brown told me that I couldn’t do that. “She said you can go anywhere in Ville Platte or Mamou and get that. You need to serve something that is different that people will crave.”
Arnaud says that a few of the most popular dishes so far are his seafood enchiladas and stuffed catfish with seafood sauce, as well as sushi rolls, which he admits he has had to learn how to create on the fly.
The reaction from the public so far has been nothing but positive.
“People have just been thanking me for doing this and hope that I do well,” Arnaud said.
Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine is one of those that is thrilled that Allons Manger has opened.
“It is great to have another business open in the city of Ville Platte,” Vidrine said. “It is another choice for dining for the citizens and to have it in such a historic building is even better. We are so glad they are in Ville Platte.”
Arnaud has plans to expand Allons Manger’s menu and more. He is looking into having live Cajun music in the courtyard, his cousin is Mamou musician Kyle Huval, as well as eventually boiling crawfish and hopefully creating a breakfast menu.
As for the inspiration for Arnaud’s restaurants’s distinctive name that came from his late grandfather Calvin Ardoin.
“My grandpa used to always say ‘alon, alon, alon’ all the time which is ‘come on’ in French,” Arnaud said. “I always admired my grandfather and I always wanted something to honor him. This is my way of doing that.”