Bon Temps Creole Cafe

04/03/2025

We are profoundly saddened by the passing of our friend and local treasure Billy Foppiano. He was an amazing performer who spread light wherever he went. Legend material, we will miss him terribly.

03/04/2025

Sorry folks, but we're done making these. We'll, at least until next year.

03/04/2025

We still have room. Laizze les Bon Temps Rouler!

02/24/2025

Bon Temps Family is sad today in the loss of one of its members. Salmon Dave immortaled on our wall will forever be looking down at us. You will be missed buddy.
Credit to the artist Dave Norton.

01/22/2025

It's Mardi Gras season and Bon Temps can help you celebrate in style. Put your order in now for one, (or more) of our decorative and delicious King Cakes. Please call the restaurant for more information. 805 544-2100 daily, 8am to 2pm.

01/13/2025

We are pleased to announce that we have ended the $1 per egg surcharge for now. We have found a retail source that is selling eggs at half the price we were paying our wholesale suppliers. You might be questioning why retail is cheaper than wholesale. I don't know. Maybe someone will be looking into this in the future, but for now we will be making daily trips to find eggs and hope they have not sold out.

We want to express thanks to our customers while we navigate this shortage.

12/28/2024

We're open New Years Day serving up our traditional Hoppin' John! Start 2025 with a bowl of good luck and help the Bon Temps Creole Cafe celebrate our 30th year anniversary as THE finest Cajun-Creole Restaurant on the central coast!

The favorite way to eat a Hoppin’ John meal is with collard greens and corn bread. Each item on the plate has symbolic meaning for the New Year. Black-eyed Peas represent “coins,” collard greens represent money or “green backs”, corn bread represents “gold,” and if tomatoes are added to Hoppin’ John it symbolizes "health".

The first written recipe for Hoppin John appeared in The Carolina Housewife in 1847. Most food historians generally agree that Hoppin John is an American dish with African/French/Caribbean roots. There are many tales or legends that explain how Hoppin' John got its name:

It was the custom for children to gather in the dining room as the dish was brought forth and hop around the table before sitting down to eat.

A man named John came "a-hoppin" when his wife took the dish from the stove.

An obscure South Carolina custom was inviting a guest to eat by saying, "Hop in, John"

The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was know as Hoppin' John.

10/14/2024

Chef Phil will be eating at the oldest continuously open restaurant in the world tonight. I'll tell you how it was.

https://botin.es/en/home/

04/21/2024

03/15/2024

This week's shenanigans will include housemade Corned Beef Hash and eggs as well as our usual blarneyism.

01/01/2024

Hopin' John is a Southern dish which is traditionally served on New Years day. So who are we to buck tradition? See ya soon!