Food & Wine Fest: Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards + Our Top Picks

Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards, a competition that kicked off the 2026 Louisiana Food & Wine Festival, took place at L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles on March 12 with five judges, including our very own Louisiana Life team member Rebecca Taylor, who shares her top dishes below.

The other judges were Rob Bocage at KPLC 7 News, Food Network Chef Roshni Gurnani, Marcus Lawson at Propel Consulting LLC and Candy Rodriguez at Visit Lake Charles.

Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards Judges (left-right): Marcus Lawson, Roshni Gurnani, Candy Rodriguez, Rebecca Taylor and Rob Bocage

Hosted by Visit Lake Charles, the fest took place March 12 -15 with a four-day event schedule offering a range of tastings, live cooking expositions and music. A possibly more important aspect to the foodies in attendance was a competition among iconic local chefs called Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards.

Based on the judges’ votes, 11 best categories were selected and one overall best winner.

Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards

• Best Seafood: Vestal
• Best Shellfish: Cajun Saucer
• Best Fish: Crying Eagle Brewing Company
• Best Fusion: Luna Bar & Grill
• Best Pork: 121 Artisan Bistro
• Best Beef: Augustine
• Best Cajun: L’Auberge Casino Resort
• Best Creole: Us Up North
• Best Vegetarian: Bodega & Vin Ami
• Best Dessert: SOWELA
• Best Presentation: Golden Nugget, Chart House
• Best Overall: The Terrace

Top 4 Picks From Our Louisiana Life Judge

Taylor shared her personal favorite dishes from the competition with notes:

• Golden Nugget/Chart House
  •  Taylor notes the grilled cucumber & coconut crab salad, which won Best Presentation, as having a “light, smoky flavor with coconut crabmeat, also with mango red bell pepper in a grilled cucumber. Very light and flavorful dish.”

• Cajun Saucer
  • The Creole seafood paella, named Best Shellfish, included shrimp, crawfish, chargrilled oysters and crab fingers, with Saffron rice and spices. Taylor notes that the dish was vibrant, and the spices blended with the taste of the four seafood items, making it the perfect dish.

• The Terrace
  • The Terrace brought a pan-seared tomato polenta to the table with sautéed Gulf shrimp and sausage cream sauce. Taylor notes how much flavor the dish had with the cream sauce and pan-searing on the polenta, which pulled it all together.

• SOWELA
  • The SOWELA team prepared a tiramisu a la Biscoff. Taylor shared the dish had a “lovely whipped white chocolate ganache with whipped mascarpone cheese and Biscoff cookie soaked in simple syrup and espresso.”

All Participating Talent

The 12 winners of the Louisiana’s Best Taste Awards were selected from the following 15 participants:

• Amanda Cussey, executive chef of The Terrace
• Benny Gray, executive chef of 121 Artisan Bistro
• Chad Jackson, chef and culinary arts instructor at SOWELA Technical Community College
• Dave Evans, owner and executive chef at Luna Bar & Grill and Augustine
• Earline Thomas, chef and culinary arts instructor at SOWELA Technical Community College
• Jerry Sonnier, chef and culinary arts instructor at SOWELA Technical Community College
• John McGrew, executive chef of Crying Eagle Brewing – University
• Hardette Harris, owner & executive chef of Us Up North
• Karlos Knott, executive chef of Cajun Saucer, “2025 Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off King”
• Kevin McCarthy, executive chef of L’Auberge Lake Charles
• Lyle Broussard, executive chef of Crying Eagle Brewing – Lakefront
• Roy Angelle, chef and culinary arts instructor at SOWELA Technical Community College
• Ryan Kennedy, wine director at Bodega Restaurant & Wine Bar and Vin Ami
• Stephen Coblentz, executive chef at Chart House at the Golden Nugget Lake Charles
• Sullivan Zant, executive chef and co-founder of Vestal