“Treat the people the way you want to be treated…that’s the way my Daddy taught me.”
Pat Dupuis, owner.
There are still plenty of people around who recall a time, not so long ago, when Lafayette could be called a sleepy small town. Not anymore. The heart of the business district downtown pulses with activity, and Jefferson Street is the main artery.
But just off Jefferson Street is a little lunch house called Pat’s Downtown, and at lunch hour it fills up fast with local business people looking for a taste of the traditional. The owner, Pat Dupuis, knows a thing or two about how a plate lunch should taste: his parents owned the Lunch Box, a longtime favorite of folks in North Lafayette. When Pat Dupuis opened his restaurant downtown, he brought with him all the things he’d learned from growing up in a restaurant family.
He and the restaurant’s manager, Lori Trahan, characterize the cooking at Pat’s 
Downtown as a mixture of Cajun, Creole, and Soul food. To the busy bankers, sheriff’s employees, and polo-shirted workers who file in every day, it’s just pure comfort food.
The Special, fried catfish topped with crawfish etouffee, is a dish that any Cajun-cookin’ man would be proud to serve. The catfish is spicy-crunchy, and the etouffee is a buttery, slightly peppered delight. Finish off your meal with a serving of smooth, boozy bread pudding and then challenge yourself to go back to work. Go ahead. Try. After the sedative effects of a good plate lunch really kick in, it’s not so easy to get up from your table and leave the homey comforts and good company of a place like Pat’s. Dupuis and Trahan say that you’ll find “everything you need” on Pat’s plate lunch. And then some. Which is why, perhaps, Jefferson Street seems to hustle just a little less, bustle a bit more slowly, after the lunch hour.