MARY BALDASANO / PVT From left, Walter Bellard Jr., Jan Jenson and Alisha Bellard discuss potential changes to the restaurant menu. Advertisement

Cajun cooking in Pahrump?

It's true, right here in our own backyard.

Walter's Cajun BBQ, located at 340 E. Mesquite Ave. (next to the Maverick), offers a menu from Cajun heaven. Tasty items include Louisiana po' boys, boudin (Boo-dan), jambalaya and much more.

Walter Bellard Jr., and his wife, Alisha, started with a traveling barbecue grill in Las Vegas in 1996 to share their own taste of Cajun food.

After working for the Orleans and Sunset Station, and making them both plenty of money, the Bellard's decided to make the money for themselves.

The business and its traditions actually started with Bellard's father in Eunice, La., in 1952. He perfected a secret recipe for the barbecue sauce and built his own restaurant. After Bellard Sr., passed on, his son Walter decided to continue the business but was called to service in Vietnam.

The Bellard's family history of great cooking began with his great-grandmother, who cooked for the 'big' house on a southern plantation.

At the time the South was mostly agricultural and the crops such as soy beans, rice and farmed crawfish became a big part of her recipes, which were eventually passed down from generation to generation.

Bellard returned from Vietnam with a Purple Heart but that didn't stop him from opening his own restaurant, which became highly successful. However, opportunities to expand in Eunice were soon exhausted, so they moved to Long Beach, Calif., in 1986. He enrolled at University of Southern California's entrepreneurial development program. The business grew even more as a result of that endeavor.

To support his family, Bellard worked in the aircraft industry but continued to run the business by opening base kitchens in Long Beach and Inglewood. In 1996, he moved to Las Vegas and came to Pahrump in 2004.

"If you want the real taste of the bayou," Bellard said, "come, sit, eat and enjoy a home-cooked meal, and you don't breathe like a dragon."

Walter's Cajun BBQ is the only place in Pahrump where you will find an etouffee ("ay-too-fay") made with shrimp, alligator, crawfish and more.

Whoa, hold on -- alligator?

Yes, alligator.

The Bellards say it "tastes like chicken," but then, where have we heard that before? They swear it really does.

Bellard said "We feel we are successful because we have found a way to mix Cajun and western foods. Not too many people know how to do that."

The Bellards are now partners with Jan Jenson, who operates the Maverick (the other side of the restaurant). They are well known around Pahrump from cooking at the Fall Festival, BizExpo, in front of Wal-Mart (which benefited the Children's Miracle Network) and in Las Vegas for cooking at dog shows, beach and graduation parties, and a lot more.

Alisha creates the sauce, but Walter does the cooking -- a great team that provides Pahrump with a unique cultural flavor.

The BBQ can be reached by calling 775-751-9997. It is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.