Lafayette wins "Best for Food" title in national competition

Lafayette took home the top honor for the "Best for Food" category in Rand McNally's "Best of the Road" competition.

The summer competition sought to find the best small towns in the U.S. by ranking communities in five different categories.

"Winning was very well deserved on Lafayette's part," said Kelly Strenge, a spokeswoman for the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. "I know as far as a town that is well know for its food, we've been promoting Lafayette as that for years. I knew we had the product. We just had to make them see it."

Lafayette was one of the top six contenders in the "Best for Food” category, and Rand McNally assembled five judging teams to travel across the country and rank the finalists in one category each. The "Best for Food” judges, Bonnie and James Parr, made a two-day visit to Lafayette in early July.

During the visit, the Parrs not only ate at Dwyer’s, Blue Dog, Jolie’s Bistro, Johnson’s, Don’s, Charley G’s, Randol’s, Accidental Chef Cooking, Vermilionville and Hub City Diner but also visited the Jean Lafitte Center, toured downtown, made donations at St. Joseph’s Diner, went to the St. John Cathedral and made media appearances.

"We were able to pull together a really great itinerary for the judges," Strenge said.

Winning the competition means Lafayette will receive an abundance of publicity.

USA Today will feature each of the winning towns, including Lafayette, in tomorrow's edition of the newspaper.

Additionally, Rand McNally will include Lafayette as the "Best for Food" small town in 2013 editions of atlases it publishes.

"This is something that we can capitalize on for a long time," Strenge said.