Almost twenty years ago, restaurateur Kerry Boutté opened Mulate’s in a slice of a building on the edge of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. There were two full-time and two part-time employees – and that includes Boutté himself. On the first night that Mulate’s offered live music, the staff and band members far outnumbered the patrons – there were only two.

Today there are three Mulate’s Cajun restaurants serving over a half million patrons yearly – locals as well as visitors from around the world. Mulate’s is considered the vanguard of Cajun tourism, which is now a bustling business in south Louisiana. Mulate’s has appeared in hundreds of features and documentaries throughout the world, as well as in hundreds of consumer and trade media reports. The dance floor is packed seven nights a week.  

The second Mulate’s opened at 8322 Bluebonnet Road in Baton Rouge early in 1988 – virtually doubling the size of Mulate’s operations. In December 1990, Mulate’s tripled its operations with the opening of the third location in New Orleans at 201 Julia Street. Boutté’s daughter, Monique Boutté Christina, took over management of the New Orleans restaurant in 1997.

A lot has changed since those early Mulate’s days, but the most important thing about Mulate’s is something that hasn’t changed a bit – the steadfast vision that Kerry Boutté has of his Cajun dance hall and restaurant. When he returned to his native south Louisiana after a stint in the military and some hard-working years learning the professional side of restaurateuring, he had a firm idea of the kind of restaurant – and eventually, dance hall – that would preserve and celebrate the unique Cajun culture that had called him back to his homeland.

Boutté was firm about the design of his menu – he would sell only dishes that he knew he could turn out with the same excellence night after night and at a good price. And he was equally firm about the authenticity of the music featured at Mulate’s. 

 “There is no question that Kerry Boutté has taken a role of leadership in the Cajun music community,” says Barry J. Ancelet, Cajun folklorist at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. “He provides a stage and a forum for the best of Cajun music.”

Like the original restaurant in Breaux Bridge, the New Orleans restaurant receives acclaim for its faithfulness to the Mulate’s tradition of good food, good music and good times. Mulate’s gives tourists a chance to experience the best of Cajun culture. At the same time, it’s also the dance hall where Cajuns who range from seven to seventy can come to celebrate their proud and distinctive culture.

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