A familiar face in the Fort Worth Cajun restaurant scene is back in the game at a new place called Terrebonne’s Cajun Restaurant & Bar, which opened in the spring at 7914 Camp Bowie West Blvd., in the former Chubby's Sports Bar & Grill.

Terrebonne's is from Phil Tullis, who Cajun food fans might recall previously owned a similar Cajun restaurant called The Cajun Market, which he opened with his wife in Colleyville in 2020. The restaurant had an enthusiastic following who appreciated the authenticity of his Cajun cooking. But with the challenges of the pandemic, it closed in 2022.

However, the Cajun Market is where he met Terrebonne’s future co-owners, Coty Owens and Kenny Robinson. First patrons and now business partners, Owens and Robinson had been on the hunt for authentic Cajun food in DFW. After trying his crawfish, they told him to let him know if he ever wanted to open a restaurant in Fort Worth.

Terrebonne's is named for the parish where he grew up.

“I grew up on the bayou to a full French-speaking Cajun mom,” he says. “What I tell people about her recipes, which I grew up with all my life, is that you can’t find them in cookbooks."

“Everyone thinks Cajun is supposed to be spicy, but it’s not. It’s a blending of flavors,” he says. “This approach makes us unique to the competition in the area.”

Terrebonne’s menu includes classics like crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo, and red beans & rice. There are po'boys in many varieties: shrimp, catfish, crawfish, gator, and oyster. He gets his seafood, boudin balls, and famed Gambino's French bread from Louisiana.

Prices are moderate, ranging from $9 to $16, and they do a popular Friday night all-you-can-eat fish fry, with fried catfish, fries, coleslaw, and hushpuppies for $22.

"Customers also rave about our bread pudding and beignets," Tullis says.

Packaged meat and gumbo are available in "To Go" freezers near the front door. They've also added a sizeable outdoor space facing Cherry Lane that includes patio table seating and a large cooking area for crawfish boils or fish fries. Inside, you'll find a casual sports-bar feel with table service and televisions lining the ceiling, NFL games streaming, and a large bar with seating. Low and high top tables come equipped with paper towels and a selection of hot sauce.

Tullis and team are also making sure the ambiance of Terrebonne’s reflects the outgoing friendliness of Cajun culture. Tullis greets every customer himself.

"One of my objectives has been to demonstrate to our Texas customers the vast difference between chain-type places that call themselves Cajun for marketing purposes versus authentic Cajun, like we cook at home," he says.