Highlights
- The world-famous Zydeco Breakfast began on April 25, 1998, as a simple closing event for 42 international business delegates from Europe and Canada
- What started at the former Café de Amis in Lafayette became a weekly tradition that spread across Louisiana
- Buck & Johnny’s in Breaux Bridge now hosts the world-famous Saturday morning dance party with endless mimosas, live zydeco bands, and dancing at 8 AM
- The tradition inspired copycat zydeco brunches at Prejean’s in Carencro, Rikenjaks Brewing in Lake Charles, and Cane River Commissary in Natchitoches
- The Lafayette International Center, founded in 1990, unknowingly launched a cultural phenomenon that now draws visitors from around the world
How 42 International Delegates Accidentally Created Louisiana’s Most Famous Dancing Breakfast
The unlikely story of how a diplomatic courtesy in 1998 became a weekly cultural phenomenon that now draws visitors from around the world
BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (KPEL News) — It’s Saturday morning in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Most reasonable people are still in bed, but here, lines form at dawn outside Buck & Johnny’s restaurant for what might be America’s most unique breakfast experience: live zydeco music, endless mimosas, and a dance floor packed before most people finish their first cup of coffee.
What visitors don’t know is that this “world-famous Zydeco Breakfast” exists because of a chance encounter between international business delegates and Louisiana culture in 1998…