Boudin Boys brings food of Mardi Gras to Washington
Courtesy of Dustin Olivier
Nathaniel Pugh and Dustin Olivier are the founders of Boudin Boys.
Dustin Olivier in the kitchen at Nineteenth North during a Boudin Boys pop-up event
Courtesy of Dustin Olivier
Dustin Olivier prepares an order during a Cajun food night at Nineteen North.
Courtesy of Dustin Olivier
Dustin Olivier and his wife, Erica, serve a customer at the first Boudin Boys event.
Dustin Olivier could not find the cuisine of his childhood in Washington County, and decided to take matters into his own hands.
Olivier lives in South Franklin Township with his wife, Erica, and their four children, but his roots are firmly in Louisiana. At the end of last year, he started Boudin Boys, with the promise of serving Washington County authentic Cajun dishes.
“I’m from a real small town named Eunice,” Olivier said. “My daddy was in the oil field, small-town living, all of the above. Come 17, 18, I was ready to hit the road and work somewhere else.”
There was one industry in particular that was calling out to him: the restaurant industry. He bounced around, going to Florida first and eventually Philadelphia. When the recession hit in 2008, he felt it was time for a change.
“Once the housing market took a crash, I got into oil and gas. I drove over to Pittsburgh, got into the oil field and met a girl around here,” Olivier said.
In his time here, however, he has not been able to find truly authentic Cajun food.
“People who are from Louisiana, we try their gumbo, and man it’s good, but it’s not real gumbo. It’s a good take on it,” Olivier said.
It has become common for Olivier to give his friends and family an authentic taste of Louisiana. On Sundays he routinely hosts 30 of his friends for a Cajun feast, including jambalaya, gumbo and crawfish boil.
“I have an old stove that my grandpa made me 40 years ago. It’s made out of old hot water heaters,” Olivier said.
Nathaniel Pugh, a friend and now business partner, told Olivier his food was too good not to start a business, and Boudin Boys was born.
In the short time they’ve been operating, Olivier’s cooking has already made an impression. In January Boudin Boys hosted a Cajun food night at Nineteen North in Washington. Olivier wasn’t prepared for a large crowd.
“I was sick to my stomach before the doors opened. We went in at 6:30 in the morning, planned for food at 5,” Olivier said, adding that he became nervous when 5 p.m. rolled around. “We spent all this money, nobody is coming.”
A half-hour later though, there was a line to get in the door. Olivier needed more hands on deck than expected, and the same friends he has over on Sundays came to help keep the night running smoothly.
Olivier had planned to take home leftovers, but they sold out in two hours.
“It was really humbling. It was overwhelming. I felt really blessed that I had the friends to show up, the community to come check it out and everyone coming back with empty plates,” Olivier said.
When it came time to schedule the next kitchen takeover at Nineteen North, Olivier’s only question was, “How close can we get to Mardi Gras?”
Boudin Boys will be hosting a Mardi Gras night at Nineteen North this Saturday. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and no tickets are required. Seating is limited.
“It’s going to take three days of prep work beforehand. Cooking that night, it’s going to be a lot,” Olivier said.
Olivier grew up celebrating Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, in Louisiana. Though, the Cajun Mardi Gras celebration in Eunice differs from the more well-known festival in New Orleans. Olivier said he plans to take some friends to Eunice next year and take part in the traditional Mardi Gras run.
On the “run,” people on horseback wearing colorful costumes and masks go to door-to-door throughout town collecting ingredients for a communal pot of gumbo.
“Looking from this lens down that way, man those people are nuts. But that’s something that was totally normal for us,” Olivier said.
The extravagance will have to be toned down a bit for Saturday’s event, but Olivier hopes that even if it doesn’t feel exactly like his hometown tradition, it will certainly taste like it.
Olivier is content to continue doing pop-up events at Nineteen North once or twice a month, and is in no rush to leave his career to get into the risky restaurant business.
“It has been a lifelong dream to open a Cajun restaurant and call it Café Olivier, but it’s so scary. The pandemic closed a bunch of restaurants. I’ve always said I would open a restaurant with someone else’s money,” Olivier said. “I have four kids; I have to watch out for them.”