Louisiana's Playground

Hosts Brady and Jillian break down the new Visit Lake Charles video series “I’ll Have the Usual,” a local spin on the Food Network show about the best thing you ever ate. Seven award-winning chefs, bakers, and food makers were asked to name their favorite gumbo, po’boy, and burger in town, with one rule: they could not pick their own restaurant. What came back was less about technique and more about nostalgia, and why certain food takes you right back home.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.
Stop by Sushi Boxx on Nelson Road for a quick, locally sourced sushi lunch, from the Dynamite Roll to a Crunch Roll topped with french fried onions.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guest Destyni Tran, the owner of Azalea Spa and Salon inside L’Auberge Casino Resort, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana’s Playground to make the case that self-care is maintenance, not luxury. She walks through what actually happens at a spa, why a massage does more than feel good, and what the viral head spa treatment is all about. It becomes a conversation about reinvesting in your own body before you are forced to play catch-up.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.

Stop by Maria’s Cocina Mexicana in Moss Bluff for Tex-Mex staples, authentic Mexican dishes, and a table that starts with three dips.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guest Dave Evans, the chef behind Luna and Augustine and the founder of Chuck Fest, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground ahead of the free downtown festival returning Oct. 17.

He traces Chuck Fest from a Luna block party in 2014 to a downtown-wide celebration that drew 15,000 people, explains why he stepped away and came back, and makes the case that Lake Charles can hold its own with New Orleans and Lafayette. It is a conversation about food, music, and believing in your own backyard.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.
Stop by The Hut on Ruth Street in Sulphur for a to-go barbecue shack serving Texas-style smoked meats, hearty sides, and banana pudding worth saving room for.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guest Marcus Lawson, a home chef and competition cook, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground for a snake draft of the best plate lunches in Southwest Louisiana. The three of them each pick their spots across specific weekdays, a Louisiana dish, and one free-for-all, landing on 12 places from fried chicken Wednesdays to a sauce piquante you have to get lucky to catch. Think of it as a two-week eating plan you did not know you needed.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.
Stop by The Bad Apple Saloon on Ryan Street for a bar and grill where people come for the drinks and stay for the wings and the drunk grilled cheese.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guests Brett Downer and Heather Partin, two longtime Lake Charles Little Theatre board members, join hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground to mark the theater's 100th anniversary season. They trace the company's origins to founder Rosa Hart, who wrote to Hollywood stars and once landed Lake Charles in the pages of Life magazine, and explain how an all-volunteer operation has survived fire, flood, and hurricanes for a century. It becomes a case for why live theater still matters in the age of AI.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.
Stop by Spicy Rico in Sulphur, a locally owned build-your-own Mexican spot off Beglis Parkway serving burritos, bowls, and house-made salsas.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Lake Charles native Rusty Metoyer and New Orleans singer Robin Barnes connect Southeast and Southwest Louisiana through music, food and family history in this episode of Louisiana's Playground.

Robin Barnes' Louisiana Love album and Discovering Home video series bring the two artists together to explore the culture, traditions and connections that run across the state. Barnes scrapped a finished debut album after a tumor scare made her realize she might not get to pass nine generations of Louisiana family history to her daughters. What she built instead is Louisiana Love, a 14-track record tracing her Creole, Cajun, Zydeco and New Orleans roots, with a who's who of Louisiana artists she reached out to as a fan.

Lake Charles native Rusty Metoyer, who carries on the Creole music tradition his grandfathers kept alive, is one of those artists. In this episode, Brady Renard and Jillian Corder sit down with both musicians to talk about how the collaboration came together, the double meaning behind their duet "Don't Let Go," and Discovering Home, Robin's companion video series that brings her to Lake Charles to learn trail rides, boudin and a part of Louisiana she thought she already knew.

It's a conversation about authenticity, family and preservation, and why the food and music of Louisiana connect a state that likes to joke it's really several states in one.

Before the interview, Brady and Jillian visit Pitt Grill for Envie Eats, a classic Lake Charles diner open since 1972, for gumbo, a breakfast po' boy, the egg bowl and a pork fricassee plate lunch with homemade banana pudding.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guest Ryan O'Donnell, the brewmaster and executive director of brewery operations at Crying Eagle Brewing, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground to talk through the science and the art behind more than 600 beers, from a pickle sour to a Munich Dunkel finished with local honey. He explains why lagers take patience, how a Disney World dessert became a fan-favorite sour, and why a brewery is really a community gathering place. It all comes back to the two Lake Charles locations that keep locals and visitors coming back.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.

Stop by Crying Eagle Brewing near McNeese State University for a brewery, beer garden, and restaurant with specialty pizzas and a rotating tap list.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Guest Devan Corbello, the Director of Public Relations at Visit Lake Charles, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground to break down how Lake Charles landed a Today Show shout-out as an affordable alternative to Las Vegas, and what the "Vegas dupe" label gets right and misses. The trio digs into the earned media strategy behind the segment, the southern hospitality that can't be faked, and everything Lake Charles offers that a quick TV mention never had time to cover.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org.

Stop by Saltgrass Steakhouse inside Golden Nugget Lake Charles for an award-winning steakhouse serving Angus beef, seafood, and southern classics right off the casino floor.

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.

Hosts Brady and Jillian mark 100 episodes of Louisiana's Playground with a countdown of the 100 things they love most about Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana, sorted into everything from the food that started it all to the natural beauty most people drive past. Guest Kyle Edmiston, the President/CEO of Visit Lake Charles, opens the episode to mark the show's move into a new multimedia studio and its first full video episode. The final entry on the list is the one that makes every other entry possible.

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org. 

Stop by Tokyo on Nelson Road for an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant serving sushi, hibachi, and the only hot pot between Houston and Lafayette.  

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC. 

Guest Matthew Lundmark, the founder of Lundmark Creative, a Lake Charles-based video production and marketing company, joins hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana’s Playground to go behind the scenes on Visit Lake Charles’ most recent video series, Made in SWLA, Built for America. The series’ creator delves into his most meaningful moments, the hardest shots to capture and the spirit behind the series that kept it moving forward. 

Find more information on where to eat, things to do, and events happening this weekend at VisitLakeCharles.org. 

Stop by Big E’s Kitchen in Sulphur to fill up on Louisiana-style home cooking with daily specials that change throughout the week. 

Keep up with hosts Brady Renard on Twitter, @RenardSports and Jillian Corder on Facebook, @JillianCorderKPLC.