Chou brings her home cooking to Lafayette, 20 years after leaving Sichuan for Louisiana (2024)

Michelle Chou is no stranger to Lafayette's restaurant scene. She owned the former Lotus Garden Asian buffet on Ambassador Caffery for many years, before shutting the doors last year to focus on a new challenge: working as a corrections officer in the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office.

"It's a totally different experience," she said. "You see the dark side of people. You see the good side too, but everyone in there is there for a reason."

She says she took on the new role to bring more stability to her life; but she couldn't keep away from the restaurant business for long. Earlier this month, Chou and her business partner, Sam Huang, opened Dumpling Hour at 3535 Ambassador Caffery Parkway. There, she aims to create an experience that's distinct from the all-you-can-eat, Americanized Chinese buffet that Lotus Garden was known for.

"This is more homemade," said Chou, looking at the chef making dumplings by handbehind the glass partition that separates the kitchen from the dining room at Dumpling Hour. "Like, you know, mama's food from the kitchen."

Chou grew up in the Sichuan province of China, known for rich dishes that make good use of garlic, chilis, ginger and other bold flavors— like the Sichuan peppercorn and its famous numbing effect.

At Dumpling Hour, dishes like Su's spicy beef are made to order with a mouth-watering chili sauce. The broth inside of the Xiao Long Bao soup dumplings have a profound depth of flavor that keeps customers going back for more, even after warnings to let the insides cool a little before the first bite. Based on the freshness and care that goes into the food and presentation, it's clear that this new venture is a labor of love for Chou.

"I miss my family over there," she said. "I've lived in America for 20 years. The last time I visited I said I'm going to bring my home food over here so it feels like I'm still home."

It's unusual to meet a restaurateur who is also a corrections deputy, but balancing both jobs is really just a matter of hard work— and while Chou says she has a team to run the day-to-day operations, it takes a lot of work to keep it all going. She's not looking to relax any time soon, either. In the future, Chou says she'd love to open a traditional dim sum restaurant, with circling carts laden with steamed delicacies to choose from — something that is still missing from Lafayette's growing Asian food scene.

For now, she says it's gratifying to serve the hometown dishes she misses the most to people who are excited to try something new.

"So many in this younger generation are not scared to try anything," she said. "I've traveled to half of America, the biggest cities, and here people love to try different types of food. People love to eat. Look at how many restaurants are in town— you see all different foods from all over the world. We're so lucky here. You don't have to go so far away to get the kind of food we have here."