Shrimp boil adds spice to summer

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Florida’s summer sun already is making things hot in the East County, but a local duo plans to make it even hotter — at least for your taste buds.

Louisiana native Spyder Broussard and Polo Bar and Grill owner Tommy Klauber for the fifth consecutive year will don their Louisiana-themed aprons, roll up their sleeves and add a bit of spice to East County’s dining and social offerings this weekend as they again host the Spyder Broussard Low Country-East County Fish Fry & Shrimp Boil.

The event will be held from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. July 14, at the Polo Grill and Bar, 10670 Boardwalk Loop, Lakewood Ranch. As the sounds of the Gumbo Boogie Band float through the air, guests will enjoy fresh shrimp, gumbo, crawfish corn dogs, cornmeal-fried catfish, beignets du monde, muffalettas and other Cajun treats to be eaten at newspaper-covered tables.

Everything will be homemade at Polo Grill, except for Bourque’s classic Cajun boudin, a special sausage that is being imported from Louisiana.

“It’s the perfect thing to do in the summer,” Klauber said. “It’s just fun. When the Cajuns say, ‘It’s right,’ it’s right. This year’s event will be bigger, better and spicier.”

Broussard’s wife, Frances, will join in on the fun, playing the washboard with the Gumbo Boogie Band.
The event will be much like a fais-do-do, a Cajun festival party that involves the whole family, said Spyder Broussard, who was born in Guyden, La., and raised in Houma, La., just 40 miles south of New Orleans.

As a business owner, Spyder Broussard began holding crawfish boils for his employees and customers in 1984 before a scheduled technical conference. The event was so successful, by the time Broussard retired in 1995, he had gone from boiling 100 pounds of crawfish to 5,000 pounds at the annual event.
He and his wife moved a few years ago to Sarasota after Klauber and Broussard’s niece, Jaymie, married. As the families began enjoying Cajun dinners together, Klauber remembered his first crawfish boil in Louisiana in the late 1970s. When he pitched the idea of throwing a Louisiana-style event at the restuarant, Broussard was eager to join in on the fun. The two have boiled shrimp together at the event since its inception.

IF YOU GO
Spyder Broussard Low Country —East County Fish Fry & Shrimp Boil
When: 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. July 14
Where: Polo Grill and Bar, 10670 Boardwalk Loop, Lakewood Ranch
Details: Cost includes buffet of gumbo, crawfish corn dogs, Cajun ratatouille, catfish, fresh boiled shrimp, boudin and other Cajun-themed foods. Live entertainment will be provided by the Gumbo Boogie Band. Cash bar is available.
Cost: $32.50 per person
RSVP: Call 782-0899, Ext. 2