Folks go out of their way to dine at The Little Big Cup. Perched on the banks of Bayou Fuselier in the tiny town of Arnaudville, La. (population: roughly 1,000). The restaurant serves up eclectic Cajun and Creole fare in simple, yet sophisticated, surroundings. The venue features a dining room with high ceilings and curtained clerestory windows, as well as a cozy buffet line and a bar with ample elbow room for sipping a Fifth Avenue or an Arnaudville cosmo.
But the real draw is the party in the back: outdoor dining on a pair of shady decks – one at street level and another on the water, complete with a boat dock. Potted plants and hanging baskets create a green cascade, punctuated with a kaleidoscope of color.
The owners of The Little Big Cup, Sanjay Maharaj and Kevin Robin, know how to go with the flow, which has served them well. In 2011, the couple traded a life in New York City to become culinary start-ups in Robin’s hometown of Arnaudville. Maharaj, a banker, had business acumen, while Robin had a psychology background, restaurant experience and food-related roots — Russell’s Food Center, Arnaudville’s supermarket, is a multi-generational family business.
Our customers have a feeling of ownership...people come in and start taking pictures or videos as soon as they walk through the door.
— Sanjay Maharaj, co-owner of The Little Big Cup
In October of 2012, Maharaj and Robin opened The Little Big Cup, a 30-seat coffee shop. (Its name was a nod to a Manhattan mainstay, The Big Cup, which famously served up caffeine and connections until it poured its last cuppa in 2005.) When the building next door came up for sale, Maharaj and Robin took the plunge. By December 2012, The Little Big Cup had spilled over into a full-scale restaurant.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced some restaurants to close and left others struggling, The Little Big Cup is thriving.
During a state-mandated shutdown from March until May of 2020, its owners took advantage of the downtime by remodeling the kitchen, updating employee workspaces and adding outdoor seating.
“It’s been great to be able to offer not only socially distanced seating, but outdoor dining,” said Maharaj. “People really seem to appreciate that.”
The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday, with reservations required for the Surf and Turf Buffet on Friday and Saturday nights and also for the Boucherie Brunch Buffet, which is served on Saturdays and Sundays.
“We’re proud to have created a place where our customers have a feeling of ownership,” Maharaj added. “People come in and start taking pictures or videos as soon as they walk through the door. We see people giving tours to friends who are here for the first time.”
CULTURE, CUISINE AND COMMUNITY
The restaurant’s success has helped shape Arnaudville’s identity as an arts community, where there’s a lot of culture per capita, including the NUNU Arts and Culture Collective, which hosts art openings, poetry readings and other community events.
In April, a pair of New Iberia patrons visited The Little Big Cup for brunch. In addition to a love of food, Nicholas Hernandez and Phanat Xanamane share expertise in urban planning and a passion for community development.
Both have contributed their time and talents to Envision da Berry, a New Iberia nonprofit focused on revitalization that Xanamane helped establish in 2011. Its efforts include two community gardens and a fresh produce market which give residents access to healthy, affordable food.
At The Little Big Cup, they said they were struck by the warmth of the setting, the diversity of diners and staff, and the magnitude of the 19-item buffet menu. Hernandez was happily surprised to find a Cajun staple — boudin — among the offerings.
The Boucherie Brunch features an array of dishes, from crème brûlée French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, to gumbo, pork roast and jambalaya. The dining duo heaped praise on a true breakfast-to-lunch crossover: roasted sweet potato wedges with a cinnamon glaze. “Phenomenal,” said Hernandez.
As they dined alongside the bayou, Xanamane observed how the restaurant has also become a community resource.
“You really just saw people enjoying the space, walking down the stairs to the lower deck and stopping to talk or take pictures. I love these kinds of spaces that help reclaim the history of a community and bring people together,” said Xanamane. “What’s happening here is amazing