PORT ALLEN -- When Paul and Michael Mladenka opened Cou-Yon's BBQ on Highway 1 in July 2009, the doubters outnumbered the believers.

"I think the list of people who thought we would not succeed was much larger than the list of people that thought that we would," Paul Mladenka said Friday, sitting in a packed dining room during the lunch rush.

On Monday, the restaurant turns 17.

The two brothers from Shreveport took over a building on Highway 1 that had been sitting empty for about two years. Nobody wanted it, and plenty of people told them the location was wrong.

"There were a lot of people who felt like this was a bad location, mainly because it was on Highway 1 in Port Allen and not on 415," Mladenka said.

But the brothers saw something others didn't. The Port of Greater Baton Rouge was half a mile away. The interstate was half a mile away. The industrial companies along the corridor weren't going anywhere.

"And if anything, they were going to spend more money and invest more money in this community," Mladenka said. "And that's exactly what's happened."

The early days

In the beginning, it was just Paul and Michael running the restaurant themselves. Michael arrived at 4 and 5 a.m. to start the meat. He cut every piece of brisket for about a year. Paul worked the front counter or expedited orders for more than a year straight.

"I can remember sleeping in these booths overnight because it was so late and we knew that we had to be here in just a few hours," Mladenka said.

Year three was the low point. Sales were OK at best, and the brothers were questioning whether they would make it. They knew that at the five-year mark, they either had to sign a new lease or close.

"Luckily, by the time we got to year five, the choice was pretty clear for us," Mladenka said. Business picked up around year four. By the middle of year five, he said, "it was really kind of like holding on to a rocket."

Industrial catering became a turning point. Companies like Exxon and Dow started calling for large orders, often because a Port Allen local who worked across the river told the office where to get the food.

"All of a sudden, because of our Westside crowd, we're catering things all over the city," Mladenka said.

Guy Fieri and the baked potato that started it all

Last year, Cou-Yon's landed a spot on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was Fieri's first time filming in Baton Rouge for the show.

The restaurant was one of six selected from the area. Mladenka said one reason Fieri chose Cou-Yon's was the brother dynamic. But it was the crawfish etouffee baked potato with fried shrimp that caught the host's attention.

"If you've seen the episode, you can see that his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head when he took the bite," Mladenka said.

The episode aired in May 2025 and is still running on Netflix. Mladenka said every time the show reruns on a weekend, the restaurant feels it.

"I will figure that out about midday Saturday and tell my managers, hey, just to let y'all know that Triple D is going to rerun," he said. "They're like, now you tell us."

On Friday, a customer from Georgia walked in and ordered the crawfish etouffee baked potato. She had seen it on Food Network.

That same dish almost didn't exist. The restaurant didn't serve crawfish etouffee when it opened. It didn't have fish or shrimp on the menu either.

"We opened in July of 2009. So that very first Lent came rolling around in 2010, and we realized that we better have some seafood on the menu or it was going to be a very slow several weeks," Mladenka said.

When he later added fried shrimp to a loaded baked potato, a staff member told him it was weird.

"She was wrong," he said. "It is arguably the most popular thing on the menu."

"This is almost an extension of home"

Mladenka said the cost of running a restaurant is something most customers don't think about. Beef is at an all-time high. The meat and seafood markets have been volatile since COVID. The restaurant is open seven days a week.

"We're not fast food," he said. "We're good food quickly."

But when he walks the dining room, the feedback goes beyond the food.

"I said, well, the food's always good, but I got to tell you, the service is dynamite," Mladenka said, recounting what customers tell him. "So that's something that we're just as proud about as our award-winning food."

He said a customer recently told him the restaurant feels like home.

"He said, I've been coming here for so long. And the way that you and your staff make us feel, this is almost an extension of home," Mladenka said.

Sitting a few feet away during the interview, Mladenka's daughter Mae-Frances, 9, was working the cash register. She's been doing it since she was about 5. She goes into the fifth grade at St. Aloysius this fall.

Asked what her favorite part of coming to the restaurant is, she didn't hesitate.

"Doing the cash register," she said.

And sometimes, her dad added, sneaking a cold piece of bread pudding from the back.

What's next

Mladenka said there are no expansion plans beyond Cou-Yon's and Cork's Cajun Fried Fish & Shrimp, their seafood restaurant on Government Street in Baton Rouge. The focus is on consistency.

"We know that yesterday's victories are not going to win tomorrow's battles," he said. "We cannot get complacent."

He pointed to his staff, many of whom have been with the restaurant for more than half its 17 years. He said their commitment is what keeps the place running.

Asked if there was anything else he wanted readers to know, Mladenka kept it simple.

"Just a reminder to everybody that reads this article how incredibly grateful we are. And that is not an empty phrase," he said. "We appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts."

Cou-Yon's BBQ celebrates 17 years on Monday, July 20. The restaurant is located at 470 N. Alexander Ave. in Port Allen and is open seven days a week, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mladenka said customers should be on the lookout for possible anniversary specials.