The taste of Louisiana cuisine, complete with fried alligator po’boys, shrimp étouffée and yes, even those fluffy little square beignet doughnuts, is now on the menu for Pueblo foodies.

When Lobos Tacos and Tequila went up for sale, it seemed the perfect time for Amber Kliesen to move her Creole Magnolias food truck to a permanent brick-and-mortar location. She had been on the road with the truck for about a year and craved a home base.

Her husband, Wade Kliesen, had just retired after nearly 34 years teaching and coaching at Bessemer Academy and Pueblo Academy of Arts, so he agreed to tie on an apron and help in the kitchen.

Lobos at Creole Magnolias, 2290 Rawlings Blvd., is located across from the ThunderBowl Stadium at Colorado State University Pueblo. The eatery opened two months ago, and its menu is the perfect marriage of Creole and Cajun foods from Amber's side of the family, a splash of American cuisine from coach’s side of the family and a sprinkling of the most popular items from the building's former tenant.

The Louisiana fare is made in memory of Lennie Couvillion, Amber’s grandmother, who she said taught her everything she knows about cooking. All the recipes come from the family — whether from her father Wilbert Couvillion Jr.’s Creole side or her mother Charlotte Couvillion’s Cajun side.

“We say that Dad is from the Bayou, and Mom is a Southern Belle from New Orleans. This is bringing memories out for both of them,” Amber Kliesen said with a laugh.

“We just wanted to bring that flavor to Pueblo, and we are finding out Pueblo has a lot of transplants from Louisiana — I didn’t realize how many,” she said.

The restaurant also is a way for her to share not only her family history, but also tidbits of another culture for Puebloans interested in exploring a universal love of food.

“A lot of people love the alligator. It looks just like chicken, and the flavor is like a moist dark-meat chicken or turkey,” Amber Kliesen explained.

Another huge hit is the shellfish and shrimp étouffée, which she offers as a special every other week. Crawfish is also a prominent player on the menu — fried crawfish is available daily, and huge crawfish boils with shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes are hosted periodically. One such crawfish boil is planned for Saturday, June 10, and another will take place on the Fourth of July.

Louisiana standards like po'boy sandwiches, shrimp scampi, chicken and sausage gumbo, jambalaya and red beans and rice are all on the menu.

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Restaurant's menu has something for the less adventurous, too

For those who aren’t quite adventurous enough for an alligator po’boy, the restaurant offers a roast beef po’boy sandwich and some of Coach Kliesen’s family favorites, like his mom’s macaroni and cheese or her juicy burger, which is unlike any Sloppy Joe Puebloan’s have tried. There are plenty of tacos on the menu, too, even a vegan version.

For a coffee break on the patio, Puebloans can try hot coffee and chicory with beignet doughnuts or beignet fries, which are thin slices of dough deep fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with chocolate sauce. Deep- fried Oreo cookies, a food truck favorite, also are on the menu.

To round out the offerings of Southern sweets, Amber will "make banana pudding or bread pudding with rum sauce as specials sometimes,” she said.

Amber Kliesen has been a resident of Pueblo since she was 11 years old and doesn’t have that signature Southern drawl, having moved “all over the place” when her dad worked as an engineer for the government. But the family still returns to that blue Bayou three times a year to reestablish their hometown roots.

Hours at Lobos at Creole Magnolias are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Find out more about specials and crawfish boils on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

The business phone number is 719-621-4979.

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Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo gets Cajun cuisine by way of Lobo's at Creole Magnolias