Years ago, one of the most memorable places in New Iberia to grab a taste of home and Cajun country was the popular boudin shop, Nook’s Boudin.

Owned by Waldo “Nook” Bonin, Nook’s Boudin was located at the old Entex building on Robertson Street.

Elsa Hahne, a writer for OffBeat Magazine, said Nook’s Boudin was the best in Louisiana.

“When the elderly Nook and Mother Bonin closed up shop in New Iberia many years ago, it was a sad day,” she wrote. “Their meat market made what I then considered to be the best boudin in Louisiana — a rice, pork and liver miracle with an inexplicably funky, don’t-ask-don’t-tell taste.

Hahne knew Bonin’s was the best because, she said, she’d scientifically proven it: In the summer of 2002, she drove around Cajun country and sampled as much boudin as she thought would be possible for one person.

“Being soft and unctuous by nature, much of the boudin I tasted sort of blended together after the first 20 or so links, so I was happy that I’d taken detailed notes from the first bite,” Hahne said.

But to Hahne, boudin didn’t require notes, as it was something she still thinks about to this day.

“That weird and wonderful taste is still fresh in my mind; today I’d probably call it umami,” she said.”

Like Hahne, Michelle Lirette Solar remembers walking there with her grandmother to get boudin for lunch, and meeting and talking to Bonin.

“He was such a nice friendly man,” she said. “It’s the best boudin ever and I always compare any boudin I eat to see if it is like his, but I haven’t found any just like it yet.”