If you crave Southern flavors, get ready for a new Cajun-Creole destination in Puyallup

The line outside Altha’s Cajun Spices, then a 200-square-foot storefront in Kent, snaked around three city blocks when it opened in 2017, with eager customers waiting in the pouring rain to stock their pantry with Cajun and Creole ingredients imported from the South. Owner Reginald Robinson expects a similar sight this Saturday, August 7, at the grand opening of his second store, replete with a live brass band and a second line dance.

The new Altha’s, located at 116 S. Meridian in Puyallup, opens at 10 a.m., but arrive early to secure one of a couple hundred complimentary umbrellas to march around the block in New Orleans style.

“We bring energy,” said Robinson this week, who within months of opening his Kent operation expanded to a larger lot, and in 2019 added a restaurant serving po’ boys and baskets of fried catfish. “Nothing like anything else you’ll see.”

As we talked, no fewer than five parties strolled through the open door, curiosity sparkling in their eyes. What’s in all those coolers? Oh, you know: Patton’s beef patties; sausage by Poche’s, Bryant’s, Conecuh, Lil Butcher Shoppe; alligator tails and Gulf shrimp; several types of boudin balls; meat pies and bags of collards; tubs of frozen gumbo and jambalaya, just add rice.

Robinson greeted them with an affable welcome, explaining that the shop would open Saturday but please, look around!

“It makes you feel like home,” he said of his incredible collection of products and essential ingredients for Creole and Cajun cooking. “I try to keep it as authentic as possible.”

The Puyallup store beats the original Kent location in size, and Robinson still has room to extend shelving in the back. To start, the options already feel endless.

Coolers flank either wall, stuffed with meats, greens and ready-to-eat favorites. In the middle, shelves have been covered top to bottom with spices, hot sauce, Duke’s and Blue Plate mayo, cans of Blue Runner beans, gumbo base, Cajun spaghetti sauce, Steen’s molasses and pure cane syrup. There are more than a dozen brands of crab boil seasonings, including a 4.5-pound tub of Zatarain’s — for those who already know what they’re doing, joked Robinson.

Nearly every darn thing in the store is imported from the South, the bulk of it from Louisiana. Look for the state symbol on the side of packaging, guaranteeing it’s “Louisiana Certified” through the state’s Department of Agriculture.

Whether you’re from the South, you’ve visited or you just care about that vibrant region of the U.S., said Robinson, Altha’s has something for everyone.

“The food is amazing. The music is awesome. We want to bring that love, that feeling, that music you feel in the South. You feel that love, even if you haven’t been to Louisiana.”

Now in his 50s, Robinson first visited the Pacific Northwest with his mother, Altha, when he was a teenager. His aunt lived here, but most of his family — he has 13 brothers and sisters — was rooted in Louisiana. He returned home to Franklinton, in the northeast corner of the boot, for about six months, during which time he sold his landscaping business and packed up for his move to the Seattle area. For 30 years he worked for a packaging manufacturer based in Kent, and in the mid-2000s he started a janitorial business.

Altha’s began just before his retirement just under three years ago.

“There’s nobody in Washington like us — we are the only ones strictly serving products from the South,” he said of the retail offerings, down to the the WoW Wee tartar sauce, the mayonnaise on the po’ boy from the Kent kitchen, and the bread, flown in twice weekly from Gambino’s Bakery in Metairie. Of course there are handfuls of Southern and Cajun restaurants in the region, including Bourbon Street Creole Kitchen, just a five-minute walk south on Meridian.

Talking with fellow born-and-raised Southerners, what they missed the most was the food, Robinson recalled. They would swap tales of phone calls to relatives, asking them to ship this or that. When they visited, they would bring an extra suitcase.

He estimates he fills two semi-trucks near weekly; he holds overflow dry and frozen goods in a warehouse to refill the stores, and functions as a de facto Northwest wholesaler of Southern food products, selling to a few restaurants. During our visit, he took a call from a woman looking for catfish to feed a few hundred people at a church gathering.

Most of his staff, by gravitational pull, hails from the South. “You have to have Southern hospitality — they don’t sell it in the bags down there!” he laughed.

Prepare to be amazed at the breadth and specificity of products at Altha’s, where Robinson’s mother is always looking over him — and his customers — from a painting above the register.

ALTHA’S LOUISIANA CAJUN - PUYALLUP

▪ 116 Meridian St., Puyallup, althascajunspices.com, facebook.com/althaslouisianacajunseasoning

▪ Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 12-5 p.m.

▪ Details: Southern grocery store with Louisiana specialty; grand opening August 7 at 10 a.m.

This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.