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An Orange area Cajun eatery is heading to Port Arthur bringing with it freshly made cracklins, boudain and more.

Marwan Barbar is the owner of Bliss Box, located at 7247 I-10 in Orange. He has been working on opening a new location at 2021 Savannah Ave.

Barbar is excited for the new location but does not have a current timeline to share as he is dealing with utility companies.

The Port Arthur location was once home to a game room so Barbar has had to make numerous changes including adding a kitchen.

The menu

Barbar will replicate the menu from the Orange location, which has been open about four years.

The most popular order is cracklins.

“We sell about 500 pounds a week,” Barbar said. It’s our number one seller.

After that comes regular boudain and boudain egg rolls, he said.

The menu also includes fried shrimp, smoked sausage, poboys, pistolettes and more.

If a customer isn’t quite sure what to get they can order a Bliss Box which is an egg roll, boudain ball, 2 links of boudain, a pistolette and drink.

Two freezers sit inside the Orange location with 17 different types of sausages and six to seven different types of boudain.

The restaurant in Port Arthur will look similar to that of the Orange location, only smaller, he said.

 

Background and philosophy

Barbar has a background in business and worked with his father in the food distribution industry.

He also has family with soon-to-be four eateries in Lake Charles called Homsi’s.

Barbar got his United States/Texas start because of COVID.

He previously worked in West African and came to the states to visit family. His sister was a medical student and his uncles had been in Louisiana for 40 years. The border was closed during his visit due to the pandemic. At that time he was in the country as a tourist and visitor but that comes with a time limit.

As the time to leave drew closer he began to panic and visited an immigration lawyer for options. One option was to marry an American woman to which he said no.

The other was to invest.

“For many people that’s not an option, you know. I was fortunate enough to be financially capable and have my family like my mother and my father to support me,” he said.

His parents helped buy one of the family businesses from an uncle and a deal was made; he stayed in Texas and the uncle in Louisiana.

They then went to Louisiana and bought all of the recipes.

He actually intended on a different name; one that stood out and let the public know what types of food he served — Boudain Box.

Just two days before filing paperwork on the name he learned there was a restaurant with the same name hundreds of miles away that owned the name but hadn’t used it.

Barbar has several reasons he believes his restaurant is a success, freshly cooked homemade food and great customer service.

Being in an area saturated with big name fast food eateries pushes Barbar to strive for excellence.

His customers realize they may not get their food within a few short minutes of ordering. The food is fresh and homemade, he.

“So you want your French fries. You have to wait for five minutes because we’re going to cook them fresh for you,” he said.

Barbar is also big on customer service.

When a cost enters, staff takes time to speak with the person.

“We welcome them. We ask them how their day was,” he said. “This is how we built the connection with the customer which will make them feel like they count, we care about them. You know, they’re not just like one number after another.”

Barbar isn’t one to back down from a challenge. He’s still pushing for the Port Arthur location to open, hopefully, in a few months.

He is also an optimist as he looks at the whole picture. COVID was a tragedy but he was able to turn that around for the positive.

COVID was a tragedy that allowed him to turn his life around.

I’m out of Africa. I’m here in Texas selling Louisiana foods,” he said.