BALL GROUND — A taste of New Orleans has come to Ball Ground with Tadpole’s Cajun Po’Boys, a Louisiana-inspired eatery.

Owner Gigi Gubernath, a Ball Ground resident of 11 years, had the idea for the restaurant after fellow church member Steve “Tadpole” Buras of Jasper cooked a couple of Cajun meals for her and her husband, Danny Gubernath.

“It was delicious,” the former Cool Springs Baptist Church administrative assistant said. “I asked Steve what his dream job was and he said it was to have his own kitchen.”

Gubernath said soon after enjoying the meals, she found out Buras had plans to head back to his home state of Louisiana. She then decided to quit her job and open the restaurant to keep him in Georgia.

“It was something we felt we needed to do,” Gubernath said. “Someday, it will be Steve’s after a few years. He’ll become the owner and it will be our gift to him.”

Open for about two months, the restaurant located at 248 Gilmer Ferry Road boasts a family-friendly atmosphere where patrons place their orders at the counter and eat fresh, hand-breaded shrimp po’boys the way they were meant to be enjoyed: wrapped in paper and on a plastic plate.

“That’s how it is in downtown New Orleans,” said Buras, who started working in New Orleans restaurants at 12 years old. “That’s the kind of feel I wanted to bring to Ball Ground.”

Gubernath said another crowd favorite is the oven-cooked roast beef po-boy.

“A lot of people say they feel like they went home when they sit down to have a meal here,” Gubernath said. “It’s authentic. Everything is made from scratch. Tadpole makes his own mix, breads and batters the seafood and all meat is seasoned by him.”

Buras, who moved to Georgia in 2001, said the restaurant has been busier than he anticipated. He added he cooks up daily specials that typically draw in the crowds: Tuesdays feature red beans and rice; combination platters including a po-boy, chips and a drink are featured on Wednesdays and Fridays; Thursdays feature muffelettas, which are thick sandwiches on round Sicilian sesame bread stacked with ham, salami, provolone and olive salad; and Saturday features Tadpole’s crawfish etoufee, a mix of crawfish simmered with onions, peppers and tomatoes in a seafood sauce served over rice.

“That’s my specialty,” Buras said of the crawfish etoufee. “It’s a New Orleans staple.”

Buras said he hopes to expand the restaurant in the future and open other locations in Jasper and other metro-Atlanta cities.

Meantime, Tadpole’s Cajun Po’Boys will have a grand opening event Wednesday with the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. Gubernath said the restaurant will serve coffee and their special bread pudding with rum sauce at the event.

For more information about Tadpoles Cajun Po’Boys, visit the website at www.tadpolescajunpoboys.com or call (678) 454-0073. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.