John Besh's Louisiana
- John Besh's Louisiana
Our culture is so very unique in that all of the people that settled here assimilated into one, rich culture, which happens to be one of the most unique and recognizable cultures in the country. From it sprang incredible cuisines and music styles. We are not only the birth place of jazz but also the birth place of the only indigenous urban cuisine in the country.
If I were to recommend what to eat in Louisiana, it would be a very long list. I'll suggest just a few of my favorites. Starting in Cajun Country, I'd have lunch at Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge for an authentic Acadian café experience in the quintessential Cajun town. For dinner. I must admit I'm a little biased, but Restaurant August, my restaurant in downtown New Orleans, offers the best of contemporary Louisiana fare. But I'd also have to say that Sal and Judy's Restaurant in Lacombe, Louisiana, on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, would be one of the most unique restaurant finds anywhere, it combines the best of Louisiana seafood with the Sicilian roots of its owner Sal Impastato.
Music is just as important to our culture as food, and you can find some of the best of it at Fred's in Mamou, Louisiana. It's a little hole in the wall bar that serves up the best Zydeco in Cajun Country.
Speaking of food and music, Louisiana's festivals are a great way to experience the best of both worlds. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is one of my favorites for just this reason – it offers an unbeatable combination of great food and music. Another favorite of mine is the Gueydan Duck Festival, known for duck calling contests, Cajun crafts, boudin, cracklin, Zydeco music and tasso poboys.I loved growing up in Louisiana. Some my favorite things to do were having beignets at Café du Monde in New Orleans, crabbing on Lake Pontchartrain, fishing for croaker in Lake Catherine, squirrel hunting in the Honey Island Swamp, going to Bud's Broiler for a no. 4 with extra sauce, floating down Bayou Paquet on a pirogue fishing for bream, camping and fishing from the beach at Elmer's Island in Grand Isle, visiting the Jungle Gardens of Avery Island, just to name a few. My boys enjoy doing many of the same things. My point is this is a great place for families to visit. Kids will enjoy doing any of the things I mentioned above, and much, much more, such as taking a boat tour of the Honey Island Swamp, having a picnic and swim at the Peal River, catching a Saints game at the Superdome, visiting Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americas.
New Orleans has great shopping. My favorite shops are George Bass and Rubenstein's, both on the same block of St. Charles Avenue in downtown New Orleans. Magazine Street in uptown New Orleans would be my favorite shopping area. I don't shop in malls. In New Orleans I shop in shops, and we've got some of the most unique boutiques in the country!
Road trips are a great way to discover Louisiana on your own. The drive along the Cajun Coast tells the story of Louisiana quite well, leading you from the Creole Plantations of New Orleans to Houma, across the spillway to Morgan City and on to Franklin, to Jeanerette, and eventually to Abbeville, where one needs a couple dozen oysters and a cold drink before venturing to Gueydan and onto Lake Arthur. If that drive doesn't do it for you then start in Grand Isle and drive north all the way to False River.
- Trails of Sweet and Savory Culinary Traditions
Creole Fusion
As a native New Orleanian, I grew up surrounded by the classic Creole food “museums” of the Vieux Carre, where menus haven’t changed in more than a century, to new cuisine inspired by local ingredients and created by award-winning chefs like John Besh of Restaurant August, Luke and Besh Steak House; Susan Spicer, of Bayona and Donald Link of Herbsaint and Cochon. In the French Quarter, it’s a hard choice between treasures like Arnauds, Antoine’s and Galatoire’s. My lunch at Galatoire’s always begins with the magical pommes soufflé. Puffed-up, crispy fried potatoes are just the thing to accompany a Sazarac – the official cocktail of New Orleans made with rye whiskey, bitters and Herbsaint liqueur.
On Canal Street, Dickie Brennan’s Palace Café serves a Sunday jazz brunch as only the Brennans, the family who created the New Orleans tradition, can. Two classic dishes are crabmeat cheesecake and Bananas Foster beignets.On days when I’m feeling nostalgic, I hop on the streetcar to Camellia Grill. I first dined there at the marble countertop, white-tablecloth style, with my great-grandmother. The pecan waffle and chocolate freeze haven’t changed in 50 years.
In the 1970s, the food of Cajun country fused with the traditional Creole city food. To become an expert, take a class with one of the city’s finest chefs, Frank Brigtsen or Gerard Maras, at the New Orleans Cooking Experience. The class ends in a four-course dinner party. The Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter, Destrehan Plantation on River Road and St. Francisville’s Audubon State Historic Site offer open-hearth cooking demonstrations that reveal 19th-century kitchen secrets, such as how to spit-roast meat over a wood-burning fire.When I want a lunch or dinner combined with an escape from the city, I enjoy the short drive over the world’s longest bridge over water, the Causeway, to indulge in the restaurants in Mandeville, Covington, Lacombe and Abita Springs. John Besh has my greatest admiration for his efforts towards total sustainability, beginning with his French country auberge style restaurant, La Provence. Just outside the kitchen door, John’s Berkshire pigs and clucking hens are a sort of “pet it till you eat it” zoo. What he can’t grow, the best Northshore farmers provide. The result is exquisitely designed seasonal menus.On warm spring and balmy fall evenings, the winemakers at Pontchartrain Vineyards host Jazz’N The Vines, where picnicking is de rigeur and their wines are available. The brew masters at Abita Brewing Company and Heiner Brau are ready to share samples, too.Capital Cuisine to Prairie Home CookingSince 2005, New Orleans and Baton Rouge have grown closer in the culinary sense. Some New Orleans institutions opened branches in Baton Rouge, such as Galatoire’s Bistro. But, since 1998, New Orleans transplant Chef Peter Sclafani III has collaborated with former LSU lineman Ruffin Rodrigue in what is today’s Ruffino’s. Here, classic Creole Italian sauces finish veal, fish and pork entrees straight from Ruffino’s wood-burning oven. All are updated with authentic ingredients such as Creole tomatoes.Outside of Baton Rouge, the Cabin Restaurant in Burnside is made up of several old buildings, including a schoolhouse. Cajun comfort food such as red beans and rice seems right at home there.It’s hard to believe, but some of the best eating in Louisiana is found at roadside restaurants. After crossing the Mississippi River bridge west of Baton Rouge, virtually every exit all the way to Lake Charles has a stop with steaming hot pork or crawfish boudin. Stelly’s Gas Station in Lebeau shows off prairie cooking at its best. If you ask me, the Billy’s in Krotz Springs may fry up the best cracklings in Cajun Country. The drive north on Hwy. 49 gives me time to work up an appetite. Whenever possible, I stop in Natchitoches for a beef-and-pork turnover, or meat pie, at Lasyone’s Meat Pie Restaurant.Seafood Sensations and Bounty of the BayouLouisiana has the freshest seafood in the world. The state is the nation’s number one producer of blue crab, crawfish, shrimp and oysters.I can celebrate my favorite Louisiana seafood just about any time of the year at one of the state’s many themed festivals. Two I never miss are the blessing of the fleet and shrimp festival in Delcambre, always the third weekend of August, and the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, every Labor Day.But every day is a seafood festival in Louisiana, from the catfish at Spahr’s in Des Allemands to the crawfish at Robin’s in Breaux Bridge; from the oysters at Black’s in Abbeville to the BBQ shrimp at Manales’ in New Orleans. A Bear’s Café in Houma has some of the best seafood down the bayou – but it’s their peanut butter pie that has made them famous.When I need to get it “on the go,” Tony’s Seafood has the best boiled seafood, such as crawfish, shrimp, crabs and lobster, in Baton Rouge for take out.West of Baton Rouge in Grand Coteau, Chef Jude Tauzin has gained national acclaim for his seafood dishes – seared scallops and seafood Napoleon, to name two – at Catahoula’s.If you prefer sweets to seafood, we’ve got them, too. For more than 60 years, peach lovers have marked their calendars for Ruston’s Peach Festival in June. In Jeanerette, learn about cane sugar production at the Sugar Museum. At the Steen’s Mill in Abbeville, they still make open-kettle cane syrup, as they have since 1910.Red River Riches with Delta DelightsFor a southern Louisiana girl like me, I’m always amazed when mid-state, the swamps and bayous turn into prairie land and rolling hills of pine forest. The sublime pies at Lea’s in Lecompte call my name before I even get to Alexandria. Once I get there, a dark, romantic booth and the best meatballs and spaghetti are waiting for me at Giamanco’s Suburban Garden.Since 1978 Tunk’s Cypress Inn, on Lake Kincaid in Boyce, has remained a favorite of Central Louisiana folks. Crickets and frogs provide the background music for an authentic Louisiana dining experience with “none of the good things left out,” as Tunk would say. Alligator, quail and frogs’ legs inhabit the menu.Farther north, another water view can be enjoyed at Warehouse No. 1 Restaurant on the Ouachita River. This 100-year-old building in Monroe’s historic district serves specialties such as fried catfish alongside their famous hushpuppies. Dowling’s Smokehouse in Ruston smokes its pulled pork shoulder for 14 hours, making it as tender as can be.Bella Fresca in Shreveport is earning a national reputation for its local take on food. The house salad is a tribute to Louisiana with goat cheese from St. Martinville, locally grown organic greens, spiced pecans and walnuts.Anyone who knows me knows I love farmers markets. My favorite is the 13-year-old Crescent City Farmers Market. Every one of the vendors feels like a family friend and every bite of food from their farms makes dinner special. From Baton Rouge, north to Shreveport, there are more than 20 markets each with its own distinctive, seasonal flavors.There’s an old superstition that the green file powder used to thicken and season gumbo is actually a form of magical “gris-gris” which, once consumed, compels a visitor to return to Louisiana again and again. There is no magic in the file, but once you have a taste of my state, our incomparable food and gracious hospitality, you’ll be back.
