Inspiration in New Orleans: new breed of chef shakes up old traditions

Nation's Restaurant News, July 27, 1987 by Paul Frumkin

Inspiration in New Orleans

New breed of chef shakes up old traditions

A new generation of inventive chefs and restaurateurs, inspired by the deep-rooted traditions of classical French, Cajun, and Creole cooking, are modernizing the New Orleans dining scene.

Such restaurants as Mr. B's, L'Eagles, Gautreau's, and the Bistro at Maison de Ville are expanding the area's culinary boundaries by using more contemporary and eclectic preparations as well as previously underused local ingredients.

"Cooking is definitely undergoing an evolution here,' declared Armand Jonte, chef at the four-year-old Gautreau's. "Before, the city was kind of stagnant.'

Ralph Brennan, co-owner of Mr. B's with his sister, Cindy, agreed. "We're trying to keep the dishes we do here current,' he said. "People are interested in lighter styles of cooking.'

In the past, customers might come into a restaurant and sit down to a typical meal consisting of gumbo, shrimp Creole, and an etouffee, Brennan continued. "Those dishes are all so heavy,' he said. "We don't want people to get up and feel that they've eaten too much, so we're trying to lighten many of the dishes.'

In fact, much of the change is centered around the updating of certain vintage New Orleans recipes. Sauces are being lightened, cooking times shortened, and new ingredients substituted for old. "We're taking a lot of old dishes and modifying them,' said James Braddock, chef at L'Eagles Bar & Grill. "We're preparing them with a nouvelle flare.'

The French-originated roux--a cooked thickening agent often made from oil and flour in southern Louisiana--is rapidly being replaced by stock reductions. "The roux is out,' writes Brennan on Mr. B's menu. "Reductions are the order of the day.'

The use of dried spices--another foundation of the region's cooking--is also being reconsidered. For example, the standard recipe for the New Orleans classic, barbecued shrimp, calls for margarine and dried spices. At L'Eagles, Braddock prefers butter flavored with fresh herbs.

That same dish is taken a step or two further at the California-style Bistro at Maison de Ville--whose menu, chefSusan Spicer, said, owes more to the cooking of the Mediterranean than to that of New Orleans. She prepares her variation with grilled shrimp and an emulsification of butter, olive oil, shallots, coriander seeds, orange zest and juice, white wine, and sherry vinegar. The dish is garnished with a black bean cake topped with sour cream.

This new generation of restaurants is also merchandising many previously underutilized fish from the Gulf of Mexico. In the recent past New Orleans restaurants offered little besides redfish and speckled trout--also known as weakfish. Nevertheless, fish and seafood still accounted for the vast majority of food sales.

Today chefs are featuring local varieties, such as amberjack, swordfish, blackdrum, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, pompano, shark, corbina, sailfish, white marlin, and sheepshead.

In a few instances, though, special marketing is necessary. "People around here just don't eat sheepshead,' Braddock explained. "But in the Caribbean the same fish is called brill. So we call it brill on the menu, and it sells really well.'

"People here don't like to experiment too much,' noted Loretta Keller, sous chef at the Bistro at Maison de Ville. Nevertheless, enough customers are willing to try the newer species at the Bistro, so the kitchen no longer has to offer redfish or speckled trout.

The skyrocketing price of redfish has not contributed to its popularity either. According to Brennan, Mr. B's no longer uses redfish because "its almost as expensive as steak. To get our regular markup, we have to charge $20.'

But for the most part, a compromise is struck between the old and the new. According to Jonte, Gautreau's offers the classic trout Meuniere in addition to its own trout Sorrento-- trout sauteed with crayfish, pinenuts, julienne of prosciutto, shallots, and white wine.

Traditional cooking techniques are being altered, too. Grilling over hickory, pecan wood, or mesquite has replaced much deep-frying and pan-frying. Mr. B's features hickory-grilled shrimp and andouille sausage, while the Bistro at Maison de Ville prepares grilled sweetbreads with shallots and herb butter.

And where the more traditional cooking techniques are still being used, there is clearly more attention paid to cooking times. "Most people down here cook fish until it flakes,' Braddock said. "By then it's over-cooked. We've cut the cooking time in half.'

Mr. B's offers its own version of the popular but long-simmered jambalaya. All ingredients, including shrimp, andouille sausage, duck, and chicken, are sauteed quickly and then tossed with fettuccine --rice is the traditional starch served with the dish. Veal and duck stock are also added for flavor.

"We're doing a lot more cooking to order,' Brennan explained. "A lot more grilling and sauteeing. We're moving away from steam table dishes.'

Yet, while much of the change is reflected in updated Cajun and Creole recipes, chefs are also introducing some untraditional dishes. In addition to the prevailing Mediterranean influences in Spicer's menu at the Bistro, she cited additional Moroccan, Indonesian, and Greek elements. For example, she learned a pork tenderloin satay with Indonesian peanut sauce from her Danish mother.