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MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
JULY | AUGUST 2016
the
Cocktail
issue
C
hef John Besh likes to point out
that he and protégé Miles Landrem
are both graduates of St. Stanislaus,
a day and boarding school in Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi, known for it’s tough love
approach. “I absolutely loved Stanislaus,”
says Landrem. “But you knew if you got
into trouble it was next stop reform school.”
Landrem started his restaurant career as
a dishwasher at Taco Tico on Veterans
Highway in Metairie. “Taco Tico was a
rite of passage in my family. My dad and
two brothers also did time there when they
were in high school.” His dishwashing
skills would come in handy after a lousy
report card his sophomore year of college
at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. “Dad
laid down the law. It was get a job and pay
for college yourself or come home to New
Orleans. I got a job dishwashing at Proud
Larry’s. I worked there until I graduated.”
After culinary school in New York City and
restaurant stints in New Orleans, Landrem
got the chance to stage at Restaurant
August with then chef de cuisine Michael
Gulotta.The interview led to a job and fast
friendship with John Besh.
“I worked on John’s TV show
My Family
Table
. We shot two episodes a day for two
weeks at his house in Slidell. I did all the
prep work. I would get up at 6am, drive to
Rouses in Slidell, shoot half a day, then go
back to Rouses. Some days I’d have to hit
multiple Rouses because we were using
so much stuff.” When filming wrapped,
Landrem became Besh’s sous chef. “If John
traveled, I went. If John did TV, I went.”
Landrem still travels with Besh. “Now I go
with Aarón, too.”
Besh, Landrem and chef Aarón Sánchez are
partners at Johnny Sánchez in downtown
New Orleans where Landrem is chef de
cuisine. The three have more in common
than food. Instead of boarding school,
Sánchez’s restaurateur mother shipped her
16-year-old son to New Orleans to live
and train with chef Paul Prudhomme. “It
changed my life,” he says.
The idea for Johnny Sánchez came about
at Besh’s camp in North Alabama. “I’d only
met Aarón once before in Miami, but he
and John were friends. We all ended up
at John’s hunting camp together. We shot
a pig, then made tacos using all of these
great ingredients that Aarón brought with
him. Suddenly we were talking restaurant.”
Landrem spent a month in Mexico before
they opened the restaurant. “I staged
at Pujol in Mexico City, one of the top
restaurants in the world. I went back of the
house at several other restaurants. I wanted
to see the masa actually being made. Aarón
knew a young sous chef who acted as his
guide in Guadalajara. “Rodgrigo took me
everywhere. We ate and drank everything.”
Guadalajara is about 30 minutes south of
Jalisco, which is where most of the world’s
tequila is made.Tequila is bottled at various
stages. The longer it’s aged the darker it
gets.
Blanco
is bottled immediately. Golden
reposada
is oak aged for a minimum of two
Tequila
vs
Mezcal
Miles Landrem Calls the Shots at Johnny Sánchez
by
Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing Director +
photos by
Romney Caruso