Mar-Apr2016_Final-FlipBook

the Seafood issue

THE BUNNY TRAIL BATON ROUGE Beausoleil Restaurant and Bar Order the shredded rabbit with spätzle, carrots, broccolini, goat cheese, mushrooms and Dijon cream sauce. City Pork Brasserie and Bar This is a great spot for charcuterie and everything pork, but check out the rabbit, which makes three appearances on the menu: rabbit debris spring rolls, rabbit and dumplings, and rabbit rillettes (a rustic pâté). Hot Trails, New Roads The rabbit here is served fried fried-chicken style with red beans. LAFAYETTE La Fonda Fried rabbit is served with guacamole and sour cream or queso at this Mexican restaurant, a Lafayette institution since 1957. T’Coons “This is my favorite plate lunch house in Lafayette. I’ll eat anything with rice and gravy and this rustic spot on Pinhook has some of the best rice and gravy ever. The owner, David Billeaud, 100% knows his way around a black iron pot. A sixth generation Billeaud from Broussard, he grew up in the family’s meat market with six brothers and sisters and a mom and dad who both cooked (dad taught him how to make his first a roux). The rest he taught himself. T’Coon’s is open Monday-Saturday for breakfast and lunch with a daily menu of meatball fricassee, crawfish étouffée and fried, baked and smothered everything. But it’s Monday’s lunch special, smothered rabbit, that’s my favorite.” —Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing Director LOWER ALABAMA The Noble South, Fairhope Executive Chef Chris Rainosek makes a savory rabbit and dumpling dish with sweet carrot chutney.

something else they did in the old country, which was farming. Out in New Orleans East, they’ve started planting vegetables, greens, and herbs, and the younger family members have developed a distribution system. Twice a week, I get a text telling me what they have.These farmers are trying to do the right thing. I want to work with them — if they grow something, I’ll find a way to use it. An advantage of a restaurant like Brigtsen’s is that we can change our menu at will. It sounds crazy, but most of our salad greens are grown here in New Orleans, and they’re beautiful, and they’re picked that morning. BRAD: “Farm to table” is such a buzzy expression now. FRANK: It’s nothing new, but now we have a name for it! You know Paul was doing this 35 years ago.His nephewEddie would come into the restaurant once a week with pigs, ducks, chickens, vegetables, all kinds of things, and we made our menu from whatever he had. At Brigtsen’s, we’re doing the same thing, and we always have. BRAD: I also love your seafood platter, and Lent is a great excuse to order it, not that you need an excuse to eat baked oysters, shrimp cornbread and grilled fish. I know you’ve spent countless hours of your limited free time fishing in the Louisiana marsh. What’s your favorite fish to cook and eat? FRANK: You might be surprised, but it’s sheepshead, which you can often find at Rouses. Marna got some the other day and fixed it at home, and it was soooo good. Very few of the little neighborhood seafood shops still exist, and Rouses is really good at filling that void. You go to Rouses because you know it’s fresh and you know it’s local. BRAD: Last question. It’s late, the last customers are gone, and you’re hungry. What’s your go-to meal? FRANK: Nearly every night at Brigtsen’s, I eat rice and gravy. Natural gravy is my favorite sauce. And like a lot of chefs, we don’t eat very well, we don’t eat regularly, and we don’t sit down to eat. Often times, our main meal is at 11 pm when we get home, and it’s usually a sandwich. That’s been true all my life — my dad used to call me “The Mayonnaise King.”The only culinary decision a chef wants to make when he or she gets home is “Am I gonna toast the bread or not?”

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MARCH | APRIL 2016