Mar-Apr2016_Final-FlipBook

the Seafood issue

Compère L apin by Pableaux Johnson

C ome the late part of springtime, there’s plenty of rabbit talk — thanks to a the efforts of a certain basket-toting bunny — but thanks to the efforts of Nina Compton, there’s reason to talk about our long-eared friend year- round. Her new restaurant, Compère Lapin (French for “Brother Rabbit”), showcases the personal cuisine that made her a crowd favorite during Season 11 of TV’s popular Top Chef series.

A native of the island nation of St. Lucia, chef Compton got her culinary education at New York’s Culinary Institute of America before making her name in Miami’s warmer climes. “I was pretty young when I worked in New York. I went at the right time, I think, but I didn’t like the cold,” she said. “Once my apartment key froze in the lock. It was crazy.” Her work-related travels took her to kitchens of renowned chefs Daniel Bouloud

(who taught her hard-edged discipline) and Norman Van Aiken (who showed her the inner workings of Florida’s complex cuisine). Over the years, she refined her vision and style, which draws heavily from both sophisticated, minimalist Italian influences and the simpler traditions of St. Lucia. Chef Compton’s homeland is a fascinating blend of French and British colonial cultures played out on a stunning volcanic island a stone’s throw from Venezuela’s northern

The restaurant is named for the trickster character in her favorite childhood book — known in the southern US as “Brer Rabbit”— and is an homage to the Creole connections that unite her Caribbean heritage and new adopted home of New Orleans.

coast. Many of St. Lucia’s food traditions are based on fertile home traditions of the island’s small farming communities. “Everybody has a back yard,” she says, “so it’s second nature to go out and pick a mango to eat. The cuisine is rustic, very

“This is a great sit-at-the-bar restaurant. The food is delicious and Ricky Gomez and our friend Abigail Gullo make some of the best drinks in town” —Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing Director

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY MARCH | APRIL 2016