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ii 
 ^
NEW ORLEANS
CHEF’S TABLE
Extraordinary Recipes
b the Crescent City

LORIN GAUDIN
WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROMNEY CARUSO

Guilford, Connecticut
 This book is dedicated to the City of New Orleans . . .
A place that took me in, embraced me hard, and slipped deep into
my soul to become an indelible part of my DNA and my home.
I love New Orleans—the people, the music, the culture, and of
course, the food—and I am grateful she loves me right back.

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright © 2020 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Available

ISBN 978-1-4930-4440-5 (hardback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-4441-2 (e-­book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements

of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Restaurants and chefs often come and go, and menus are ever-­changing.
We recommend you call ahead to obtain current information before
visiting any of the establishments in this book.
 Contents
Acknowledgments and Additional Photo Credits | vii
Introduction | ix

Commander’s Palace | 1 Heard Dat Kitchen | 41

Crawfish Boil Vichyssoise New Orleans Style Barbecued Shrimp
Gulf Shrimp & Blue Crab Enchiladas Crawfish Orzo Pasta
“Compressed” Strawberries
Patois | 43
Carrollton Market | 7 Lamb Ribs
Oysters Goodenough Creole Cream Cheese Semifreddo
Emeril’s Delmonico | 9 Blueberry Compote
Emeril’s Delmonico Pork Cheeks with Lemon–Poppy Seed Shortbread
Creole Dirty Rice St. James Cheese Company | 46
The Country Club | 12 Pepato Macaroni & Cheese
Crab Beignets with Saffron Aioli Alabama Peach Chutney
Madame Marie Laveau Float Taceaux Loceaux | 49
Mais Arepas | 15 Gulf Ceviche
Colombian-­Style Cranberry Beans Tartine | 53
Galatoire’s | 19 Duck Liver Mousse with Peach-­Jalapeño
Galatoire’s Oysters Rockefeller Marmalade
Cafe Brulot Dark Chocolate Mousse

Company Burger | 22 Cowbell | 55

Local Corn & Cherry Tomato Salad Louisiana Blue Crab Tamales with Charred
Tomatillo Salsa & Fresh Avocados
Creole Creamery | 24 Sweet Potato Pecan Pie
Green Fairy Ice Cream
Tujague’s | 61
Haydel’s Bake Shop | 27 Grilled Yellowfin Tuna with Corn Maque
Russian Cake Choux & Smoked Tomato Butter
Hobnobber Café | 30 Cavan | 63
Pasta Milanese Cavan Shrimp & Grits
Italian Fig Cookies Cavan Key Lime Pie
High Hat | 33 McClure’s Barbecue | 66
Stewed Chicken with Mustard Greens & Jambalaya
Spoon Bread Collard Greens
Blueberry Cane Syrup Pie in a Cornmeal Crust
Ye Olde College Inn | 69
La Petite Grocery | 37 Sweet Potato–Andouille Soup
Tagliatelle with Gulf Shrimp & Field Peas
Butterscotch Pudding Arnaud’s | 70
Trout Amandine
Ralph’s on the Park | 72 SoBou | 101
Masa Fried Oysters with Crispy Pork Belly & Shrimp & Tasso Pinchos
Lemon Sauce Coquito (Puerto Rican Eggnog)
Stuffed Peach Sno-­Ball
Stanley | 104
Toups’ Meatery | 75 Omelet Sandwich
Confit Chicken Thighs, Butter Beans, Greens &
Del Fuego | 106
Gizzard Gravy
Seared Yellowfin Tuna Tostada
Bacchanal | 77 Sikil Pak
Braised Pork Shoulder Pozole
Sylvain | 112
Dark Chocolate Bark
Pickled Gulf Shrimp with Local Tomatoes,
Cake Café & Bakery | 80 Butter Beans, Sprouts & Green Goddess
Quichant Dressing
Elizabeth’s | 83 Bittersweet Confections | 115
Baked Oysters with Foie Gras & Truffle Aioli Bittersweet Confection Marshmallows
Salmon & Brie Grilled Cheese
Clancy’s | 117
Topped with Fried Eggs
Clancy’s Louisiana Crab Claws with
Jack Rose | 85 Cilantro and Lime
Shrimp “Muddy Waters” Lemon Icebox Pie
Satsuma Cafe | 87 Delgado Community College
Warm Winter Salad of Roasted, Pickled & Raw Culinary School | 120
Vegetables Gumbo
Seasonal Fruit & Rosemary Cobbler
Mayhew Bakery | 122
Three Muses | 91 Sugar Cookie
Cider Braised Pork Belly over Scallion Pancake
Domenica | 124
Banana Mascarpone Strudel
Handmade Pasta with Mangalitsa Pork Ragù
GW Fins | 94 Cochon Butcher | 131
GW Fins Sautéed Louisiana Red Snapper with
Bread & Butter Pickles
Mussels & Thai Curry Broth
Cochon’s PB&J Cookies
Piece of Meat | 97 Emeril’s | 133
Boudin Egg Rolls
Emeril’s Scallop Crudo
Restaurant R’evolution | 99 Chef Lisa Barbato | 136
Fazzoletti & Crawfish Pasta
Tomato Tartlets on Homemade Puff Pastry

Index | 139
About the Author and Photographer | 147

vi 
 Acknowledgments
I want to thank first and foremost
my husband Andre and sons Collins
and Remy, who all tolerate my food
craziness, the constant chatter, piles
of cookbooks, obsession with food
and cooking, and who have supported
me unfailingly in all my culinary
endeavors. I must thank my sisters
and brother for being as food-­crazy
as me and always letting me in on the
latest and greatest places to eat where
they live—it gives me a great national
perspective. My mom and dad get
thanks for the genetics that made me
who I am and am not. I also want to
thank my dear departed mother-­in-­
law, Janice, who was so special to me
and taught me many family recipes
that stretch back more than a hundred
years. She would be proud to know
that those dishes remain an important
part of Gaudin meal rituals. To all the photographers whose talent, energy, excite-
ment, and hunger made this project pop with color and taste: I am in awe. It is said we
first eat with our eyes, and the drool-­inducing food photographs prove that perfectly.
Finally, I am forever grateful to the gob-­smackingly brilliant and fun chefs of New
Orleans, who bring tears to my eyes with their stunning art and whom I adore.

Additional Photo Credits

Photography of the following list of places are courtesy of the restaurants: Arnaud’s,
Carrollton Market, Cavan, Clancy’s, The Country Club, Del Fuego, Delgado Commu-
nity College Culinary School, Galatoire’s, Haydel’s Bake Shop, Heard Dat Kitchen,
Hobnobber Café, Jack Rose (Randy Schimdt), Mais Arepas, Mayhew Bakery,
McClure’s Barbecue, Piece of Meat, and Tujague’s. Special credit goes to contributors
Isaac Arjonella, Sara Essex Bradley, Denny Culbert, Gabrielle Milone, Randy Schmidt,
and Eugenie Uh.
Photography on pages 51, 140-141, 144, 146 © Getty Images
Photo of Lorin Gaudin on page 147 by Remi Gaudin

 vii
 Introduction
“In New Orleans, we can be eating a meal while talking about
another meal or cooking or restaurants, and simultaneously
planning the next meal. Food obsessed, that’s what we are.”
—Everyone in New Orleans

It is well established that New Orleanians are food obsessed. Some say that food
is our lingua franca, the way we communicate, our working language, the way we
connect to one another. And that is the absolute truth. It is the norm to hear tables
of diners talking food, cooking, favored restaurants, new restaurants, the demise of
beloved restaurants, the next restaurant, markets, local products, and food finds—all
with a mouth full of food from the plate immediately on the table. The spirit of New
Orleans is reflected in her cooking and restaurants, her people, and her multiplicity of
cultures.
The city has long been known for certain foods and dishes—beignets, jambalaya,
gumbo, boudin, crawfish—our regional cuisine, what the national food press has
called New Orleans’s “one menu.” It is true that we do have that menu, and we do it
proudly and beautifully, but New Orleans is a very exciting food city. We have more,
do more, explore more, and have created a bunch of “menus” deserving of attention.
No one has abandoned tradition in the name of progress—the two walk hand in hand.
We embrace our food traditions, eat lovingly and happily from a plate of red beans
and rice or let the juices run down our arms from a messy roast beef po-­boy, but that
doesn’t stop us from diving into compressed melon and icy-­cool avocado “dippin’
dots”; we’re immersed in it, deeply. I don’t believe that any of our foods is threatened
with extinction—we’re too stubborn and love ourselves too much to let that happen.
Food here is revered religiously and consumed passionately. The number of sit-­down

ix
 restaurants in the New Orleans area is
staggering and shows no signs of slowing
in growth; and still, our population hasn’t
returned to what it was in 2005! Fewer
people and an enormous number of restau-
rants! That’s a phenomenon in and of itself.
Yes, we love our food. We love the Gulf
that gives us an incredible variety of finfish,
crab, shrimp, and oysters, our waterways
and rice fields from which spring crawfish,
our alluvial soil that gives glorious Creole
tomatoes with their stunning sunshine-­
bright flavor. We adore our elders and
families who cook and remind us of import-
ant recipes: the flame keepers who gather
in organizations, open museums, and offer
exhibits and collections for us to experience,
so we never forget a sip or a bite. And New
Orleans is experiencing a culinary evolution
too. As the template of our city shifts, grows
and renovates, restores and reinvigorates,
so do the food, cooking, and restaurants.
New Orleans is a fascinating place.
Natives and long-­standing transplants
stand shoulder-­to-­shoulder with the new
locals, and there is no denying a decidedly younger demographic who contribute a fresh look and
palate. Many adventurous cooks, chefs and those clamoring to be restaurant owners, have suc-
cessfully taken the leap into the industry, in parts of New Orleans that were previously quiet or
undeveloped. This book covers some of everything—well-­loved “grande dame” restaurants, places
that have been around and refreshed, places that have made a local mark on our restaurant land-
scape but aren’t as well known, and those that are brand new.
New Orleans is nestled in the Parish of Orleans, positioned on the crescent of the Mississippi
River and mapped by neighborhoods. Each of these neighborhoods has a distinct tone, and all are
filled cheek-­by-­jowl with historic homes—mansions and shotguns, pristine or time- and weather-­
worn, many family-­owned for hundreds of years—mixed with commerce. It is a New Orleans
hallmark that neighborhoods are both residential and commercial. The architectural styles reflect
Spanish and French rule as well as accommodations to our tropical climate that swelters in sum-
mer and withstands the vagaries of catastrophic storms.
Organization
This book covers a lot of New Orleans culinary and geographic ground. New Orleans is a city of
neighborhoods and people from myriad cultures and all walks of life, inextricably and lovingly
linked together. A lot has happened since the initial publication of this book and interestingly a
lot has stayed the same. So many restaurants have come and gone, the numbers are staggering.

x Introduction
Nonetheless, the included restaurants and recipes cut a wide swath across the Metro New Orle-
ans area, and there’s even one located in Metairie—a New Orleans suburb where my husband was
raised—because it is an important part of the culinary and cultural landscape for Italian family,
food and spiritual connection. All-­in-­all the book is a delicious tour of our dining and local cul-
ture. New Orleans is a sensorial place with very specific identifying aromas that signify. The spicy
scent of cayenne, herbs, and lemon means crawfish, crab, or shrimp season, while the air thick with
fried chicken’s pungent, mouthwateringly greasy scent is all about Mardi Gras (or “Carnival” if
you’re a native). There’s the dusty sagelike aroma of swamp bay that hangs on the dark of sultry
summer evenings, and of course the musty, wet-­wood funk of neighborhood bars that beg for an
icy beer or soothing highball. By engaging all five senses, it is possible to see, hear, feel, smell, and
taste the distinguishing differences throughout New Orleans. New Orleans is intensely tactile;
even walking Jackson Square can evoke the sound of nineteenth-­century heels clicking on the
slate, or cause the weighty layers of historic events both glorious and heart-­wrenching to be felt
on the skin. Food, dining, and cuisine are a natural extension of the experience—yes, New Orleans
is an experience—filled with people often referred to as “characters.” New Orleans is a living story.
And this is my version.
This book is about my on-­going love
and respect for our chefs and restaurants of
New Orleans, about the beauty that is Lou-
isiana product, smarts, creativity, and deli-
ciousness. It’s about the new and old way we
eat in New Orleans, dispelling that one-­
menu moniker, screaming from the rooftops
that while we love our culinary traditions,
there is more going on here. Come visit,
wander the neighborhoods, and dine exten-
sively and comprehensively—it’s so worth
it. Try the dishes for which we are famous,
or today’s interpretations; the ethnic foods;
the food trucks; the produce and prepared
foods from our extensive farmers’ markets;
poboys and yakamein from corner stores;
classic cocktails; or plate lunches from a
mom-­and-­pop cafe. There is no wrong. This
is a delicious city, my home. Come fall head-­
over-­heels in love, a deep foodie love, with
New Orleans. And if you can’t visit, then
cook up a recipe or two and savor the flavor.
You’ll fall in love just the same.

Introduction xi
 Commander’s Palace
1403 Washington Avenue
(504) 899-8221
commanderspalace.com

The Garden District of New Orleans is a lovely place, filled with grand mansions, modest homes,
old families, and one of our city’s grandest “grande dame” restaurants. The post–Hurricane
Katrina renovation of Commander’s continues to lend elegance, but there is also a more approach-
able feeling to the place. Executive Chef Tory McPhail enhances that vibration. The restaurant
continues to serve its amazing turtle soup and bread pudding souffle—the world would be lost
without them—but there are also Tory’s bolder explorations and cooking fancies that appear on
the menu to bring a freshness reflecting progress without abandoning tradition. Chef Tory and
the Commander’s Palace owners, the late Miss Ella, her daughter Ti Martin, her cousin Lally Bren-
nan, exude charm, grace, and fun. The cocktails have a kick, thanks to the Cocktail Chicks (Ti and
Lally) and the stellar bar team. Everything is sourced locally, regionally, and/or from the United
States; that’s long been the way things are done, and now Commander’s Palace does things with a
current feel. 25-cent-­martini lunch, anyone?

CRAWFISH BOIL VICHYSSOISE

(YIELDS 1 GALLON/20 PORTIONS; MAY BE HALVED)

For the soup: 2 ounces red chili oil

8 ounces boiled crawfish, pureed
To make the soup: Combine all ingredients in a
21/2 pounds red bliss or any thin-­skinned, small
pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 40 minutes or
new potatoes
until potatoes are cooked through and very tender.
4 ounces leeks, green tops removed, washed well Working in small batches, puree the soup in a high-­
and sliced powered blender until very smooth and creamy.
4 ounces carrots, peeled and chopped Pass through a chinois and adjust thickness and
4 ounces celery, stalks only, washed and chopped seasoning as necessary. This soup is intended to be
1 ounce Zatarain’s crawfish boil powder served at room temperature.

3 quarts whole milk To garnish the soup: Prepare a bubbling pot of

1 ounce sugarcane vinegar crawfish boil, and an ice bath of crawfish boil water.
Blanch the mushrooms, corn, garlic, and sweet pota-
For the garnish: toes separately in the crawfish boil until al dente,
and then shock them in the ice bath to stop the
1 pound button mushrooms, in small dice
cooking. Combine with the crawfish tails and spoon
1 pound corn kernels
into soup bowls. Pour 6 ounces of soup around the
4 ounces garlic cloves, peeled garnish and place a whole boiled crawfish on top.
4 ounces sweet potatoes, in small dice Finish by adding tiny drops of chili oil to the surface
3 pounds crawfish tails, lightly grilled of the soup for added kick.
20 whole boiled crawfish

Commander’s Palace 1
 GULF SHRIMP & BLUE CRAB ENCHILADAS
(SERVES 8 AS APPETIZER, 4 AS ENTREE)

For the enchilada sauce: Salt and pepper to taste

8 tomatoes, chopped 2 cups corn oil
1 onion, diced 8 corn tortillas
1 chipotle chili, soaked for 10 minutes in warm 2 cups enchilada sauce
water 8 ounces Idiazabal cheese, grated
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 bunch cilantro To make the sauce: Place all ingredients in heavy
saucepan with 2 cups water and cook for 20 min-
1/2 cup vinegar
utes on medium heat. Remove from heat and puree
1 teaspoon ground cumin in blender until smooth. Season with salt to your
2 cloves garlic liking.
Salt to taste
To make the enchiladas: Place a large sauté pan on
medium heat. Add butter to pan. Add garlic, onion,
For the enchiladas:
jalapeños, and tomatoes. Sauté until onions are
4 teaspoons butter translucent. Add corn, beans, and cilantro. Cook for
2 cloves garlic, minced 4–5 minutes. Add shrimp and crab and cook for 2–3
1 large onion, diced minutes. Add cumin and coriander and then season
with salt and pepper. Allow to cool.
2 jalapeños, seeds removed, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat the corn oil to 275°F
Kernels from 1 ear of corn in large pot. Dip each tortilla in the warm oil for 15
1 cup cooked black beans seconds or until it is pliable, then coat it in enchi-
lada sauce. Place 3 ounces of shrimp and crab filling
1/2 bunch cilantro
on the tortilla and roll into a cylinder. Place in a
16 shrimp (36/40 count), peeled, deveined, and heatproof dish.
chopped
1/2 pound blue crab meat, picked free of shell When all tortillas are filled, sprinkle with cheese and
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin more sauce. Bake for 5–7 minutes or until cheese
melts.
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 The New Orleans Chef’s Table