Du Jour: Chef Hays Kahao, Mansurs on the Boulevard

Hays Kahao, executive chef at Mansurs on the Boulevard, learned his skills with food from his grandmother. Stuck in her country home on weekends, he found himself helping out around the kitchen without really thinking about it. In return, his grandmother began teaching him to cook. A family tradition of a yearly whole-pig roast was further indoctrination—he learned the art from his father, and by the time he turned 16, had taken it over completely. He worked at the Baton Rouge Country Club as a server with his older brother Kris, gradually insinuating himself into the kitchen. He also washed dishes in the Mansurs kitchen, at the behest of his uncle Timothy Kringlie, one of the original owners. “I’ve just always been around food,” he says.

Although he attended LSU, graduating with a degree in sociology, his heart pulled him back into the culinary realm. When he turned 21, he found himself back in the Mansurs kitchen, as a chef this time. “I love to create things,” he says. Despite the hours—he spends a minimum of 60 hours a week on his feet and in the kitchen, a number that can rise to 80 or 90 during busy times—he loves it, finding Mansurs a useful creative outlet. “It’s a business that you love or hate,” he laughs, “but I definitely love it more than I hate it.” He loves to help people expand their palates with unusual and exotic foods, especially seafoods, without having to travel. “My signature is really my style of cooking,” he says. “I like to keep myself occupied by always being open to learning new techniques and dishes.”

To read previous Du Jour features on local chefs and other culinary experts, click here.