Du Jour: Cullen Lord, Fleming’s

Fleming’s new Chef Partner Cullen Lord, 36, says his career inspiration stems from three important sources. “I leaned my work ethic from my parents, my desire to cook and please people from my grandmother, and the fundamentals of food from Chef Philippe Parola,” he says. At 16, Lord worked as a line cook at his family’s AJ’s Restaurant in Zachary, where he says he first witnessed the hard work required in running an eatery. When it came time to pick a career, he enrolled in a local cooking school run by Chef Philippe Parola, a Frenchman with deep roots in the south Louisiana culinary scene. Lord says Parola taught him classic preparation techniques, and showed him how to read food and predict its behavior. Lord went on to land posts at a number of area restaurants, including stints as executive chef at Primo’s and Louisiana Lagniappe in Baton Rouge and Café Vermillionville in Lafayette, Louisiana. He also worked as food stylist for television. For more on Cullen Lord, click here.—Maggie Heyn RichardsonTo read previous Du Jour features on local chefs and other culinary experts, click here.