Hot Tails serves 300 in Moore, Okla.

On May 20, an EF5 tornado struck Moore, Okla., killing more than 20 people and injuring almost 400 more. More than a month after the storm, and the town is still picking up the pieces. The estimated damage in monetary terms hovers around the $2 billion mark.

To alleviate some of the pressure, Chef Cody Carroll of Hot Tails restaurant in New Roads and the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office went to the town Wednesday, June 19, then cooked all day Thursday, June 20, preparing a meal for those who were affected. Carroll says the menu was a taste of Louisiana—blackened shrimp poboys, Creole potato salad, crawfish étouffée, fried catfish and boudin balls.

The dishes are similar to those you might find at Carroll’s restaurant, which opened three years ago. Carroll, an LSU and Louisiana Culinary Institute grad, has also been quite the food competitor with first-place showings at Fęte Rouge in the past two years and winning the 2013 King of Louisiana Seafood crown for his speckled trout Perdu dish.

In Moore, Carroll says they fed 300 people, including policemen, firemen, court officials, emergency dispatchers and city council members. Everyone loved the food, but more importantly, the Moore residents got to spend quality time with each other.

“They loved being able to sit and have a normal lunch with their co-workers,” he says. “One of the city council members told me they had not been able to sit down and eat together as a group since the tornado occurred.”
When Carroll got the call from the District Attorney’s office to feed the people of Moore, Carroll says there was no question he would help.

“You don’t realize how much it means to make people happy with your cooking until you are able to cook for those who have lost everything, and you’re able to put a smile on their faces,” he says. “It was an honor to cook for the people of Moore. They are an amazing group. This is what we love to do, and this is why we do it.” —Matthew Sigur