Who’s in the Kitchen

Theirs is an unseen subculture.

A kitchen staff’s work is mostly underappreciated and rarely fully understood.

Their domain is the “back of the house”—the stifling, crowded and frenetic kitchens at popular restaurants. These crews work from the crack of dawn until the wee hours. From gourmet establishment to greasy spoon, they prepare the familiar foods that put Baton Rouge restaurants on the map or dream up new, innovative dishes to delight and surprise us.

Some of these professionals are self-taught, while others are the products of rigorous culinary programs. Whether they’re hard-working career cooks or demanding culinary innovators, they share pride in their work and the sense of accomplishment that comes only with our dining satisfaction.

These are a few of the faces behind the food and some of the culinary innovators who make Baton Rouge taste so good.

The Chef: Roberto Bustillo, Galatoire’s Bistro

They broke the mold when they made Roberto Bustillo, a Latino ex-Marine whose mind runs rampant coming up with new ideas for his French restaurant.

“My cooking technique actually reflects a lot of my military background,” Bustillo says. “Everything I do is almost regimented. I have a base on everything I do. Even though everything tastes differently, everything starts with the exact same process.”

The 36-year-old breaks a lot of molds himself at Galatoire’s, where, he admits, almost everything he cooks starts with bacon fat.

“Since I was a child I always thought about food. I was the youngest of four. I was the one who would wake up and make breakfast. And I’m talking when I was 5, 6, 7 years old. And I watched old-school cooking shows on PBS.”

The native of New Orleans, a first-generation American from a Honduran family, has a résumé that includes De La Salle High School, Tulane, working at his sister’s Greek restaurant, going to culinary school, nine years in the Marines, Emeril’s, a couple of Ritz-Carltons and—of course—the original Galatoire’s.

Bustillo came to the Baton Rouge location of the restaurant eight months ago.

“Pretty much every day we come up with something special,” he says, “trying to keep in tradition with our French heritage but not forgetting our local background, using Southern flavors, using local game, local fish.”

Signature Dish: Duck and Potato Confit

Perfectly squared portions of Yukon Gold potatoes are slow-roasted to a point of maximum marination in a rich duck fat flavored with select herbs and bloomed garlic. A farm-raised duck breast is expertly seared belly side down, until the fat layer renders to a crispy cracklin-type texture. It’s a unique culinary experience when tasted with the tender, medium-rare roasted duck breast that’s glazed with an incredibly delicious, slow simmered duck jus. Braised fennel, citrus onion pearls and fresh-shucked green peas accompany the confit.

The Chef: Michael Jetty, Maison Lacour

Michael Jetty, 45, came to the restaurant to work and learn under French chef Jacqueline Greaud. He not only stuck around, he married her daughter Eva, and together they now run the restaurant located in a house on North Harrell’s Ferry Road. The small, intimate spot is a Mecca for French cuisine.

“Even in college, when everyone went out and the bars closed, I would swing by the grocery store and buy food and make foods,” Jetty says. “It’s always what I wanted to do.”

Jetty grew up in Michigan, but in 1976 his father took a job at LSU. Jetty graduated from Baton Rouge High and attended LSU, “but I realized at the midnight hour I didn’t want to be an accountant. It did dawn on me that I wanted to get into the restaurant business.”

He owned an Italian restaurant in downtown Baton Rouge called Café Presto, “but I was passing myself in the morning as I was going home at night.”

Which brought him to Maison Lacour. He told Chef Greaud, “I’ll do anything you want if you take me on as an apprentice.” Everyone got more than they bargained for. Greaud eventually became his mother-in-law, but she made it clear that regardless of who Jetty was dating, his kitchen standards were never to suffer.

“It wasn’t handed to me,” Jetty says.

Now he has the restaurant, too.

“It sounds passé, but I love sautéing. I love working my line. It’s the most fun thing I do. It’s not always easy; it’s extraordinarily pressure-filled at times, but I dig that.”

Signature Dish: Canard aux framboises (duck with raspberries)

Cointreau-marinated duck breast is sautéed in its own rendered duck fat and broiler-roasted to the perfect temperature. Served thinly sliced with fresh seasonal vegetables, it’s topped with raspberries, and with a delicious homemade raspberry demi-glace drizzled tableside.

The Chef de Cuisine: Megan Naylor-Nealy, French Market Bistro

A petite 30-year-old mother of two youngsters and a graduate of the Dunham School, Megan Naylor-Neely saw her career swing toward the professional kitchen three years into her studies at LSU.

“I was doing dietetics and wasn’t happy with that,” explains French Market Bistro’s chef de cuisine. “So I took a year off from school and decided to get a job in a kitchen.” That was at Pavé, a trendy but short-lived gourmet restaurant at what’s now the site of Monjuni’s in the Goodwood Village Shopping Center. Nealy worked at Pavé for a year before heading off to the prestigious Johnson & Wales culinary school in Charleston. She married her husband Chris, whom she had met at Pavé, returned to Baton Rouge and started at French Market Bistro in 2004. (Chris, by the way, is the chef at Country Club of Louisiana.)

“I like Mediterranean flavors a lot, which is a lot of what I do here, and I like to cook what I like to eat,” Nealy says. “That influences what I do. Anything that has artichokes, or salty cheeses or fish.”

Interestingly, Nealy enjoys working the steak station at French Market Bistro, “so I do a lot of steak specials. … I just like to make delicious foods. I’m not like super-crazy off-the-wall. I like to make things people like.”

Signature Dish: Grilled Sea Bass

Tender and flaky Chilean sea bass comes perfectly seasoned and chargrilled, sitting atop a bed of hot skillet-wilted spinach surrounded with deep-fried, panko-parmesan encrusted artichoke hearts, thyme-roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh crumbled feta. Then it’s drizzled with a homemade balsamic syrup and topped with a fresh sprig of rosemary.

The Chef: Terry McDonner, Juban’s Restaurant

With seven brothers, Terry McDonner has been a chef of sorts since childhood.

“As kids we all took turns cooking stuff,” says McDonner, 57. “My dad was a pretty good cook, and my mom was, too.”

After graduating from Istrouma High School, he did some electrical work then went to trade school to become an electrician. But his brother had a catering business and later, a restaurant. McDonner tried the business and was hooked. He worked at the old Baton Rouge restaurant The Common Point.

But his real jumpstart came when he went to work for John Folse in 1985. He stayed with Folse for more than a decade. “I went around the world with him,” McDonner says. “You name it, I’ve probably been there.”

His time with Folse coincided precisely with Louisiana cuisine’s worldwide popularity explosion. Fourteen years ago, McDonner took over at Juban’s, a restaurant that celebrates creativity as much as Louisiana’s culinary traditions.

“You start with good, quality products,” McDonner says. “We start with domestic seafood, nothing imported. Shrimp, crawfish, crabmeat—it’s all domestic. Nothing’s cooked until it’s ordered.”

Signature Dish: Shrimp & Grits

Sautéed Louisiana Gulf shrimp are cooked in a spicy New Orleans-style barbecue butter gravy and a sinful mélange of bacon, tomatoes, okra and herbs, all of which surround an oven-baked stone-ground grits cake made creamy and decadent with cheddar cheese.

The Chef: Brock Miller, Enoteca Marcello’s

Brock Miller might have been a movie director, but he squandered the money for that education on a trip to Europe. Which brought him to the restaurant business—where, with minimal training and in not much time, he has quickly flourished.

He’s not only self-taught; when he turns 23 in April, in many ways he’ll have more culinary experience than plenty of chefs much older than he is.

A summer-long trip across the Pond after an apprentice stint in New Orleans changed his plans.

“When I came back I had to get a job,” Miller says. It was bussing and making salads at Lafayette restaurant Marcello’s, which is owned by Gene Todaro Sr. Miller was there only six months “before they asked me to take over for some reason. I don’t know why. I only had two years of experience cooking hot food at that point.”

Miller stopped going to school and went to work full-time at Marcello’s, learning all he could by reading about cooking and watching Internet videos.

“I fell in love with it all over again, but seriously this time,” he says. “Before, it was just an excuse not to do homework.”

And when Gene Todaro Jr. opened his restaurant in Baton Rouge, he hired Miller away from his dad. One chef for whom he had worked in Lafayette, Josh Robin, now works with Miller at Marcello’s. “He showed me all the basic stuff I know, and all the technical stuff I know I learned in New Orleans. And that was just watching, because I cooked maybe three hot dishes the whole time I was in New Orleans.” At Marcello’s he follows the script but is given a lot of freedom.

“I really work intuitively a lot,” he says. “You can give me five things, and I can make something out of it nine and a half times out of 10. I don’t know how or why. It just comes naturally.”

Signature dish: Lobster and Gnocchi

A fresh lobster tail is brought up slowly to the proper serving temperature engulfed in lemon and brown butter. The delicate tail meat is shelled and wrapped with a layer of prosciutto then presented on top of a plenteous serving of a tender potato pasta, or gnocchi, that is simmered with a red sauce concentrated with the flavors of smoked tomato and Italian herbs.

The Chefs: The Wong Brothers, Ichiban Grill & Sushi Bar

Ichiban has carved a niche in a most unlikely place, almost hidden in an oddly shaped strip mall off Essen Lane near Perkins. But its following is huge, thanks to an eclectic mix of brothers whose various unorthodox paths of self-education have helped to build one of the city’s most popular sushi restaurants.

The oldest Wong, Randy, 38, is a Broadmoor High School graduate. His younger but larger brother Eddie went to Cornerstone Academy. Ronnie, 31, went to Episcopal High School and is the head sushi chef. And 25-year-old Patrick, who went to Christian Life Academy, oversees main courses.

Their family has long been in the Asian restaurant business, but nothing like Ichiban, which boasts an intimate atmosphere, hibachi grills and top-of-the-line sushi.

The restaurant routinely has eight sushi chefs working. “We move it so the quality is the highest,” Eddie boasts.

To demonstrate their culinary panache, the brothers presented 225 with a sushi dish featuring albacore, miso and eggplant cooked with a sweet chili sauce—clearly the result of thinking that’s outside the bento box.

“Everything we do has been self-taught,” says Randy. “My brothers do a lot of research on their own.”

Signature dish: Albacore Eggplant Miso

Clean, amazingly fresh slices of buttery-soft albacore sit in a sweet and tangy yuzu vinaigrette that doesn’t drown the flavor of the fish. A spoonful of sautéed eggplant enhanced with Japanese miso and shallot confit tops the dish, which is then garnished with house-fried crisped rice and a thin slice of marinated tomato.

Nabeel Badawi and Nasir Adubyak, Albasha

Nabeel Badawi and Nasir Adubyak are long-time friends whose unique, parallel career paths brought them halfway across the world to Baton Rouge.

They grew up in Jordan, went to college and studied engineering. Yet after graduation, they both wound up working in the restaurant business.

They moved to Baton Rouge and worked at various grocery stores and restaurants until they opened their first Albasha Restaurant on Bluebonnet Boulevard in 1992.

They built their restaurant on simple concepts: incredible food, a casual atmosphere, great service and consistency.

So how did they become perennial Best of 225 Awards winners for their category, in a city that loves Middle Eastern food and in competition with long-standing eateries such as Serop’s and Roman’s?

“The secret about the food is that we have to satisfy ourselves first before our customers will be satisfied,” Badawi says.

Today Badawi and Adubyak own or franchise seven locations—four in Baton Rouge and one each in Hammond, Covington and Shreveport.

Carlos Betancourt, Ruth’s Chris Steak House

As with most chefs, Carlos Betancourt has a passion for his business.

The 27-year-old first-generation Honduran grew up in Destrehan, attended UNO, then moved to Baton Rouge and went to LSU and BRCC. “But once I started working here I knew this is what I would be doing forever,” he says.

Betancourt started as a busboy, moved to the kitchen and worked the line, “and just kind of worked my way up from there.”

Now, “if everything goes through my hands—and it does—it’s the highest quality.”

Sure, he’s young to be head chef at such a prestigious restaurant. “But I’ve had great teachers in T.J. Moran and Judy Byers (former general manager). They’ve shared a lot of things with me about this place.”

It’s a place that not only boasts the finest of steaks, but is also a gathering spot for Baton Rouge’s power players and a destination for celebrations and big dates.

“One thing that I do know, and I tell everyone this: people come here and expect us to be the best,” Betancourt says. “I expect that from us and me. T.J. says to make it better every day, and I try to live by that.”

Jose Botello, Superior Grill

For 25 years, Jose Botello has managed the bustling kitchen at this popular Baton Rouge restaurant, which means he’s had plenty of time to get to know the tastes of his loyal customers.

He’s known some since they were five years old, and now they bring their children to Superior Grill. “It’s like family here,” says Botello, 48 and married with two sons and a daughter.

He took over Superior Grill’s kitchen in 1991 after he’d spent five years as assistant kitchen manager at Superior Grill’s Shreveport location. He quickly found South Louisiana diners wanted more savory food: more jalapenos, cumin, garlic and seasoning in general. Local tastes have evolved over the years, he observes, but fajitas remain the perennial favorite, with quesadillas and enchiladas a close second and third.

Managing a kitchen crew of eight employees at a time is a demanding job. “My work is seven days a week,” he says.

He loves his work, which includes handling problems so diners never notice them.

“Customers don’t want to know what’s going on in the kitchen, that somebody didn’t show up to work,” Botello says. “They want their food to come out on time and tasting as good as always.”—Tom Guarisco

Joseph Caton, Louisiana Lagniappe

“Consistency is the key word,” says Joseph Caton, 36. “Fresh seafood, fresh ingredients and making sure that people get the same thing every time they come.”

Caton, originally from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., learned the trade for seven years close to home at the original Louisiana Lagniappe in Destin. He started as a dishwasher and worked his way up.

“I tried to go to culinary school, but my grandparents told me we couldn’t afford it, so I taught myself,” he says.

Part of his education was as sous chef at Cuvee Bistro in Destin. “I learned a lot there,” he says.

Louisiana Lagniappe boasts some complicated dishes, many with crabmeat, which Caton says is one of the hardest ingredients to work with.

He says that the restaurant’s consistently delicious food can be attributed to the longevity of the staff, many of whom have been with him for at least six years—or more. “I’ve been here for eight years,” Caton says. “My sous chef Patrick (Brown) has been here since two weeks after that.”

He says the best advice he ever got was to follow his heart. Faithful patrons of Louisiana Lagniappe follow their taste buds to his place on Perkins Road near Bluebonnet Boulevard.

Debra Ely, Christina’s Restaurant

Cooking is a way of life for Debra Ely.

The New Orleans native has been cooking for 17 years at Christina’s, the snug little oasis of home cooking on St. Charles Street, tucked between Government Street and North Boulevard. And she cooks at home, too.

“Seven days a week,” she says with a smile. “Red beans, corn bread, fried chicken.”

So you can understand why Christina’s is not merely a place where a lot of Baton Rouge’s movers and shakers meet. It’s a place where Ely and her kitchen colleagues have a little fun. “Most of the time,” she corrects. “Most of the time. Unless it’s really, really busy. Then it’s stressful.”

Of course, that means it’s stressful a lot, since Christina’s is often packed—especially in the morning, when regulars fortify themselves with eggs, bacon, fresh-baked biscuits, grits and good, strong coffee. Christina’s is a lunch-special haven, too, with daily specials complementing an extensive menu of favorites.

“They feel comfortable here and have their meetings after they eat their breakfasts,” Ely says of her morning clientele.

Ely, 57, learned from her mother, who spent a lot of time as a cook at various places. When Ely started at Christina’s, she aimed for consistency.

“That means basically concentrating on knowing the people and knowing what they like,” she says, “and making sure you give them the same thing they ask for every time.”

Mike Simpson, George’s Restaurant

“I come from a poor Cajun family, and we all worked hard during the week and cooked on the weekends,” says Mike Simpson, 33, who was born and raised in Plaquemine. Fourteen years ago he went to work at George’s, bussing tables on the weekends while studying history at LSU.

Though the recipes at George’s are handed down from owner to managers, Simpson credits his late uncle Johnny for much of what he knows. He’s also a big fan of the Food Network’s Alton Brown, whose Good Eats program deconstructs great food.

George’s is probably best known for burgers and po-boys, but Simpson is serious about his gumbo.

“We do everything from scratch,” he says. “We roast the chickens, we do the stocks, the roux … we roast the veggies for it. It’s all from zero to gumbo. No jarred anything. It’s good; I don’t know any other way to put it. There is no store-bought nothing in it.”

What’s more, he throws down the gumbo gauntlet.

“We have the best gumbo in Baton Rouge. There are some good ones in town, but it’s the best in town,” he declares. “I want someone to fight me on it.”

They probably won’t, especially not if they hang out at George’s.

“I take pride that a lot of the best chefs in Baton Rouge come here to eat after their shifts,” Simpson says. “I’m glad they come here. It makes me feel good.”