More American Chefs at the Festival

There were quite a number of American chefs at the 4-14 Festival. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to meet all of them!

Here's a photo of Stephanie Carter and her assistant Lauren, both of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. Founded in 2008, the museum is a nonprofit living-history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding, and celebration of the food, drink, and the related culture of the South. What a great initiative!

Stephanie gave a cooking demonstration on Sunday. We'll cover that in a later blog.

We briefly met Leon Galatoire, a fourth generation proprietor of Galatoire's in New Orleans. This family-run restaurant has been serving authentic French Creole cuisine since 1905. Galatoire joined the family business in 1976, and worked his way up to the position of chef over a fifteen-year period. From 1991 to 1996, he reigned in the kitchen there.

Leon is currently in demand as a guest chef and as a judge at culinary competitions.

And we met Jeff Tunks, chef and owner of Passion Food Hospitality, a group that operates four restaurants (DC Coast, Acadiana, Ceiba, and Ten Penh) in Washington, D.C. Jeff was the only American chef whose restaurants are not in Louisiana. But he definitely knows his Louisiana cuisine. Under his helm, the New Orleans restaurant The Grill Room achieved "Best Restaurant" status from Gourmet Magazine in 1997. The Grill Room was awarded five Mobil stars under his tenure as well.