When Collin Fontenot accepted a job as the new executive chef of Galatoire’s Bistro in April, he proved his dedication to the restaurant and the staff by commuting 90 minutes from Eunice for 45 days straight.
He finally moved to Baton Rouge in June, but that initial lengthy commute was just one example of his do-or-die attitude.
“I’m going to die in the kitchen,” he tells 225 Dine in a new Q&A feature. “I don’t have a retirement game. At the end of the day, I love what I do. I’ve never worked a day in my life.” Fontenot is in the culinary business for the long haul. The same day Fontenot enrolled in culinary school at the age of 18, he wandered into a family-owned diner attached to a gas station in his hometown of Lake Charles and got a job working for Chef Chad Jackson. Fontenot would eventually form a relationship with Jackson’s family and move to the West Coast a year later to help Jackson’s brother, Mark, open a restaurant there.
He later relocated to Austin, Texas, for about two years before returning to Lake Charles to help open The Villa. For Fontenot, the moves were more about gaining experience than anything else.
He was attracted to Galatoire’s because of its location in the Capital City and the fact that it’s a New Orleans institution.
“It’s a way to solidify something that already is—the Galatoire’s namesake is already there, and it carries that regardless,” he says. “More than anything it’s a challenge, it’s an opportunity, and it’s a platform—it’s not too small.”
Read the full Q&A feature, and sign up for the free 225 Dine e-newsletter to get your fill of local culinary news in the Baton Rouge area.
