Sean Rivera has his hands in many pots. As 225 details in a new feature, the 41-year-old New Orleans native is something of a Renaissance man, who has become a leader in the Baton Rouge food scene in recent years.
Rivera is the executive chef of Driftwood Cask & Barrel downtown and Coquille’s River & Rye in Madisonville, and he works closely with co-founder Ryan Andre on the culinary think tank and underground test kitchen GastreauxNomica.
He’s also brand ambassador for Rouses and the owner of the 101,000-follower-strong foodie Twitter account, @FoodiePatutie. You can thank his daughter for that Twitter handle. Back in 2012, Rivera was trying to think of a good username. His daughter, who was about 4 at the time, suggested “foodie patutie” after his nickname for her, “cutie patootie.”
Rivera has come a long way from cooking eggs for his parents as a kid. “I would scramble eggs and then I would just go in the spice cabinet and just dump whatever was in there, not really knowing what certain things tasted like,” he tells 225. “It was just like OK, cinnamon, basil, whatever.”
Now, he says, his eggs are much better. But clearly, Rivera has always been one to break the mold and experiment. One of his biggest objectives: Inspire the next generation of chefs and encouraging them to push the limits of what Louisiana cuisine can be.
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