Since taking their local TV show Out da Bayou national earlier this year, video producer John Jackson and Ruffino’s co-owner and executive chef Peter Sclafani have gotten such positive feedback they’re planning a second show about Louisiana cuisine. The new show, tentatively titled Louisiana Eats, is scheduled to shoot a pilot episode later this spring, with a hoped-for air date in the fall.
Jackson teamed up with Sclafani last year to begin production on Out da Bayou. As its name suggests, it’s a homegrown show about the fruits of Louisiana’s bayous and the people who live near them. Each 30-minute episode ends with a cooking segment featuring Sclafani, who prepares a dish with whatever seafood was the subject of that show.
The show airs several times a week on WBRZ and also on Cox Sports Television. Earlier this year, the national Sportsman Channel, which is available to DirectTV and DISH subscribers, also picked up the show and began airing it on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. CST.
“Our viewership is still mostly people in this area but I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from all over the country,” Jackson says. “We get emails from people in Canada, Alaska and a lot on the East Coast. That seems to be where our biggest growth is.”
Jackson’s John Jackson Productions is, coincidentally, located in the Creative Bloc building with John E. Jackson’s Launch Media, though neither the Jacksons nor their firms are related.
With the relative success of Out da Bayou, Jackson and Sclafani are now turning their attention to Louisiana Eats, which will be a 30-minute show devoted entirely to Louisiana cuisine. Sclafani as well as other notable local chefs and foodies will be featured on the show.
While TV is one of Sclafani’s newest ventures, the bulk of his time these days is spent tending to the administrative duties of Ruffino’s growing operations. Though no expansion plans are in the works for 2015, Sclafani says he and co-owner Ruffin Rodrigue are looking for opportunities in 2016, with an eye on the New Orleans area.
“That seems like it makes the most sense,” he says. “I’m actually a big fan of Old Metairie. That’s where I’d like us to be. It’s a great area and it gives us the same demographic as we have in River Ranch (in Lafayette) and here at the Country Club of Louisiana.”
—Stephanie Riegel
