Local chef and Deep Fried America host Jay Ducote says his Louisiana-inspired tailgate five-course dinner at New York City’s world-renowned James Beard House this weekend went as well as he could possibly imagine.
Ducote says the guest feedback was positive, and regulars to the James Beard House complimented the dinner’s theme. The dinner also attracted a number of LSU alumni currently living in New York.
“I think all the planning and the preview dinners and everything that we did in Baton Rouge paid off,” he says, after packing up and leaving the Hamptons this morning.
Ducote—whose Travel Channel pilot for Deep Fried America re-airs at 6 p.m. tonight—left for the Big Apple last week after spending weeks preparing for the dinner. Ducote’s preparation involved hosting a preview dinner at Baton Rouge’s Louisiana Culinary Institute.
Ducote and his team, which includes Blair Loup, Aimee Tortorich, Charles Pierce, Eusebio Gongora of Louisiana, and Shelly Flash and Sarah Burkhalter of New York, whipped up Louisiana dishes such as crawfish étouffée-smothered fried catfish with stone-ground grits, and quail and andouille gumbo with Louisiana rice, among others. The food, Ducote says, was meant to be down-to-earth and approachable.
“We pulled off all our plans to the best execution that we could have,” Ducote says. “I think we pretty much put out our best version of everything that we cooked.”
Following his culinary dinner at the James Beard House, Ducote was one of the featured guests at the Chefs & Champagne event held at the Wölffer Estate Vineyard in the Hamptons.
—Alexandria Burris
