10
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
MAY | JUNE 2014
The French Press
by
Rien Fertel +
photos by
Denny Culbert
the
Chef
issue
—A Freshly Brewed Spin on Cajun Classics
“H
ey Otis, can we play some Bobby Charles now?” sous chef
Nick Belloni shouts as he flips a saucer-shaped boudin patty
on the grill. The French Press, in Lafayette, Louisiana, opened for
breakfast less than an hour ago. Otis Doucet obliges, explaining
that the late swamp-pop icon from Abbeville, Louisiana, is the
kitchen’s Sunday-morning standard.
The room begins to rock like a boat on the Bayou Teche. The sweet
and steady voice of Bobby Charles sets the kitchen pace. As the
third track starts, chef Justin Girouard sighs, “‘I Must Be in a Good
Place Now’ — I love this song.” He may be talking about the song
title. Or his state of being. Maybe both.
Breakfast is a serious endeavor at The French Press. Girouard pralines
his bacon. He stuffs French toast with bananas and cream cheese.
And he baptizes that toast with strawberry-champagne compote.
The French Press goes through fifty pounds of boudin every week.
Among the highlights of that collaboration is an Acadian Breakfast
Sandwich of eggs, bacon, and boudin, stacked between slices of
locally baked Evangeline Maid Texas Toast, bound with a slice of
bright-orange American cheese.
Gooey cheese-glue also plays a part in the Cajun Benedict of
Langlinais French Bread, two poached eggs, and boudin. Instead
of hollandaise, chicken and andouille gumbo provides the drench.
Margaret Collier Girouard — who conjured the gumbo-bath for the
Cajun Benedict while pregnant — also dreamed up the restaurant’s
name. Her choice was fated. Planning the eatery, the couple wanted
to serve the same pot-pressed coffee they drank at home. Propitiously,
the downtown location they secured for the restaurant was
once the Tribune Printing Plant. Here, antique wooden
movable-type pieces decorate the brick walls, and black
ink swaths still stain the floors.
Breakfast is the lodestar here, so much so that, on the
two weekend nights that the restaurant opens for dinner,
Justin Girouard and his crew incorporate breakfast
techniques into entrées. A bacon-and-English-muffin-
encrusted, deep-fried poached egg crowns the filet
mignon. Seared foie gras tops molé-slathered cornmeal
pancakes. Sometimes those fattened livers are tucked
under sunny-side-up quail eggs. Girouard and his staff
dreamed up the Sweet Baby Breesus in 2010, a flat of
bacon and a fried boudin ball on a biscuit glazed with
Tabasco-Honey Butter. It’s crowned with a swipe of
Steen’s cane syrup, an Abbeville product with a history
that dates back more than a century.
Rien Fertel is a frequent contributor to our magazine. His story
originally appeared on the Southern Foodways Alliance’s website
in 2011. We loved it, and wanted to share it with our readers.
—Ali Rouse Royster
Meet the Chef —
justin girouard
Restaurant:
The French Press, Lafayette, LA
LAFAYETTE IS COOKING
more than any other scene I’ve been
witness to from a professional perspective, Lafayette stays true to its
roots. I think it’s both the reason our heritage is so strong and also a
testament to how strong that heritage is.
I STARTED OUT AS A DISHWASHER
when I was 20. My friend
was cooking at the restaurant and he asked me if I wanted to wash
dishes for $50 cash because their dishwasher didn’t show up. That’s
how I got the job. The chef asked me to come back the next day and I
said, sure, this is fun. So the next day I’m cutting cherry tomatoes, and
then the next day I’m peeling shrimp, and then the next day I’m doing
both of those duties plus another duty and still doing the dishes. Two
months later, I’m on the line. Eight months later, I was on the hot line.
And then a year later, I was the sous chef.
MY MUST HAVE TOOL IS A GOOD PAIR OF TONGS
and they
have to be symmetrical. They can’t be bent out of shape. And the tips
have to touch perfectly. If I don’t have that, I’m out of sorts. It’s a direct
extension of your fingertips. Tongs are like my Edward Scissorhands.
