16
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
MAY | JUNE 2014
ON THE HOOK
WHAT’S IT LIKE TOOPEN A RESTAURANT
by
Chef Bill Briand, Fishers at Orange Beach Marina
I
started out as dishwasher at a Mexican restaurant in New
Orleans, moved up the food chain to food runner, then one day
someone just walked out and quit and they threw me on salad.
That’s how I got started. A walk out quit is called a gypsy fade. You
don’t even notice the guy pack up his knives. It’s like a puff of smoke
and POUF he’s gone.
I left to work for Emeril Lagasse. Emeril and Chris Wilson, his
culinary director, taught me half of everything I know. Donald
Link and Stephen Stryjewski taught me the other. After 10 years
with Emeril, I went to Donald Links’s restaurant, Herbsaint, then
Cochon, when Donald and Stephen opened that restaurant. I stayed
with those guys for another 10 years. Stephen is like a brother to me.
I moved to Orange Beach to open Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina
with restaurateur Johnny Fisher at the beginning of 2012. It took
five months to remodel the restaurant (we ended up with two
dining rooms and four bars), and I spent that time eating. I went
to restaurants all over Lower Alabama and the Gulf Coast. (I fell
in love with Moe’s BBQ in Orange Beach). I didn’t cook much at
home, though. There were no Rouses Markets in Alabama then,
and I missed my grocery store like I missed my mama.
I also met with fishermen and farmers to see what they grew
and caught. Once we knew what we could get locally we started
building the menu. I met with wine purveyors, chose a seafood
company, arranged for dry goods, designed the kitchens (we have
two). Designing a kitchen is just as hard as designing a menu.
You
can never have enough storage room.
Big fish rule in Alabama. I went from cutting up whole pigs at
Cochon to cutting up whole tuna at Fishers. It’s not that different,
actually, a whole animal and a 70-to-80 pound whole fish. You take
out the cheeks. You take out the loins, which is the steak of the fish.
The best part of the loin is right behind the head, right off the back.
It’s the filet mignon of fish.
THE FIRST PERSON I COOKED FOR AT FISHER’S WAS
EMERIL LAGASSE. He pulled up to the marina, parked his boat,
and he and eight friends jumped out. He gave me a big hug the
minute he saw me.
Bam!
That was a year ago and I’ve barely stopped to breathe since. I went to
the beach twice last year. I went fishing twice last year. And I don’t get
back to the West Bank very often, where my parents still live. But I’m
lucky; I have a great crew in the kitchen, and I’ve made plenty of new
friends.
That’s Alabama hospitality.
AndmyNewOrleans friends,chefs
John Besh, Donald Link, Tory
McPhail, Sue Zemanick, Justin
Devillier and John Currence —
they’re coming to visit and cook
with me. Maybe they’re coming
because they miss me. Maybe
it’s the lure of Alabama’s Gulf
Coast. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s
‘cuz there’s finally a Rouses here.
the
Chef
issue
Meet the Chef —
bill briand
RESTAURANT:
Fishers at Orange Beach Marina, AL
I GREWUPONTHEWEST BANKOFNEWORLEANS
and I can’t
go back without stopping at Phò Tàu Bay in Gretna for a bowl of pork
phò. It has to be pork; working at Cochon ruined me for anything else.
MY BROTHER
is one of the people behind Lucky Rooster, an Asian
street food restaurant in the Warehouse District, two blocks from
Rouses. We Briands like our Asian food.
I’MNEVERWITHOUTMY KUNZ SPOON.
I have a 10-inch chef’s
knife and a 14-inch slicer that I use for larger fish, but my go-to tool is
my stainless steel Gray Kunz Spoon. There are four of them in my apron
at all time — two big, two small, a slotted version of each. A Kunz
Spoon has a larger bowl than your average spoon, and slightly tapered
edge. I use the spoon for stirring, saucing and tasting, and the back end
for everything else, from opening crabs to opening cans.
“There were no
Rouses Markets in
Alabama then, and
I missed my grocery
store like I missed
my mama.”
