ROUSES.COM
9
FOOTBALL
menu for his players, and the team has retained the services of a
nutritionist who advises the team collectively and individually.
“My one rule is to stay away from fried food,” says Cooks.
His favorite food? Italian, especially any kind of tortellini and
anything with meat sauce, he says.
Cooks never visited New Orleans before the Saints called his name
in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, but was thrilled at the
chance to play football in the Crescent City.
“I heard so much about New Orleans growing up and thought, wow,
this is going to be fun,” he recalls. “I knew it was a fun place as far
as music, food and the culture,
and I heard the fans were great.”
He says he heard about the
tragedies as well, especially from
Hurricane Katrina.
“This place is beautiful and
the people are great, so nice.
Everyone treats you so well,”
he says, adding, “Everyone goes
out of the way to do something
sweet for you.”
Including Rouses.
The chefs who appear in Rouses
commercials and ads shop at Rouses. It’s the same with Cooks.
“The chefs at Rouses are taking very good care of me, preparing
dinners with lobster, filet, chicken, salmon, and lots of vegetables.
And they have this delicious baked potato with broccoli that tastes
so good. I love it,” says Cooks.
Prior to coming to New Orleans, Cooks
thought all food in New Orleans was going
to be very spicy.
“When I got here I was surprised that it
was more than just that,” he says. “But now
I know there are so many different types
of food, all good. And I really want to try
crawfish.” Donny Rouse promised to teach
him how to eat them.
Cooks busy practice schedule has not given
him the opportunity to enjoy the restaurant
scene very much, but he hopes to rectify
that as soon as he gets his routine down.
Cooks’ lists Vincent’s, Emeril’s, and Mr.
John’s Steakhouse, as places where he has
dined, and he took family and friends to
dinner at Commander’s Palace the night
before the first home game this season
against Minneapolis back in September.
“You hear the name and you think this is
going to be awesome,” he says. “It was a real
adventure. I ate turtle soup for the first time.”
His family also met Tory McPhail,
Commander’s Palace Executive Chef and
2013 James Beard Best Chef: South award winner, and a frequent
fixture at Rouses and in Rouses advertising.
“That was very cool, and he was wearing a Cooks Saints jersey,”
recalls Cooks. “He took me into the Commander’s Palace kitchen
and that was awesome. It was a great night.”
The turtle soup must have agreed with him, as Cooks caught 8
passes in the game the next day, for a total of 74 yards.
He also met Chef John Folse, withwhom he stars with in a Rouses
commercial, and hopes to meet more of the city’s great chefs.
“I watched the Food Network and know of people like Chef Folse,
Emeril and others. What I
would really like is to learn from
some of them how to cook.”
Chef McPhail says he’s up to
the challenge of teaching Cooks
to cook. “I’m ready. When he’s
not on the Saints line, we’ll get
him on ours.”
And how did it feel to see Chef
McPhail wearing the number
10, a Cooks jersey?
“That was surreal, but it is
always surreal when you see
people wearing your jersey,”
says the young man who is happy to call New Orleans his new
professional home. “I used to wear my favorite players’ jerseys as a
kid and I always dreamed of playing in the NFL one day. Seeing
people wearing my name and number was something I never really
thought of, and it is really flattering and makes me feel humble.”
“It’s true, the Best Chefs and Cooks Shop
at Rouses. They also work at Rouses.
Our team has trained in some of the
best culinary schools and restaurants on
the Gulf Coast.”
—Donny Rouse, 3rd Generation
Chef John Folse, Donny Rouse and Brandin Cooks
