Playing With Their Food

New Orleans chefs are having fun in the kitchen

- Lorin Gaudin

In the food world, dishes tend to take wide pendulum swings. One moment the rage is simple ingredients and tiny portions; the next it’s all about wild, overflowing combinations.

What’s evident in New Orleans right now: Cooks are having fun cooking. Menus are filled with playful dishes underscored by serious technique. Credit chef Peter Vazquez (more on him later), well-recognized for leading the charge in tweaking classics and thinking outside the box, followed by next-gen chef Mason Hereford (Turkey and the Wolf, Molly’s Rise and Shine) who has made food fun an imperative—and, in turn, given “permission” for loads of local chefs to let loose and take us all on the ride.

Hold on tight. New Orleans chefs are pushing dining boundaries in a big way—and it’s fantastic fun.

1 THE APPETITE REPAIR SHOP

1 Chef Pete Vazquez’s current culinary circus is filled with foods based on a whim that often flaunt convention. Fans anxiously await his trippy menus to appear on social media. One day there may be a KFC-inspired bowl of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and slaw; the next could bring a tikka spiced turkey burger stuffed with chicken curry or cucumber raita wrapped in naan. For dessert, how about the chef ’s own “Kit-Kat” bars with crème anglaise?

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2 SAINT GERMAIN