Charley G's chef attributes success to the power of mentorship

Chef Holly Goetting attributes her success to
hard work, determination and the mentors she's
been fortunate enough to have as her career
has developed.

Mentoring others is not only necessary, but rewarding. Holly Goetting, a Lafayette native and chef, has benefited from the mentoring process and encourages others to do so as a measure of giving back and preparing the next generation for a career in the industry.

A mentor provides sound advice, guidance and an interest in an individual’s professional development. The Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Foundation (LRAEF) has embraced the principle that “everyone in the industry should have a mentor or be a mentor,” which is a specific effort for the ProStart program.

With workforce needs topping 17,400 by the year 2022 in Louisiana, ProStart is designed to attract young people to the restaurant industry and if they choose to further their education—to college culinary programs.

Goetting’s path to Executive Chef for Charley G’s in Lafayette wasn’t predetermined one. She attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and worked at Lafayette restaurants. After a while, she decided the traditional college setting wasn’t a good fit for her—she felt alone and uncomfortable. After speaking to her mother, she was encouraged to consider a career in her childhood passion of cuisine.

“I was going to college and working in restaurants,” said Goetting. “My mom asked ‘why don’t you go to culinary school’. A light bulb went off for me and not long after, I enrolled at the John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodaux.”

There she found the camaraderie and teamwork aspect she loved in high school as a soccer player and in the restaurants she had worked. Goetting felt welcomed and at home.

At the young age of 33, Goetting’s career has been impressive. She was named by Louisiana Cookin magazine as a “Chef to Watch” in 2005, awarded first place at “Palates and Paté”, an event benefiting The Outreach Center in Lafayette, and most recently, she was selected as one of 12 chefs to serve on the Louisiana Seafood Chef’s Council, along with Donald Link, Susan Spicer and Greg Reggio. She attributes her success to three mentors that she has had so far in her career.

“I couldn’t have gotten to where I am right now without the support of my mentors,” Goetting said. “One of my general managers early on taught me to come to work with a good attitude and try to get along with everyone.”

Jr. Food Critic shares thoughts on healthy eating

The Louisiana Restaurant Association's recent A La Carte magazine featured four Q & A style articles designed to provoke, and perhaps inspire restaurateurs, to consider their own meal choices and what they offer on their menus for their health conscious patrons.

The National Restaurant Association launched Kids LiveWell last July and has seen an outstanding number--96 to date representing 15,000 locations--of restaurants sign on and commit to offering parents and children more healthful options and information so they can make choices that are right for their families.

Twelve-year-old Michael Prados launched his blog, jrfoodcritic.blogspot.com, three years ago. It features his dining adventures, both in restaurants and at home, and has garnered attention from local Baton Rouge media and delivered some 57,000 visitors to his site.

Michael Prados, the Jr. Food Critic, cooks with
Chef John Folse in 2011.

Prados shared what's important to him and how he balances his dining out with his desire to be healthy.

ALC: What are your goals as Jr. Food Critic? JFC: I love food and consider myself a foodie. I love to cook and to eat out in restaurants across the state with my parents. The site allows me to share the meals and experiences with others.

ALC: What are some of your preferred healthy items?
JFC: At each meal, my family includes a meat, a starch and vegetables. I really enjoy broccoli and asparagus, as well as spinach salads. At school, we have a salad bar so I try to eat salad often.

ALC: When you dine out in restaurants, are you conscious of ordering healthy menu items? JFC: Yes, I try to consider the healthy aspect of what I order. However, I don’t eat out but once or twice a week, so I do splurge on some things that don’t fall in the healthy category.

ALC: Do you think that restaurants do a good job offering healthy menu options? JFC: Yes, I do. It really just depends on what someone orders, but restaurants do offer healthy options.

ALC: What else do you do to live a healthy life? JFC: I work out three days a week with my dad at 4:30 a.m. Because he’s so busy with his job and I’m busy with school, getting up early and getting our work out in is important and something we do together. I’m looking forward to going to camp this summer and there’s a big focus on being active and eating healthy.

Do you consider the healthfulness of the food you eat? Are you more conscious of your caloric intake now than in previous years? Does your age factor into what you consume?

Crème de Violette adds pop of color and sweetness to cocktails

While reviewing the Louisiana Restaurant Association Facebook newsfeed yesterday, we saw a photo of a lemonade cocktail made with Crème de Violette that was a gorgeous shade of lavender. Of all the colors of cocktails out there, that one is not common, thus it immediately sparked our interest.

Crème de Violette, a product of Rothmam & Winter and made in Austria, was introduced at the request of bar specialists for classic cocktails such as the Aviation and the Blue Moon and by sommeliers for champagne cocktails. It is distributed in the U.S. and as we imbibe at various restaurants and watering holes, we’ve seen its popularity grow.

The Aviation cocktail dates to 1916 as air flight was gaining momentum. Originally the recipe included a small amount of violet, but as time went on, it became scarce and procurement was nearly impossible. As a result, the violet was eliminated from printed recipes. But in recent years, the elixir is back and has returned to its rightful and original place in the recipe books and bartenders’ acumen.

The Aviation also features another liqueur, Luxardo Maraschino, which adds an intense aroma to cocktails. Distilled in Italy, it is made from marsca, a sour cherry variety exclusively cultivated by Luxardo, and also includes honey for sweetness and notes of an almond-like flavor from the crushed pits of the cherry.  Luxardo Maraschino also produces jarred cherries for cocktails that are added to cocktails commonly at craft bars.

Aviation

1 ½ Dry Gin
½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
½ oz Crème de Violette
1 tsp.  Luxardo maraschino liqueur
Stir with ice & strain

We also like this classic recipe by David Embury found in the 1948 book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

Blue Moon

2 oz Dry Gin
½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
½ oz Crème de Violette
Shake with ice and strain





It is produced from the Queen Charlotte and March Violets found in the Alps. Crème de Violette captures their fragrance, vibrant colors and taste. The liqueur is produced from a careful maceration of the flowers in “Weinbrand” which is distilled from grapes, with cane sugar added for sweetness.  

Crème de Violette over its three generations, Destillerie Purkhart has produced the liqueur by special request of its regional gastronomy customers. In these local markets, the buyers are most often the “Konditorei” who will use the Violette in special cakes and chocolates.

It was the first true product of its type available in a decade when we first encountered it in 2009 at Tales of the Cocktail, a five-day series of tasting rooms, seminars and parties, this year July 25-29 in New Orleans.

Have you encountered Crème de Violette during your drinking adventures? After reading this, are you curious to try the product?

Monroe Chef takes top prize on Food Network's "Chopped"

Many Louisianans, including us at the Louisiana Restaurant Association, were on the edge of their seats last night when owner of Restaurant Cotton, Chef Cory Bahr, appeared on the Food Network show Chopped. As the opening of Chopped unfolds, the rules are revealed, “Four chefs, three courses, only one chance to win.” What does the reigning chef win? A whopping $10,000 cash prize!

Bahr admitted that he had never seen an episode of the show before he was selected to compete. His unfamiliarity with its premise influenced his decision to prepare for the competition in a way that one might not expect.


"It seemed pointless to me," said Bahr. "I would never be able to guess the mystery basket ingredients, or recreate any dish I could come up with during any practice. I just decided to focus on technique and flavor and hope that it would be enough."


The challenge throughout the competition is to create an unforgettable meal using the items in a mystery basket and staples available in the show’s stocked pantry and fridge.  In last night’s episode, the appetizer round’s mystery basket included corned beef, black olives, baby corn and gummy fried eggs.


From those ingredients, Bahr prepared a corned beef steak with regular and sweet potato hash peppered with olives and baby corn that he and his competitors had to shuck.  The judges liked his hash but remarked that the corned beef was a little tough. Despite that small criticism, Bahr moved on.


In entree round, the mystery basket revealed striped bass, sour lemon candy, Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) and cream of mushroom soup. Bahr saw the fish and was really excited, although he said, “I can’t go back to North Louisiana if I don’t cook this fish right.”


The judges really liked Bahr’s preparation of the striped bass and the sunchoke puree, but didn’t think his treatment of the sour lemon candy was creative enough. Regardless, Bahr moved onto the final round.


The dessert mystery basket held raisins on the vine, spearmint leaf candy, knodel—a type of potato dumpling—and almond flour.


These ingredients inspired Bahr to call upon his grandmother’s recipe for bread pudding, which the judges loved but commented on it being a little undercooked.


His overly-confident competitor in the final round looked over at Bahr’s bread pudding and said, Yea, I got this.”


In each round, candy was one of the mystery ingredients. Did their inclusion throw Bahr off his game?


"I tried to use the candy's flavor profile to enhance each course," Bahr explained. "In the first round, I used the gummy fried eggs in the viniagrette because of its citrus and sweet flavor; the lemon candy in the second round was used as an acid to the fish and also for its textural component and the spearmint candies in the dessert round were used in the mint sauce for the bread pudding."


When host Ted Allen lifted the cloche to reveal his competitors dish, Bahr exclaimed, “Yes! My grandmother is going to lose it!”


Not only did he flex his culinary chops, he represented Louisiana and his native Monroe extremely well. Throughout the show, Bahr maintained a positive and friendly attitude and steered clear of any trash talking that some competitors on Chopped partake in. Those watching at the restaurant’s viewing party were ecstatic and so are we!


"I really agreed to do the show, in part, to show the country that there is great food, great restaurants and great chefs in North Louisiana," said Bahr. "I want people to know that you can get an awesome meal anywhere in our state."


Bahr, of course, has known that he was the winner of his episode since February. He found it extremely difficult to keep the secret, especially because every day, someone would ask him how he did.


"I only told my wife and my grandmother," Bahr confessed. "It was hard, though, because everyone was so nice and sincere in wishing me good luck. I just told them I tried my best and that I hoped it carried me through the competition."


Congratulations Chef!

67 days until we meet in New Orleans for EXPO!

For the past 59 years, the Gulf Coast region’s restaurant and hospitality industry professionals convene in August at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center for Louisiana Foodservice and Hospitality EXPO. This year’s show is August 11-13, 2012 and promises a wide spectrum of companies under one roof that service all aspects of restaurant and hotel operations.

Forty new companies have signed on so far and a host of familiar companies are also on board for EXPO shoppers.  With nearly 450 booths representing more than 300 companies, you couldn’t possibly research and contact all of them with your busy schedule, so we’ve done the work for you. All you have to do is attend the show!

An exciting new feature of the EXPO this year is the Idea Zone.  Designed with your itinerary in mind, these sessions and presentations are 30 to 45 minutes, so to not take you off your shopping path for too long. Here’s a preview of what you can except on Saturday, August 11 in the Idea Zone, located on the Show Floor at the end of the 100 aisle.

Rice, Rice Baby kicks off the Idea Zone Saturday at Noon with LSU Ag Center Rice Specialist Dr. Johnny Saichuk and “The Rice Lady,” Nina Camacho of Jazzmen Rice. The two will reveal the science and secrets to selecting the best grain of rice for any dish you can dream up!  Following the presentation, Louisiana ProStart students will use the cooked rice in a specially prepared dish for attendees to enjoy.

One of the hottest young chefs in New Orleans right now—Borgne’s Executive Chef Brian Landry—will present Fish of the Gulf: Catch it, Scale it, Prepare, Conserve it! with Ocean Conservancy’s Jeff Bargar. Landry will explain how he determines which Gulf fish to serve and Bargar will identify fish at risk of overfishing and overpopulation. ProStart students will assist.

Back by popular demand is What’s the profitability in various cuts of beef? presented by the Louisiana Beef Industry Council. This session will examine the cuts of beef, preferred cooking methods and temperatures and which cuts are more popular and profitable.

Another EXPO favorite is the session Increase your check average with dessert and coffee pairing. Would you like dessert or coffee? is often heard at the end of a restaurant meal. How about we phrase that differently? Would you like a delicious slice of our house made banana cream pie or a frothy café au lait?” Which one would produce more results? Community Coffee’s Brian Girardot and Louisiana Culinary Institute’s Chef Christina Nicosia will provide insight to help you move more dessert and coffee pairings.

Finally on Saturday, Zatarain’s Robert Debert will use his “passion for flavor” to inspire you with Spice it up with Zatarain’s! Create dynamite sauces and more! Debert will share a variety of seasoning blends of the parent company McCormick—the world’s largest seasoning producer—to give you countless applications to spice up your own signature dishes.

Idea Zone sessions are complimentary with your EXPO admission.  To get a head start on your successful Louisiana Foodservice and Hospitality EXPO trip, visit the Louisiana Restaurant Association's EXPO page to explore the companies you will see on the floor, chart your course and create your itinerary.

We’re looking forward to EXPO! Are you?

ProStart student weighs in on healthy eating

The focus on healthy eating for Americans and particularly young people is at an all-time. The Louisiana ProStart program curriculum includes nutrition as part of a participating student’s coursework. We asked a few of them to tell us what they thought about healthy eating—at home, school and in restaurants.


Braiden Grzych is a ProStart student at Fontainebleu
High School in Mandeville, La. She shares her thoughts
with A La Carte magazine in the Spring issue.

Meet Braiden Grzych. She’s a ProStart student at Fontainebleu High School. Braiden shares with us her philosophy on why being selective about what she eats has helped her become more energetic.

ALC: Would you mind sharing with us why you are interested in healthy food choices?

BG: About three months ago I noticed I was exhausted fairly often, and not in the best shape, so I decided to get healthy. Even though it was hard, I knew that eating healthy would make me feel more lively and all around have a better lifestyle.

ALC: How has your ProStart experience helped you gain a greater awareness of healthy menu choices?

BG: ProStart has made me question anything I order. I make sure the food will benefit my body rather than harm it because of the amount of calories, fat, sugar or cholesterol. I definitely pay much more attention to fulfilling my body's daily needs such as fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates.

ALC: How important do you think it is for restaurants to offer healthy menu items?

BG: I think it's extremely important. As a teen, I am completely aware of the media and the advertisements always saying to get fit, go play and eat right. Yet, restaurants rarely seem to give a vast choice of healthy options, so it's hard to make the right decisions while dining out. Also, with the public growing more and more aware of how healthy eating benefits the body, a restaurant offering healthy menu items would definitely get plenty of business!

ALC: Do you feel if the server offers healthy side items in place of or in addition to other less healthy items, you are more likely to order the healthy item?

BG: Yes! If the server offers something healthy I do a bit of a compare/contrast of the benefits in my head and I choose the healthier option. Plus, it makes me happy to know I'm making a wise decision so the dining experience is more enjoyable!

ALC: What are some healthy items you like to prepare?

BG: I love to make fruit salad, veggie wheat pizza, grilled asparagus, and a veggie pasta, with wheat noodles.

ALC: Are you conscientious of the healthfulness of foods you order in a restaurant?

BG: Yes I am. I always pull out my phone and Google the ingredients and how they affect the body, unless I already have knowledge of the ingredients from information I've learned in ProStart.

ALC: Have you had the opportunity to influences the choices of your peers?

BG: Yes! I've actually gotten two of my friends to cut out the sweets and fast foods by giving them a few healthy and delicious recipes. Once they realized healthy food actually does taste good and make their bodies feel better they were convinced!

This Q & A was first published in the Louisiana Restaurant Association's A La Carte magazine, Spring 2012, in tandem with a the article by Chef John Besh titled "If chefs raised our children."

ProStart is adminstered by the LRA Education Foundation in Louisiana and currently nearly 50 high schools offer the two-year program, which is designed to attract young people to careers in the restaurant industry.

Skinny cocktails rising in popularity

It’s bathing suit season now and all those glasses of wine, sugary frozen drinks and cocktails consumed at the events, parties, festivals and at your favorite restaurant in the last few months may have wreaked havoc on your waist line. That got us at the Louisiana Restaurant Association to thinking about the best types of alcoholic beverages for the calorie conscious.

One New Orleans area restaurant – Café B—has introduced a specialty menu featuring cocktails from 55 – 157 calories to capture those diners looking to balance the intake of their alcohol and their meal. At the lowest end of the calorie content is the Skinny Sparkler weighing in at a mere 55 calories. Light cranberry juice, iced tea and champagne makes for a refreshing and better for you alternative. Substituting simple sugar for Spenda, the Spendito is Café B’s version of the summer favorite—the mojito.

Last year at Tales of the Cocktail, the seminar H2O Cocktails with Kathy Casey and Tony Abou-Ganim covered low calorie, vodka-based drinks that call for naturally flavored waters instead of mixers. Casey preferred to use chopped ingredients like fruit, herbs and citrus zests and soaking them in water for varying periods of time to add flavor in the case of fruit sweetness. So what are the best spirits for you when you’re dialing back your intake?

2011 Tales of the Cocktail presenter Kathy
Casey shared her suggestions for creating
skinny cocktails and discussed where the
trend is headed.

Vodka, gin, rum and whiskey at 80 proof comes in at 50 calories per 1 ounce, while the 100 proof of those increases the calorie count by 10 per ounce. Mix in fruit juices, other liqueurs and simple syrup to deliver the average 5 ounce cocktail and you could be looking at 200 calories or more. If the size of the glass is larger, you are racking up even more and if you are thinking about having another round, you might consider just not eating dinner.

A 12 ounce regular beer contains 150 calories and the light version contains 100 calories. According to MTSU.edu, drinking one beer every night adds over 1,000 calories per week, which results in an added 15 pounds to your belly every year.

Wine service varies by establishment, but the standard glass of wine is four ounces. Dry wine has 100 calories a serving and sweet, dessert wine tops the list with 225 calories. Three glasses of dry wine a week will cost you an extra three miles on the treadmill to burn off the extra calories.

Reality TV Star Bethenny Frankel
created her line of Skinnygirl
cocktails, which is being
distributed across the country.

We were walking around our local Rouses liquor department the other day and they were sampling the line of Skinnygirl cocktails. Bravo’s Real Housewife and Bethenny Ever After reality star Bethenny Frankel launched the line which boasts great flavor and low-calories and now includes a pre-batched margarita, Pina Colada, a White Cranberry Cosmo, and a variety of wine flavors.

While those products are great for those who don’t want the hassle of mixology, the calorie content particularly on the wine products are in line with that of dry wines.

What do you think about the skinny cocktail trend? Are you watching what you drink?