June 4, 2025 • 47 mins
Growing up on the island of St. Lucia, Nina Compton loved to cook with her grandmother. Her path to becoming a celebrated chef and owner of Compère Lapin in New Orleans took her to Jamaica, New York and Miami. Becoming a finalist on BRAVO’s Top Chef New Orleans brought national exposure, many fans and drew her to New Orleans. She opened Compère Lapin in 2015. Compton shares her story in her autobiographic cookbook, "Kwéyòl / Creole: Recipes, Stories and Tings from a St. Lucian’s Chef Journey."
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Radio, Welcome to the Connected Table, your show for introducing
(00:45):
you to amazing people around the world in wine, food, spirits,
and hospitality. We're Melanie Young and David Ransom. We love
traveling and sharing with you our discoveries. We're excited because
we are in our hometown, New Orleans, to introduce you
to a chef who has a lot of acclaim many
awards under her belt, and she's been really hard to
(01:07):
nail down and really excited to have her. Today we
are going to be talking with chef Nina Compton, whose
restaurant here in New Orleans, Compare Lapan, is celebrating ten
years this year. Growing up in the Caribbean island of
Saint Lucia, chef Nina Compton developed a strong connection between
food and community. She was drawn to the city of
(01:29):
New Orleans after a guest appearance and becoming a finalist
on Bravo Television's New Orleans Edition. I think it was
season eleven where she was a fan favorite, and it
is where she has chosen to settle and have her home.
It's a great story which she shares in a new cookbook.
It's autobiographical call Cuole Creole Recipes, Stories and teens. I
(01:53):
love that from a Saint Lucian chef's journey, and she
joins us today to share that journey on the Connected Table.
A conton Finally and welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Good after everybody.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I'm happy to be here in chats about all things
food and beverage and New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, let's take it back to Saint Lucia, where David
has been.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
It's one of the two islands I've actually been to
in the Caribbean. Very exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You grew up in a family devoted to service. Talk
to us about it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So my dad was a lawyer and eventually went into
politics and he led said Lucia to independence in nineteen
seventy nine from Britain we became an independent island. He
did serve of three terms as Prime Minister and also just.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Moving the island forward in terms.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Of building different industries from agriculture to tourism, and it
was a beautiful you know, my dad, he's passed away now,
but growing up it was people was asking what was
it like to be the prime minister's daughter. And I
always tell people I never looked at my dad as
the prime minister. He was always dad, And you know,
(03:07):
we had so many fun memories of growing up, and
as busy as he was, we never felt like he
was ever absent. He was always there. So we're a
very tight knit family. I have four siblings, so we
had a beautiful childhood.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know, I love it when you write in your
book you were you had siblings, and you sound like
a tomboy. It sounded a very adylic lifestyle and you
were a bit of a tomboy you had you were
the fourth of five children. It just sounded fun. And
you you had a grandmother who was English and you
(03:47):
cooked with her. Talked to us about that.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, So you know, I tell people the kitchen is.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
The most It's the busiest room in the house at
any time of the day, whether it's in the morning
or at night. It's always like a gathering place in
our house. And my grandmother, who was a retired nurse,
when she was getting older, she moved in with us.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So she would wake up very.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Early, at about five am in the morning, and she
was left cooking and organizing for the day.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And my mom. My grandmother was very rigid in her schedule.
She would be up at this time, she would have
a breakfast at this time.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
And as I got older, I wanted to help out
because she always just seemed so busy.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I was very curious on what she was making
or cooking for that day, and I wanted to be
part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
You know, in the in the cookbook, there's a recipe
for banana tea sandwiches because there was such an abundance
of bananas, and your grandmother was British and had her
regular tea. We tried those. By the way, we made
him marstache.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
How what do you think.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I loved him really great. I like cucuver sandwiches too,
by the way, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Those are there too. But my grandmother always had.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
A banana and she always had at her afternoon tea
and she would just sit outside and you know, take
it all in. So that's something that really stuck out
as a memory, was having her eat those and have
her tea.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
No, Nina, your family had hopes that you would go
into I think what they called a respectable profession, but
you always had dreams of being in the kitchen because
you loved it so much at an early age. And
tell us about the journey of saying I want to
be a chef.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, it's a funny story.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So I wanted to do I would't end up in agriculture.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
That I was about sixteen, and I thought that was
just the path for.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Me because at that point, this was you know, Solution's
economy was thriving, and it was supposedly and the farming
industry was very, very big, and it just for me.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
It just made natural sense to be somehow involved in
that field.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And I also loved cooking, and I remember cooking Christmas
dinner for my family because my mom and my grandmother
and my aunts were always in that kitchen very early
in the morning, making this big feast. Serving it and
then cleaning up after it, just like such a you know,
it's just a chore for them.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And I said, I'm like, I'm going to cook the
meal this year.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
And I remember seeing just a joy and excitement of
my grandmother and my mom enjoying themselves and not having
to worry about cleaning or doing anything. And I told
my mom, I said, I think I want to be
a chef, and she says, well, why would you want
to do it?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Be a chef?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
She's like, you know, the money is terrible, it's a
lot of stress. You gotta get cuts, you gotta get
bud And I said, I really want to do that
because I saw how much joy mike cooking brought to you,
and I want to share with other people. And she says, well,
if you're really seriously to.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Find a job.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
So that's when I got my first cooking job at
Sandal's Thetalk, and that's why I just.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I got visited by the bug and I haven't looked
back since.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
How old were you when you did that first job?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was I was in nineteen ninety seven. I was
seventeen or eighteen. Yeah, you were crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I was very young, and it's you know, it's one
of those things with cooking.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I never I never get bored with it. I'm always learning.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You know, even though I've been doing this for almost
those years, it's I still keep learning, i still keep traveling.
I'm still excited about food, and the possibles are endless.
So I think for me, it's I never see it
as a job. I see it as something I just
really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, yours is a journey, you know, Montego Bay, New York,
Miami be first. You did the respectable thing. I'm sure
your family thought and enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America.
So you are just going willing nilly from kitchen to kitchen,
and I'm sure that brought you structure and important management
skills that you've applied to running restaurants.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Right. It definitely did.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I was actually working in Montego Bay and I had
rotated all the kitchens, all the outlets, and I had
told the headschef when they said, you know, I feel
like I've hit a plateau and I'm not advancing, and
he said, the next step that you would make sense
is go to culinary school. He said, you can go
to Johnson Wales or you can go to the CIA,
(08:27):
and the CIA was a very It.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Just somehow it just just sounded right, and I figured,
why not do that?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
So getting a formal training of understanding the mother sauces
and the knife cuts and just so many things, the
fundamentals of cooking before actually, you know, for the next step,
it was important to get those fundamentals down for my
next restaurant I would work in.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
So what happened between that and getting the call for
Tough Top Chef? You' you worked for a number of
chefs who we've actually had on the show, including Daniel
Ballut and Norman dan Akin and Scott Conan. We've had
all of them on the show and we've had a
lot of fun with them. They're great guys and obviously
wonderful chefs and mentors to a lot.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Tell us about your experience with them.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So I was working at Scott Petta.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
We had just opened up that we had reopened the
Fountain Blue, this big rollout, amazing grand opening, and we
were very, very busy, of course, and I remember we
didn't normally get calls to the kitchen, but somehow this
phone call comes in hands in the phone and they
(09:41):
said we want to talk to chef Meine and I
said speaking. They said, well, we're you know, we're scouting
for some contestants for this cooking show. We can't tell
you the name, but we can send you the email.
And somehow when I gave them my email, is spelled
the name wrong, so I never got the email.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
So for a coup the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Days I'm checking my email, nothing pops up. I searched
my spam, nothing comes. And they called back again, like
a week later. They said, hey, you send it the email.
And Rea didn't need a response, and I said, I
never got the email.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So they said, well, stell it again, and they.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Sent the email and pops up and I open and
it says confidential and.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It says we're scouting for the next Top Chef. And
I kind of went silent for a second because I
was just I was very shocked. And I remember Alan
start at the time. I said, hey, you know they've
approached me to be to do the show.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And he said, well, what are you going to do?
I said I don't know. He says, well, you shuld
definitely do it because you might win. And I said, okay,
Well I got Scott's blessing and I told my mom,
I said, hey, I have a chance to the show.
And she said, I don't want you to do the show.
It's too stressful for me. Please don't do it. I'm
not going to watch the TV. And of course, being
(11:01):
you know, listen to my mom, I said, okay, well
maybe I.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Should just pass.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
And then I thought about it for a couple of
days and I said no, because I'll never get this
chance again.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So I said, Mom, I'm going to do the show.
You don't have to watch it. I'm just going to
go for it. So it was an amazing experience.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
You know, I was a physical therapy yesterday watching Top
Chef because the episodes just keep going and going and going.
And I said to David, while just thinking about what
that brought you in terms of national attention, you became
a finalist and a fan favorite, and knowing that you know,
these reruns are just going on and on and on,
and Theni's offices and everywhere, you know, it's incredible. Just
(11:44):
it's a gift that keeps giving. And skyt conn it
was wise, given that he's done really well in television too,
to say do it because it really changed your life.
Did it change your life in every level.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I didn't realize how many people watch that show until
the episode started airing. And there's these lifelong people that
are very invested in this show and they're get attach
to you over six weeks of being on television, you know,
that same time on Bravo.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And I think for me it was really a strange
thing because.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
People always say, hey, once the show wraps, your life
will change.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And I figured it was the finale, aid.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I would be getting all these phone calls, do this,
do that, And for a couple of months nothing, I
wouldn't an emails, any phone calls, and I said, well,
maybe maybe I'm not going to get this big explosion
of office. And I would say it was about June
when I just started getting all these invites.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Can you cook in La, can you cook in Toronto?
Can you do this? Can you do that?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
And it got really crazy because I was traveling a lot,
I was running away. I was having a great time,
and you know it was hard for him to juggle
having the job.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Working for Scott and doing all this travel.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
And I said, this is something I want to enjoy,
and I want to enjoy to the fullest. So I
told Scott, I think this is time for me to
move on. I didn't have a planet at the time,
but I wanted to just take a break to see
what the next chapter is and I wanted to think
it through. So I took a couple of months off,
and people were, you know, asking me and my husband
to open a restaurant in New York or Chicago, La, Boston.
(13:37):
And nothing really felt right until we went to call
to the New Orleans restaurant. And I told my husband
when we were flying to New Orleans, I said, you know,
I don't know how this is going to go because
we've had so many interviews with so many people and
that nothing really spoke to us. And I remember we
walked into the space, which is under construction. It was
(14:00):
a complete mess. We walked in, we walked around, and we.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Walked out, and we both said, that's a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
We want to go with this one and comparison in
ten in ten on a last on Monday.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So when you see that, time goes by so quickly.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
But opening a restaurant and yours was never If you
told me.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
This fifteen years ago, I.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Would have said it wouldn't happen, because it was just
so unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, it opened to a very big buzz by
the way, because I remember that and I remember it.
It just took off and it's still taking off. I mean,
it's fabulous. We recently dined there and you're doing a
no for your anniversary that all hits. We had the
very famous goat your curry goat with sweet potato and yaki.
(14:51):
I have to tell you, Nina, I was brought up
never date Friday anything because I had weight conscious mom
and grandmother. But your your jerk chicken. Yeah, oh honey,
I was just like I.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Couldn't it was yeah, I mean, who doesn't chicken with grits?
You know, it's a fabulous.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
I can't think of one person. And we certainly loved it,
that's for sure. It was a total surprise.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Us, total surprise. I was thinking about it today actually
as I was walking back from exercising, and uh, the
green Papa Is salad was just beautiful. I mean every
dish was just spot on. So you know, ten years
is a long lifetime for a restaurant. Your husband is
Larry Miller. He's in the busy's your partner. He's also
a restaurant consultant New Orleans, is you know, an easy
(15:37):
place to have a restaurant a hard place to have
a restaurant? What have you learned? Well, first of all,
what is it about New Orleans that drew you here?
Because we have chosen New Orleans as our home as well,
so talk to us about that because we want people
watching and listening to love New Orleans like you and
I do.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, well, I think that the.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Reason why I moved is because it's for the people.
I think people here are really beautiful. They're very friendly, welcoming.
When we were opening the restaurants, we wanted to kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Stay under the radar and quietly open.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
It didn't happen that way because when we moved to
your Ands, it was in the newspaper. People were buzzing,
and people would stop us in the grocery store and
they'd say, thank you so much for moving here.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
We're so excited.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
And it was very intimidating because he also is such
a big food city and there's lots of culture and
amazing restaurants, and here we are opening up a restaurant
and we didn't know how it was.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Going to be received.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
But the people and their excitement of this new restaurant coming.
It brought me so much yours a chef, because people
are excited about through their adventurous they want to know
and they want to share their favorite restaurants with you.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
So it's a really giving culture.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
And we felt like we welcome right away. We didn't
feel like an outside of people who are just very
happy to have us and to open a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So it's really the people that made us want a movie.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
People here are pretty happy. We love it when they
say welcome home.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, they really are. And you know it's they're exciting
about food.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
So for me, it makes my job so much easier
as a chef because people just love to eat.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So I'm ten years congratulations, And how do you keep
things fresh? What are you know? A lot of people
who are maybe listening and watching, maybe dreaming of opening
a restaurant. It's not easy. We know it's sunny easy.
We know summer is dudley everywhere, particularly New Orleans. Come
to New Orleans in the summer, it's awesome. What is
some advice that you would give other people or your
(17:55):
younger self, because also achieving fame early on and juggling.
That is hard.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It is the industry is definitely it's a it's a
tough one.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
But you know, I think what people don't focus on
having a restaurant, it's a business. You know, we are created,
We are making a beautiful food and beverage and creating experience.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
But it's a business. It's a business first, and.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I think it's a lot of people kind of put
that secondary.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But it is a business first. But I think for
me as a if I told my younger self.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Maybe to slow down a little bit, and I think
saying the power of having the power.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Of no would have been helpful for me because I
always said yes to.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Everything and everybody, and then before I know it, my
calendar is filled and I'm doing interviews or a cooking
class or something else and not taking time.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
For myself to recharge my batteries.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And I think that's something that now, you know, ten
years in, I just start to say, I.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Don't have to do everything. I don't have to do
all of these things.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Being at the most selective and trying to preserve my
energy in my life so I could be the best
boss to my staff, I think is really important.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You know, it's a long day to begin with, and
when you start adding things on top of all those
long days, it does take.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Its toll, that's for sure. It does, you know, Nina,
Let's talk about the book that just came out. It's
called Creole Creole Cooking and Recipes and Stories and teens
from Saint Lucian Chef's Journey. So let's talk about the book.
It's a great book. We've gone through it. We've had
a couple of recipes in it.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Starting I've been.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
I've been to Saint Lucis. I was there.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
I was there a long time ago in nineteen eighty eight,
and I had a great time there and spent a
week on the island with my girlfriend.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Sorry Melanie, it wasn't you, But.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I was at Jamaica with a boyfriend.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
Yeah, but I adore Saint Lucia.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
It's a beautiful island and it has a lot going on.
So let's talk about the cookbook, which is an ode
to that.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Well, I you know, I had been approached to a
cookbook after I did Top Chef, and I started writing
the proposal, and then of course I got busy trying
to open up the restaurant and move to New Orleans,
I kind of put that on holds a little bit.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But once the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Hit, I said, hey, this thing is going to be
around for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
COVID was kind of a little bit of a big
ripple for the.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Restaurant industry, so we had to pivot a lot, and
I said, you know, maybe this is time to pick
up the book again.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So I got to work with me on a project.
Who did I think a really beautiful job of.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Extracting the stories from my brain as a chef. You know,
I think we're very straight to the point that says, no,
if we need to put a little more in the
headnote about these recipes. So it was really about documenting
Caribbean also Creole culture throughout different areas, studying in Selution, Jamaica, Miami,
(21:14):
and then ending up in the Orleans. So it's really
about the journey of the different Creole cultures through food
and beverage and kind of my journey of as a chef,
starting in your in Solution Sorry, and then you know,
book ending in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
There is a lot of storytelling in the book as
well as recipes. The cover just so you know, the
co author is Osaii Endoline, who is a historical food
writer and cultural food writer of significant note. The photos
are great. This is a photo of Aki Fritters, right.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No, this is a Dachine balls.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Oh Daschine balls. Okay, that's right. The as have a
different shape. There's some terrific photography in here. Who did
the photography?
Speaker 4 (21:55):
So we had Brittany Connolly who did the who did
the cover and the We also had Cassimo Harris heeded
the lifestyle images. So I think we had a very
powerful team that really understood my voice and my vision.
I did tell Brittany that I wanted to make this
book really beautiful and bright and tropical and make people
(22:18):
want to go to the Caribbean after reading the book,
and Osai, you know, award winning writer who's done some
really beautiful ways of crafting my voice in the book
as well.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
So I think it's I'm very proud of it. It's
a lot of work.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I think a lot of people think that a book
is done in a couple of months. This took us
three and a half years, and we wanted to take
our time with it. We didn't want to rush and
put out a book because this is something that's out
in the world and I can't take it back.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
So I wanted to make sure that everything was very thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, a lot of these issues are quite beautiful. That
we had a chef over for dinner who's from Mauritius,
Dominique McKay, also a chef of note here in New Orleans,
and he was thumbing through the book going wow, this
reminds me of home growing up Immita. He was very
touched by it. You know, one of the dishes, because
I love vegetables, is the cola loup because it's not
all difficult. Some of these are very easy to do
(23:13):
and you can do this with almost any greens. But
it's everything from fish to the Acki fritters to grilled lobster.
I wish we've got more lobster in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, what dishes in here and taking it back to
compare Lapan, what are some that are similar to what
you would find it Compare Lapan. I also want to
bring comparil the pan back in for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, let's bridge that.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Yeah, so we have, of course the minimal biscuits, so
people go crazy for.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
So we have that in the in the recipe, we
also have the hushpuppies, which is a big one. Then
we have the shallow tell you that, the shrimp, and
the run down sauce. So there's there's some recipes that over.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
The years we've had a compella.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
And so I'm just trying to document the recipes and
the home cook and do at.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Home and really have fun with it. You know.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
I think that the book is there are some very
simple recipes, but there are some labor intensive recipes.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
But I think it's worth it.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
It's worth to put a little elbow grease into that
recipe because the payoff is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
The biscuits, I'm going to try it. And we had
the biscuits and the hushpuppies when we dined at Comparel
the Pan and they're both fabulous. I'm a biscuit freak
and they were fabulous. The first thing I do when
I eat discus a smell it, and I was like
shoving it. David smelled his biscuit. It smells like a
real biscuit, and I feel it. I mean, it's it's
a whole process with me when I eat it there
and they serve with this beautiful you know, pillow of butter.
(24:43):
It's beautiful. So why compare Lapan. Let's just talk about
the name, because it's Wilapan means rabbit. Talk about how
the name came about, so that.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
The folk tale colla bed, which is.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
An Africa the tail that we had this same book
as a child growing up. And when I was moving
here to do a restaurant, I wrote all these these
names in Patua and I was just googling one day
of you know, Patwa names in Louisiana, and that same
(25:17):
book popped up and I said, wow, this is so
crazy because a lot of people don't know that actual
story as a folk tale.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And I said, this is this is it. This is
a childhood story that.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I know, and it's you know, now we have it
here in Louisiana. So that made sense for me to
bridge the gap.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
M it is that brother rabbit or different?
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, brother rabbit?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, okay, okay, I know that's it's that's interesting. If
you go to the restaurant, there's rabbits everywhere.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh yeah, we have we have a lot of rabbits.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
And it's we've had rabbit on the.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Many ones yeah, okay, because I think a lot of
people they always do with a you know, fuzzy little bunny,
so we try them.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
To that's pretty funny. So, you know, the Hope the
restaurant which you and Larry own is located in a
terrific hotel. A friend of mine just stayed there, just
raved about it. It's called the Old Number seventy seven
Hotel and Chanlery. It's in the Warehouse District, the Arts
District's a great location and there's a wonderful art exhibit.
(26:23):
If you walk to go to the ladies room and
to the lobby, there's a terrific art exhibit that we
kind of traverse through. But I understand that hotel is
also having a big anniversary as well, so that's exciting.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, yes, So it's a lot of a lot of
milestones this year. And you know, we were part of
the opening when they readd the hotel in twenty fifteen,
so it's been an exciting time celebrating the restaurant and
the hotel as well.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Well.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We recommend both when we have we have this a glist.
You know, everybody wants a where to go, we always
say stay here, go there, and it's a great location
for many other things as well.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Yes, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So you say on the website for compare the pan
meals aren't about trends, shock value, or opulence. Thank you
meals are about moments, memories and those who surround you
at the table. Talk to us about that philosophy, because
we have been to a few restaurants where there was
all it was all shock value, including the shock Well,
(27:29):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
For us, you know, people are dining out more and more,
of course, say twenty years ago. So one of the
things we always tell us that is like, listen, people
have options. They don't have to come to our restaurant,
They could go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
But when they do, they're making a conscious.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Decision to dine with us, and we need to make
sure that we exceed their expectations and create a moment
and a memory. It's not just about a transaction of
eating food and drinking a glass of wine and paying
us about connecting people through food and experience the music
in the restaurants. So we're trying to create something where
(28:09):
it's like people want to come back because they felt welcome,
they had a good time, they enjoyed themselves and they
want to make this a regular place to come.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I think that's important. You know, one of the people
who you worked with early on, Daniel Blue always asked
a similar Someone asked him at a city Meals and
Wheels event, why are you in this business? And you
can answer that a million ways, he said, I want
to serve people.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Oh, that's that's the best way.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
I think a lot of people just want to again
create an experience for and a memory for people.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We're not doing it again. I think we are creative,
we're passionate people, chefs, and we want.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
To share you know, connected people. It's not we don't
have a glass between us. We're you know, touching, feeling, smelling,
and we want to have that nostalgia every single time.
And we do that through food.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
It's a connector. That's what we called our our show,
the Connected Table, for the same reason you know it
really is. Food is a cultural connection, it's a social connection.
It can lift you up, it can bring people together
in terms of happiness, celebration, and also in grief.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, I agree, and.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
It all requires teamwork.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, you have a great team. By the way, we
sat down with who sat down with Corey?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Great? No it's really about you know, it's not just
about the food. It's also about the service, you know,
connecting with people.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And asking them, you know, where are you from? And
you find so many people from all over the city
coming in and they could be either hair frock engine,
or they could be coming because the birthday, or they're
just here or whatever it is. But we always make
sure that you know it is. I always tell my
(30:10):
staff that nobody's job is less important than.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Joe's job or Tom's job.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
You know, everybody has a very important role to play,
so the bartender, the hostess, the server, the general manager,
they have a very important role too.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
So we never minimize anybody's role being less.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Everybody we treat with the most important because everybody is important.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
It's a great philosophy. So Corey was is your manager
and we were enamored by the winelesst The cocktail was too,
which is terrific. But the Wineless was well thought out
and we had a long discussion with him about that
because there were some selections on there. It was it
was a step above many of the Wineless in New Orleans. Yeah,
not to not wineless in New Orleans, but there is
(30:59):
a step above.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Fact.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Hart does a great job.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
He's very, very excited about wine and beverage, and.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You know, he gets very he has a twinkle in
his eye when.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
He talks about wines, so it certainly does yeah well.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
And one of the things he said was that, you know,
it's not the easiest cuisine to pair wine with because
there's a lot of spices involved and flavors that aren't
normally associated with wine. So he says it's a lot
of work for him, but he loves the challenge as
well to create that paring.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Nina, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
About community service. So you've been called on to appear
and do and it's hard to pick and choose, but
are there certain charities or philanthropic causes that you're committed
to and tell us about that aspect of your life,
because that's important.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
You know, it definitely is.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I think in Ulans, the outreach and what people do
with the community, all the foundations, it's just.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
An easy extension for the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
So we do partner with some of the Saints to
do a lot of their their programs. You know, we
did we do their Christmas Dinner every every every December.
We cook for the boys, and you know, we've done
cooking classes for the boys. So just giving back in
whatever capacity through maybe roots of music. We do a
(32:21):
lot of stuff with the Link Foundation as well, so
there's a lot of that in you but we also
do some national stuff like Alexis Lemonade is a big
one that we partner with. Also Sudden Smoke, which is
very near and dear to our heart because it's a
foundation that is focused on hospitality workers and giving them
(32:43):
access to healthcare, counseling money if there's a natural disaster.
So that's that's one I think that's very important. So
we lend our voice to whatever charity that really speaks
to our hearts.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think that's terrific for those listening who are not
from New Orleans. What is Son of a Saint?
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So some of the thing is a foundation that helps it.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
It's basically a mentorship program that takes boys at a
very young age.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I think the starting age is I want.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
To say five, and they're young boys that don't have
a father.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Figure in their life.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
So they're paired with a mentor to help guide them
in those young stages when they need the father the most.
So things like taking them to sports, or how to
do it, to tie a tie for the first time,
all of those things, taking them to sports events. I
think that's a very important thing for a child that
needs that extra supports.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
It is important and mentorship is critical for building confidence
and self esteem at a time when a lot of
young people are feeling fragile for whatever reason. I mean,
maybe they turn on the news, maybe they live, you know,
with the fear of climate change. You know, we we
live in the heart of hurricane season and it which
(34:08):
has started, and it's top of mind all the time.
And you know, we've learned to live each day the
best we can and just be prepared. How do you
reconcile that in your life as you have settled here
but also have traveled and you know, done some wonderful
(34:30):
things to help others who've been impacted.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yeah, I mean hurricanes are definitely that's a hard one.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And when you see climate change, it's nobody is really safe,
whether it's a hurricane, whether it's a tornadoes, whether it's
just you know, flash flooding. I think that we're all,
you know, prone to some kind of disaster, but it's
it's I think as a chef you definitely immediately.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Jump into help. I think that's just something that.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
The chess do is if there's a you know, cooking
for the people that had the fires in LA. We're
on the front lines and we donated what we can,
whether it's time, whether it's food, just should give you know,
a voice and shine a light on the people that
I need. And you look at people like Jose Andres
that does an amazing job of really showing this disaster
(35:26):
to happen and how we're going to move forward, and
that's through fust feeding people and bring them some comfort.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
You know, chefs have long been first responders that are
that do this voluntarily. They're not paid. When we lived
in New York, you know, or when I was living
in New York during September eleventh, I was in the
heartbeat of all that working to mobilize restaurants, and we
did so many amazing things, and I think people underestimate
or overlook that, and I think it's actually frankly important
(35:59):
when people will make restaurant decisions. I mean, I look at,
you know, when we travel interestingly mean, and when we travel,
we don't always look for the newest and the hottest
and the latest anymore. We look for the most caring. Yeah,
And I think that's really important. We look at a
lot of things about when we because it is you
when you go out and spend your money dining. You
want to go where there's a wonderful food and hospitality,
(36:22):
but you also want to know that this is a
caring restaurant that people respect the owner and the chef. Uh.
And that's really important, and I think people should take
that into consideration, don't you.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
I think so.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
I think it's really about what what what is that
operation doing? And I think it's very important because we
all need each other in some way or some form.
And I am definitely a creature of habit when I
go out because I again, I.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Don't try the newest restaurants. I just like my oldies
and my goodies. Then I know what I'm going to
get and I just you know, I think for me,
as I get you know, older, I look at things.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Where I just want to have a place where I
know the people, I know what I'm gonna eat and drink,
and I know it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Really good and I leave happy.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
So you know, we're dying to ask you, uh, tell
us some of your hidden gems where you like to
go as a local in New Orleans. I mean we
have our little favorite crisis, where about you?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I mean there's so many. Definitely for me, I would
say Queen Trinny when I.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yeah, you know Queen Towny Lisa, we've not been to yet.
It's Haitian inspired and I think it's another woman owner.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yes, so Charlie.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
Who has free type beautiful Haitian food. And then Queen
Trinny has Trinidadian foods. So when I want my fix,
I definitely go there. Also, Addisonola, the Ethiopian restaurant has
amazing food and dads do us a great job. You know,
it's a it's a son and mother that run the operation,
(38:04):
and they talk so deeply and fondly of their coffee ceremony,
which is something that you know, you don't really see.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So I think that's definitely. There's just so many people
and where do you go?
Speaker 4 (38:18):
And it's I get stumped, and I have to answer
that in Abu Al because I have to go down
the list of so many places. Also, Pesh amazing seafood.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Is really great, and it's just just so many.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You know, it's so true. There are so many and
and hoddest illness when we actually we've been to for
charity events, we actually haven't been and just made a
mental note, particularly when you say coffee ceremony. You know,
I think for everyone listening and watching, New Orleans is
really a melting pot of so many magazines, which is
why I think it's really one of the top restaurant
cities in the United States. And we lived in New
(38:55):
York for many, many years. Gosh, it is fabulous. You
can get anything there. But you know, New Orleans, with
the exception of main Lobster I'm still looking for. You
can get a lot of amazing things. And the Caribbean
and African inspiration and influence is so strong here and
unlike many other places, maybe Charleston to a bit, but
(39:17):
that's what is exciting and that's what we love about.
Compare Lapad. You get that feel when you dine there.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Well, I definitely think you know, over the ten years
of us living in the city, we've seen the culinary
landscape change and be more diverse.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
There's, just like you said, every cuisine you could name
of it.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Each year, another new restaurant comes along, bringing a different cuisine,
so we are really fortunate to have that, and you know,
I think the chefs and the operators are really pushing it,
you know, like restaurants like Saffron amazing, amazing food and
I love Indian foods. So there's just so much going on,
(40:00):
you know, over the ten years, and I'm sure it's
just going to get even even even broader.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
I hope, so, I hope so too. Meanwhile, we love
that people swoon over curry goat, which a lot of
people think, oh, I we'd never eat goat, but we
ordered it and it was swoon worthy. It was Is
that Is that one of your standout dishes or the
ones you can't sing off the menu?
Speaker 3 (40:18):
That is definitely the one that cannot come off the menu.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I don't know that that jerk fried chickens pretty up
there too.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I know, I know that's a tough one. So that's
that's a close second.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah, yeah, and the biscuits and the hush puppies.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
You know, it's interesting because I heard we think of
it as a as a delicacy because curried goat isn't
really very utilized in the United States, or goat isn't
very utilized in the United States, but it's it's a
worldwide big cellar.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
Yeah, it's it's one of the most popular meat dishes.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yeah yeah, So what's ahead for you? What's the hell.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Ahead for by? Is really taking a deep dive into
Caribbean food a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
I want to travel and see different islands and really
submerge myself.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
And basically bring.
Speaker 4 (41:13):
Recipes that all the people don't know about from islands
such as Trinidad or Dominica, just not the usual suspects.
I want to bring something where it's like, hey, this
region in I don't know Dominica, they do beautiful smoke
meats and showcase those things.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
So I really want to take a deeper dive.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
As I look at the restaurant turning ten, what is
the next chap to look like?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
And I think that is something that's really really important
to me in doing that.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
It's important because the restaurant landscape and the dining landscape
and the drinking landscape has changed quite a bit, and
you have to facor that in without losing control of
what you want to do, but also understanding that your
customer is changing and we all have read and heard
everything you know, so being sensitive to that as well,
and also economy too. The good thing is you can
(42:07):
take simple ingredients and use wonderful spices and ways of
cooking them to make them. You know, as you say,
it's not about shock value or opulence. I don't think
we'll ever see lots of foam or you know, frozen
co two on your menu. It's like it's home cooking
and this is what you would eat at home, right.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Right, And I think that is also something that is
what I love about neons. It's not about the fruit,
fruit stuff. It's about soul satisfying food. So we don't
see the foams and we don't see the deconstructed things
because it just doesn't we're.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Not about that.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Here, we were in Italy in somebody's surface. Are you
ready deconstructed pizza like a splat of it in a
pizza box? Isn't that weird? Yeah? And we had a
lot of food and we love brace.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
That's a little strange.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
It was. It brings up there, It really was, but
it was called unlike your culinary journey, ours was a
journey no menus, don't ask questions and we were like,
what is this?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (43:16):
It was, but you know, to each their own. I
mean that's why we did enjoy and do enjoy visiting
compare Lopan and recommend it because you'll have food that
when you see it, you'll understand it and it's very
flavorful and you're kind going to go, what is this?
It's it's good. It's really good. We took on the
leftovers and had the next day because it's also very
generous and it was really horrific. So again we're talking
(43:38):
with Nina Compton, who has won many awards. You know,
we have a history with the James Spread Awards. Congratulations
on that. I hold awards here's awesome. I know TV
is amazing, but in the day, it's what you deliver
out of the kitchen and into your level of hospitality
that matters more than anything. And I think that's an
important way to leave as a final message to people,
(44:00):
particularly when inspiring to have a career, that it's not
about awards or the contestants and fame. It's about something more.
So leave us with that thought, Nina. For the person
out there who may be saying.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
I want to be like Nina Compton, I think you know,
for me, I was never driven by winning awards.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I was never saying I'm going to do this because
I want to win an award. Those just came along pleasantly.
Surprised by those things. I think my advice to anybody
in this industry or coming up in this industry is.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Just do it because you're passionate about it. Don't do
it because you feel like this is something that you
that's trendy.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
Stay true to what you are, and if you have
a culinary voice or PUSI you want to showcase.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Be proud of that.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
I think that was something for me my journey of
cooking with so many chefs that finally I was able
to find my code, their voice and showcase Caribbean food
in my restaurant.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
So I think, just stay true to what you what
you are, and what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Always have a goal, you know, whether it's a small
goal or a big goal, but you know, challenge yourself.
I always tell people, don't have to get complacent, you know,
because that's an easy, easy way to get a little
too comfortable. But you have to be motivated. You have
to challenge yourself, you know, try and improve every day
(45:29):
because nobody will do that for you.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
You have to do that for yourself.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Absolutely, and also know when to push stop and stop,
you know, and reset, which I think you've learned to
do as well, and we all need to learn that
more in this crazy world. Again, I'm gonna hold up
the book. It's great quiole, which is the a Caribbean
term for creole in case you have figured that out. Recipes,
stories and teens. I learned that word when I was
(45:55):
a little girl going to Jamaica as Saint Louis Chef's
journe I used to go to Jamaica a lot as
a little girl, so I loved seeing this and some
of the dishes I used to eat when I was
a little girl there. So congratulations on ten years at
compare Lapan. A book all your success and living and
enduring this crazy industry, right, yes, yes, And to all
(46:19):
who are following, get out and come to New Orleans please.
This is a wonderful city year round and in the
summer it's quiet. You can get into every restaurant and
there's great culinary deals, restaurant week deals and wonderful things
and museums and go check out compare Lapan and the
(46:39):
hotel which you know, my friends all love the old
number seventy seven in chantlery. You can go, have a
great stay, a meal, and ever even step outside of
it rains. So thank you again, Nina. We really appreciate it,
my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
You've been listening to The Connected Table Live with Melanie
Young and David Ransom. We love sharing the stories of
people in our industry with you, and we encourage you
to get out there and expand your appetite and palette
and discover because we want you always to stay insatiably curious.
Follow us at the Connected Table on Instagram and listen
(47:20):
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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Radio, Welcome to the Connected Table, your show for introducing
(00:45):
you to amazing people around the world in wine, food, spirits,
and hospitality. We're Melanie Young and David Ransom. We love
traveling and sharing with you our discoveries. We're excited because
we are in our hometown, New Orleans, to introduce you
to a chef who has a lot of acclaim many
awards under her belt, and she's been really hard to
(01:07):
nail down and really excited to have her. Today we
are going to be talking with chef Nina Compton, whose
restaurant here in New Orleans, Compare Lapan, is celebrating ten
years this year. Growing up in the Caribbean island of
Saint Lucia, chef Nina Compton developed a strong connection between
food and community. She was drawn to the city of
(01:29):
New Orleans after a guest appearance and becoming a finalist
on Bravo Television's New Orleans Edition. I think it was
season eleven where she was a fan favorite, and it
is where she has chosen to settle and have her home.
It's a great story which she shares in a new cookbook.
It's autobiographical call Cuole Creole Recipes, Stories and teens. I
(01:53):
love that from a Saint Lucian chef's journey, and she
joins us today to share that journey on the Connected Table.
A conton Finally and welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Good after everybody.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
I'm happy to be here in chats about all things
food and beverage and New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, let's take it back to Saint Lucia, where David
has been.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
It's one of the two islands I've actually been to
in the Caribbean. Very exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You grew up in a family devoted to service. Talk
to us about it.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So my dad was a lawyer and eventually went into
politics and he led said Lucia to independence in nineteen
seventy nine from Britain we became an independent island. He
did serve of three terms as Prime Minister and also just.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Moving the island forward in terms.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Of building different industries from agriculture to tourism, and it
was a beautiful you know, my dad, he's passed away now,
but growing up it was people was asking what was
it like to be the prime minister's daughter. And I
always tell people I never looked at my dad as
the prime minister. He was always dad, And you know,
(03:07):
we had so many fun memories of growing up, and
as busy as he was, we never felt like he
was ever absent. He was always there. So we're a
very tight knit family. I have four siblings, so we
had a beautiful childhood.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know, I love it when you write in your
book you were you had siblings, and you sound like
a tomboy. It sounded a very adylic lifestyle and you
were a bit of a tomboy you had you were
the fourth of five children. It just sounded fun. And
you you had a grandmother who was English and you
(03:47):
cooked with her. Talked to us about that.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, So you know, I tell people the kitchen is.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
The most It's the busiest room in the house at
any time of the day, whether it's in the morning
or at night. It's always like a gathering place in
our house. And my grandmother, who was a retired nurse,
when she was getting older, she moved in with us.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So she would wake up very.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Early, at about five am in the morning, and she
was left cooking and organizing for the day.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And my mom. My grandmother was very rigid in her schedule.
She would be up at this time, she would have
a breakfast at this time.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
And as I got older, I wanted to help out
because she always just seemed so busy.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So I was very curious on what she was making
or cooking for that day, and I wanted to be
part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
You know, in the in the cookbook, there's a recipe
for banana tea sandwiches because there was such an abundance
of bananas, and your grandmother was British and had her
regular tea. We tried those. By the way, we made
him marstache.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
How what do you think.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
I loved him really great. I like cucuver sandwiches too,
by the way, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Those are there too. But my grandmother always had.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
A banana and she always had at her afternoon tea
and she would just sit outside and you know, take
it all in. So that's something that really stuck out
as a memory, was having her eat those and have
her tea.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
No, Nina, your family had hopes that you would go
into I think what they called a respectable profession, but
you always had dreams of being in the kitchen because
you loved it so much at an early age. And
tell us about the journey of saying I want to
be a chef.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
How did that come about?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, it's a funny story.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So I wanted to do I would't end up in agriculture.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
That I was about sixteen, and I thought that was
just the path for.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Me because at that point, this was you know, Solution's
economy was thriving, and it was supposedly and the farming
industry was very, very big, and it just for me.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
It just made natural sense to be somehow involved in
that field.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And I also loved cooking, and I remember cooking Christmas
dinner for my family because my mom and my grandmother
and my aunts were always in that kitchen very early
in the morning, making this big feast. Serving it and
then cleaning up after it, just like such a you know,
it's just a chore for them.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And I said, I'm like, I'm going to cook the
meal this year.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
And I remember seeing just a joy and excitement of
my grandmother and my mom enjoying themselves and not having
to worry about cleaning or doing anything. And I told
my mom, I said, I think I want to be
a chef, and she says, well, why would you want
to do it?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Be a chef?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
She's like, you know, the money is terrible, it's a
lot of stress. You gotta get cuts, you gotta get
bud And I said, I really want to do that
because I saw how much joy mike cooking brought to you,
and I want to share with other people. And she says, well,
if you're really seriously to.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Find a job.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
So that's when I got my first cooking job at
Sandal's Thetalk, and that's why I just.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I got visited by the bug and I haven't looked
back since.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
How old were you when you did that first job?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I was I was in nineteen ninety seven. I was
seventeen or eighteen. Yeah, you were crazy.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
I was very young, and it's you know, it's one
of those things with cooking.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I never I never get bored with it. I'm always learning.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
You know, even though I've been doing this for almost
those years, it's I still keep learning, i still keep traveling.
I'm still excited about food, and the possibles are endless.
So I think for me, it's I never see it
as a job. I see it as something I just
really enjoy.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Well, yours is a journey, you know, Montego Bay, New York,
Miami be first. You did the respectable thing. I'm sure
your family thought and enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America.
So you are just going willing nilly from kitchen to kitchen,
and I'm sure that brought you structure and important management
skills that you've applied to running restaurants.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Right. It definitely did.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
I was actually working in Montego Bay and I had
rotated all the kitchens, all the outlets, and I had
told the headschef when they said, you know, I feel
like I've hit a plateau and I'm not advancing, and
he said, the next step that you would make sense
is go to culinary school. He said, you can go
to Johnson Wales or you can go to the CIA,
(08:27):
and the CIA was a very It.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Just somehow it just just sounded right, and I figured,
why not do that?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
So getting a formal training of understanding the mother sauces
and the knife cuts and just so many things, the
fundamentals of cooking before actually, you know, for the next step,
it was important to get those fundamentals down for my
next restaurant I would work in.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
So what happened between that and getting the call for
Tough Top Chef? You' you worked for a number of
chefs who we've actually had on the show, including Daniel
Ballut and Norman dan Akin and Scott Conan. We've had
all of them on the show and we've had a
lot of fun with them. They're great guys and obviously
wonderful chefs and mentors to a lot.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Tell us about your experience with them.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So I was working at Scott Petta.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
We had just opened up that we had reopened the
Fountain Blue, this big rollout, amazing grand opening, and we
were very, very busy, of course, and I remember we
didn't normally get calls to the kitchen, but somehow this
phone call comes in hands in the phone and they
(09:41):
said we want to talk to chef Meine and I
said speaking. They said, well, we're you know, we're scouting
for some contestants for this cooking show. We can't tell
you the name, but we can send you the email.
And somehow when I gave them my email, is spelled
the name wrong, so I never got the email.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
So for a coup the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Days I'm checking my email, nothing pops up. I searched
my spam, nothing comes. And they called back again, like
a week later. They said, hey, you send it the email.
And Rea didn't need a response, and I said, I
never got the email.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So they said, well, stell it again, and they.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Sent the email and pops up and I open and
it says confidential and.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It says we're scouting for the next Top Chef. And
I kind of went silent for a second because I
was just I was very shocked. And I remember Alan
start at the time. I said, hey, you know they've
approached me to be to do the show.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
And he said, well, what are you going to do?
I said I don't know. He says, well, you shuld
definitely do it because you might win. And I said, okay,
Well I got Scott's blessing and I told my mom,
I said, hey, I have a chance to the show.
And she said, I don't want you to do the show.
It's too stressful for me. Please don't do it. I'm
not going to watch the TV. And of course, being
(11:01):
you know, listen to my mom, I said, okay, well
maybe I.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Should just pass.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
And then I thought about it for a couple of
days and I said no, because I'll never get this
chance again.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So I said, Mom, I'm going to do the show.
You don't have to watch it. I'm just going to
go for it. So it was an amazing experience.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
You know, I was a physical therapy yesterday watching Top
Chef because the episodes just keep going and going and going.
And I said to David, while just thinking about what
that brought you in terms of national attention, you became
a finalist and a fan favorite, and knowing that you know,
these reruns are just going on and on and on,
and Theni's offices and everywhere, you know, it's incredible. Just
(11:44):
it's a gift that keeps giving. And skyt conn it
was wise, given that he's done really well in television too,
to say do it because it really changed your life.
Did it change your life in every level.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I didn't realize how many people watch that show until
the episode started airing. And there's these lifelong people that
are very invested in this show and they're get attach
to you over six weeks of being on television, you know,
that same time on Bravo.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And I think for me it was really a strange
thing because.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
People always say, hey, once the show wraps, your life
will change.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And I figured it was the finale, aid.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
I would be getting all these phone calls, do this,
do that, And for a couple of months nothing, I
wouldn't an emails, any phone calls, and I said, well,
maybe maybe I'm not going to get this big explosion
of office. And I would say it was about June
when I just started getting all these invites.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Can you cook in La, can you cook in Toronto?
Can you do this? Can you do that?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
And it got really crazy because I was traveling a lot,
I was running away. I was having a great time,
and you know it was hard for him to juggle
having the job.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Working for Scott and doing all this travel.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
And I said, this is something I want to enjoy,
and I want to enjoy to the fullest. So I
told Scott, I think this is time for me to
move on. I didn't have a planet at the time,
but I wanted to just take a break to see
what the next chapter is and I wanted to think
it through. So I took a couple of months off,
and people were, you know, asking me and my husband
to open a restaurant in New York or Chicago, La, Boston.
(13:37):
And nothing really felt right until we went to call
to the New Orleans restaurant. And I told my husband
when we were flying to New Orleans, I said, you know,
I don't know how this is going to go because
we've had so many interviews with so many people and
that nothing really spoke to us. And I remember we
walked into the space, which is under construction. It was
(14:00):
a complete mess. We walked in, we walked around, and we.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Walked out, and we both said, that's a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
We want to go with this one and comparison in
ten in ten on a last on Monday.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
So when you see that, time goes by so quickly.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
But opening a restaurant and yours was never If you
told me.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
This fifteen years ago, I.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Would have said it wouldn't happen, because it was just
so unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, it opened to a very big buzz by
the way, because I remember that and I remember it.
It just took off and it's still taking off. I mean,
it's fabulous. We recently dined there and you're doing a
no for your anniversary that all hits. We had the
very famous goat your curry goat with sweet potato and yaki.
(14:51):
I have to tell you, Nina, I was brought up
never date Friday anything because I had weight conscious mom
and grandmother. But your your jerk chicken. Yeah, oh honey,
I was just like I.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Couldn't it was yeah, I mean, who doesn't chicken with grits?
You know, it's a fabulous.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
I can't think of one person. And we certainly loved it,
that's for sure. It was a total surprise.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Us, total surprise. I was thinking about it today actually
as I was walking back from exercising, and uh, the
green Papa Is salad was just beautiful. I mean every
dish was just spot on. So you know, ten years
is a long lifetime for a restaurant. Your husband is
Larry Miller. He's in the busy's your partner. He's also
a restaurant consultant New Orleans, is you know, an easy
(15:37):
place to have a restaurant a hard place to have
a restaurant? What have you learned? Well, first of all,
what is it about New Orleans that drew you here?
Because we have chosen New Orleans as our home as well,
so talk to us about that because we want people
watching and listening to love New Orleans like you and
I do.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, well, I think that the.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Reason why I moved is because it's for the people.
I think people here are really beautiful. They're very friendly, welcoming.
When we were opening the restaurants, we wanted to kind of.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Stay under the radar and quietly open.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
It didn't happen that way because when we moved to
your Ands, it was in the newspaper. People were buzzing,
and people would stop us in the grocery store and
they'd say, thank you so much for moving here.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
We're so excited.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
And it was very intimidating because he also is such
a big food city and there's lots of culture and
amazing restaurants, and here we are opening up a restaurant
and we didn't know how it was.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Going to be received.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
But the people and their excitement of this new restaurant coming.
It brought me so much yours a chef, because people
are excited about through their adventurous they want to know
and they want to share their favorite restaurants with you.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
So it's a really giving culture.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
And we felt like we welcome right away. We didn't
feel like an outside of people who are just very
happy to have us and to open a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So it's really the people that made us want a movie.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
People here are pretty happy. We love it when they
say welcome home.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, they really are. And you know it's they're exciting
about food.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
So for me, it makes my job so much easier
as a chef because people just love to eat.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So I'm ten years congratulations, And how do you keep
things fresh? What are you know? A lot of people
who are maybe listening and watching, maybe dreaming of opening
a restaurant. It's not easy. We know it's sunny easy.
We know summer is dudley everywhere, particularly New Orleans. Come
to New Orleans in the summer, it's awesome. What is
some advice that you would give other people or your
(17:55):
younger self, because also achieving fame early on and juggling.
That is hard.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It is the industry is definitely it's a it's a
tough one.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
But you know, I think what people don't focus on
having a restaurant, it's a business. You know, we are created,
We are making a beautiful food and beverage and creating experience.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
But it's a business. It's a business first, and.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I think it's a lot of people kind of put
that secondary.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But it is a business first. But I think for
me as a if I told my younger self.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
Maybe to slow down a little bit, and I think
saying the power of having the power.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Of no would have been helpful for me because I
always said yes to.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
Everything and everybody, and then before I know it, my
calendar is filled and I'm doing interviews or a cooking
class or something else and not taking time.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
For myself to recharge my batteries.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
And I think that's something that now, you know, ten
years in, I just start to say, I.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Don't have to do everything. I don't have to do
all of these things.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Being at the most selective and trying to preserve my
energy in my life so I could be the best
boss to my staff, I think is really important.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You know, it's a long day to begin with, and
when you start adding things on top of all those
long days, it does take.
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Its toll, that's for sure. It does, you know, Nina,
Let's talk about the book that just came out. It's
called Creole Creole Cooking and Recipes and Stories and teens
from Saint Lucian Chef's Journey. So let's talk about the book.
It's a great book. We've gone through it. We've had
a couple of recipes in it.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Starting I've been.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
I've been to Saint Lucis. I was there.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
I was there a long time ago in nineteen eighty eight,
and I had a great time there and spent a
week on the island with my girlfriend.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Sorry Melanie, it wasn't you, But.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I was at Jamaica with a boyfriend.
Speaker 6 (19:57):
Yeah, but I adore Saint Lucia.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
It's a beautiful island and it has a lot going on.
So let's talk about the cookbook, which is an ode
to that.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Well, I you know, I had been approached to a
cookbook after I did Top Chef, and I started writing
the proposal, and then of course I got busy trying
to open up the restaurant and move to New Orleans,
I kind of put that on holds a little bit.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But once the pandemic.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Hit, I said, hey, this thing is going to be
around for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
COVID was kind of a little bit of a big
ripple for the.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Restaurant industry, so we had to pivot a lot, and
I said, you know, maybe this is time to pick
up the book again.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So I got to work with me on a project.
Who did I think a really beautiful job of.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
Extracting the stories from my brain as a chef. You know,
I think we're very straight to the point that says, no,
if we need to put a little more in the
headnote about these recipes. So it was really about documenting
Caribbean also Creole culture throughout different areas, studying in Selution, Jamaica, Miami,
(21:14):
and then ending up in the Orleans. So it's really
about the journey of the different Creole cultures through food
and beverage and kind of my journey of as a chef,
starting in your in Solution Sorry, and then you know,
book ending in New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
There is a lot of storytelling in the book as
well as recipes. The cover just so you know, the
co author is Osaii Endoline, who is a historical food
writer and cultural food writer of significant note. The photos
are great. This is a photo of Aki Fritters, right.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No, this is a Dachine balls.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Oh Daschine balls. Okay, that's right. The as have a
different shape. There's some terrific photography in here. Who did
the photography?
Speaker 4 (21:55):
So we had Brittany Connolly who did the who did
the cover and the We also had Cassimo Harris heeded
the lifestyle images. So I think we had a very
powerful team that really understood my voice and my vision.
I did tell Brittany that I wanted to make this
book really beautiful and bright and tropical and make people
(22:18):
want to go to the Caribbean after reading the book,
and Osai, you know, award winning writer who's done some
really beautiful ways of crafting my voice in the book
as well.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
So I think it's I'm very proud of it. It's
a lot of work.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I think a lot of people think that a book
is done in a couple of months. This took us
three and a half years, and we wanted to take
our time with it. We didn't want to rush and
put out a book because this is something that's out
in the world and I can't take it back.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
So I wanted to make sure that everything was very thoughtful.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Well, a lot of these issues are quite beautiful. That
we had a chef over for dinner who's from Mauritius,
Dominique McKay, also a chef of note here in New Orleans,
and he was thumbing through the book going wow, this
reminds me of home growing up Immita. He was very
touched by it. You know, one of the dishes, because
I love vegetables, is the cola loup because it's not
all difficult. Some of these are very easy to do
(23:13):
and you can do this with almost any greens. But
it's everything from fish to the Acki fritters to grilled lobster.
I wish we've got more lobster in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, what dishes in here and taking it back to
compare Lapan, what are some that are similar to what
you would find it Compare Lapan. I also want to
bring comparil the pan back in for a couple of reasons.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Yeah, let's bridge that.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Yeah, so we have, of course the minimal biscuits, so
people go crazy for.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
So we have that in the in the recipe, we
also have the hushpuppies, which is a big one. Then
we have the shallow tell you that, the shrimp, and
the run down sauce. So there's there's some recipes that over.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
The years we've had a compella.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
And so I'm just trying to document the recipes and
the home cook and do at.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Home and really have fun with it. You know.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
I think that the book is there are some very
simple recipes, but there are some labor intensive recipes.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
But I think it's worth it.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
It's worth to put a little elbow grease into that
recipe because the payoff is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
The biscuits, I'm going to try it. And we had
the biscuits and the hushpuppies when we dined at Comparel
the Pan and they're both fabulous. I'm a biscuit freak
and they were fabulous. The first thing I do when
I eat discus a smell it, and I was like
shoving it. David smelled his biscuit. It smells like a
real biscuit, and I feel it. I mean, it's it's
a whole process with me when I eat it there
and they serve with this beautiful you know, pillow of butter.
(24:43):
It's beautiful. So why compare Lapan. Let's just talk about
the name, because it's Wilapan means rabbit. Talk about how
the name came about, so that.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
The folk tale colla bed, which is.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
An Africa the tail that we had this same book
as a child growing up. And when I was moving
here to do a restaurant, I wrote all these these
names in Patua and I was just googling one day
of you know, Patwa names in Louisiana, and that same
(25:17):
book popped up and I said, wow, this is so
crazy because a lot of people don't know that actual
story as a folk tale.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And I said, this is this is it. This is
a childhood story that.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I know, and it's you know, now we have it
here in Louisiana. So that made sense for me to
bridge the gap.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
M it is that brother rabbit or different?
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, brother rabbit?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, okay, okay, I know that's it's that's interesting. If
you go to the restaurant, there's rabbits everywhere.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh yeah, we have we have a lot of rabbits.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
And it's we've had rabbit on the.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Many ones yeah, okay, because I think a lot of
people they always do with a you know, fuzzy little bunny,
so we try them.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
To that's pretty funny. So, you know, the Hope the
restaurant which you and Larry own is located in a
terrific hotel. A friend of mine just stayed there, just
raved about it. It's called the Old Number seventy seven
Hotel and Chanlery. It's in the Warehouse District, the Arts
District's a great location and there's a wonderful art exhibit.
(26:23):
If you walk to go to the ladies room and
to the lobby, there's a terrific art exhibit that we
kind of traverse through. But I understand that hotel is
also having a big anniversary as well, so that's exciting.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, yes, So it's a lot of a lot of
milestones this year. And you know, we were part of
the opening when they readd the hotel in twenty fifteen,
so it's been an exciting time celebrating the restaurant and
the hotel as well.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Well.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We recommend both when we have we have this a glist.
You know, everybody wants a where to go, we always
say stay here, go there, and it's a great location
for many other things as well.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Yes, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
So you say on the website for compare the pan
meals aren't about trends, shock value, or opulence. Thank you
meals are about moments, memories and those who surround you
at the table. Talk to us about that philosophy, because
we have been to a few restaurants where there was
all it was all shock value, including the shock Well,
(27:29):
I think.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
For us, you know, people are dining out more and more,
of course, say twenty years ago. So one of the
things we always tell us that is like, listen, people
have options. They don't have to come to our restaurant,
They could go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
But when they do, they're making a conscious.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Decision to dine with us, and we need to make
sure that we exceed their expectations and create a moment
and a memory. It's not just about a transaction of
eating food and drinking a glass of wine and paying
us about connecting people through food and experience the music
in the restaurants. So we're trying to create something where
(28:09):
it's like people want to come back because they felt welcome,
they had a good time, they enjoyed themselves and they
want to make this a regular place to come.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I think that's important. You know, one of the people
who you worked with early on, Daniel Blue always asked
a similar Someone asked him at a city Meals and
Wheels event, why are you in this business? And you
can answer that a million ways, he said, I want
to serve people.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Oh, that's that's the best way.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
I think a lot of people just want to again
create an experience for and a memory for people.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
We're not doing it again. I think we are creative,
we're passionate people, chefs, and we want.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
To share you know, connected people. It's not we don't
have a glass between us. We're you know, touching, feeling, smelling,
and we want to have that nostalgia every single time.
And we do that through food.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
It's a connector. That's what we called our our show,
the Connected Table, for the same reason you know it
really is. Food is a cultural connection, it's a social connection.
It can lift you up, it can bring people together
in terms of happiness, celebration, and also in grief.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, I agree, and.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
It all requires teamwork.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah, you have a great team. By the way, we
sat down with who sat down with Corey?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Great? No it's really about you know, it's not just
about the food. It's also about the service, you know,
connecting with people.
Speaker 4 (29:49):
And asking them, you know, where are you from? And
you find so many people from all over the city
coming in and they could be either hair frock engine,
or they could be coming because the birthday, or they're
just here or whatever it is. But we always make
sure that you know it is. I always tell my
(30:10):
staff that nobody's job is less important than.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Joe's job or Tom's job.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
You know, everybody has a very important role to play,
so the bartender, the hostess, the server, the general manager,
they have a very important role too.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
So we never minimize anybody's role being less.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Everybody we treat with the most important because everybody is important.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
It's a great philosophy. So Corey was is your manager
and we were enamored by the winelesst The cocktail was too,
which is terrific. But the Wineless was well thought out
and we had a long discussion with him about that
because there were some selections on there. It was it
was a step above many of the Wineless in New Orleans. Yeah,
not to not wineless in New Orleans, but there is
(30:59):
a step above.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Fact.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Hart does a great job.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
He's very, very excited about wine and beverage, and.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You know, he gets very he has a twinkle in
his eye when.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
He talks about wines, so it certainly does yeah well.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
And one of the things he said was that, you know,
it's not the easiest cuisine to pair wine with because
there's a lot of spices involved and flavors that aren't
normally associated with wine. So he says it's a lot
of work for him, but he loves the challenge as
well to create that paring.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Nina, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
About community service. So you've been called on to appear
and do and it's hard to pick and choose, but
are there certain charities or philanthropic causes that you're committed
to and tell us about that aspect of your life,
because that's important.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
You know, it definitely is.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I think in Ulans, the outreach and what people do
with the community, all the foundations, it's just.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
An easy extension for the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
So we do partner with some of the Saints to
do a lot of their their programs. You know, we
did we do their Christmas Dinner every every every December.
We cook for the boys, and you know, we've done
cooking classes for the boys. So just giving back in
whatever capacity through maybe roots of music. We do a
(32:21):
lot of stuff with the Link Foundation as well, so
there's a lot of that in you but we also
do some national stuff like Alexis Lemonade is a big
one that we partner with. Also Sudden Smoke, which is
very near and dear to our heart because it's a
foundation that is focused on hospitality workers and giving them
(32:43):
access to healthcare, counseling money if there's a natural disaster.
So that's that's one I think that's very important. So
we lend our voice to whatever charity that really speaks
to our hearts.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I think that's terrific for those listening who are not
from New Orleans. What is Son of a Saint?
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So some of the thing is a foundation that helps it.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
It's basically a mentorship program that takes boys at a
very young age.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I think the starting age is I want.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
To say five, and they're young boys that don't have
a father.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Figure in their life.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
So they're paired with a mentor to help guide them
in those young stages when they need the father the most.
So things like taking them to sports, or how to
do it, to tie a tie for the first time,
all of those things, taking them to sports events. I
think that's a very important thing for a child that
needs that extra supports.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
It is important and mentorship is critical for building confidence
and self esteem at a time when a lot of
young people are feeling fragile for whatever reason. I mean,
maybe they turn on the news, maybe they live, you know,
with the fear of climate change. You know, we we
live in the heart of hurricane season and it which
(34:08):
has started, and it's top of mind all the time.
And you know, we've learned to live each day the
best we can and just be prepared. How do you
reconcile that in your life as you have settled here
but also have traveled and you know, done some wonderful
(34:30):
things to help others who've been impacted.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yeah, I mean hurricanes are definitely that's a hard one.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
And when you see climate change, it's nobody is really safe,
whether it's a hurricane, whether it's a tornadoes, whether it's
just you know, flash flooding. I think that we're all,
you know, prone to some kind of disaster, but it's
it's I think as a chef you definitely immediately.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Jump into help. I think that's just something that.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
The chess do is if there's a you know, cooking
for the people that had the fires in LA. We're
on the front lines and we donated what we can,
whether it's time, whether it's food, just should give you know,
a voice and shine a light on the people that
I need. And you look at people like Jose Andres
that does an amazing job of really showing this disaster
(35:26):
to happen and how we're going to move forward, and
that's through fust feeding people and bring them some comfort.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
You know, chefs have long been first responders that are
that do this voluntarily. They're not paid. When we lived
in New York, you know, or when I was living
in New York during September eleventh, I was in the
heartbeat of all that working to mobilize restaurants, and we
did so many amazing things, and I think people underestimate
or overlook that, and I think it's actually frankly important
(35:59):
when people will make restaurant decisions. I mean, I look at,
you know, when we travel interestingly mean, and when we travel,
we don't always look for the newest and the hottest
and the latest anymore. We look for the most caring. Yeah,
And I think that's really important. We look at a
lot of things about when we because it is you
when you go out and spend your money dining. You
want to go where there's a wonderful food and hospitality,
(36:22):
but you also want to know that this is a
caring restaurant that people respect the owner and the chef. Uh.
And that's really important, and I think people should take
that into consideration, don't you.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
I think so.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
I think it's really about what what what is that
operation doing? And I think it's very important because we
all need each other in some way or some form.
And I am definitely a creature of habit when I
go out because I again, I.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Don't try the newest restaurants. I just like my oldies
and my goodies. Then I know what I'm going to
get and I just you know, I think for me,
as I get you know, older, I look at things.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Where I just want to have a place where I
know the people, I know what I'm gonna eat and drink,
and I know it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Really good and I leave happy.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
So you know, we're dying to ask you, uh, tell
us some of your hidden gems where you like to
go as a local in New Orleans. I mean we
have our little favorite crisis, where about you?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
I mean there's so many. Definitely for me, I would
say Queen Trinny when I.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Yeah, you know Queen Towny Lisa, we've not been to yet.
It's Haitian inspired and I think it's another woman owner.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yes, so Charlie.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
Who has free type beautiful Haitian food. And then Queen
Trinny has Trinidadian foods. So when I want my fix,
I definitely go there. Also, Addisonola, the Ethiopian restaurant has
amazing food and dads do us a great job. You know,
it's a it's a son and mother that run the operation,
(38:04):
and they talk so deeply and fondly of their coffee ceremony,
which is something that you know, you don't really see.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So I think that's definitely. There's just so many people
and where do you go?
Speaker 4 (38:18):
And it's I get stumped, and I have to answer
that in Abu Al because I have to go down
the list of so many places. Also, Pesh amazing seafood.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Is really great, and it's just just so many.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You know, it's so true. There are so many and
and hoddest illness when we actually we've been to for
charity events, we actually haven't been and just made a
mental note, particularly when you say coffee ceremony. You know,
I think for everyone listening and watching, New Orleans is
really a melting pot of so many magazines, which is
why I think it's really one of the top restaurant
cities in the United States. And we lived in New
(38:55):
York for many, many years. Gosh, it is fabulous. You
can get anything there. But you know, New Orleans, with
the exception of main Lobster I'm still looking for. You
can get a lot of amazing things. And the Caribbean
and African inspiration and influence is so strong here and
unlike many other places, maybe Charleston to a bit, but
(39:17):
that's what is exciting and that's what we love about.
Compare Lapad. You get that feel when you dine there.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
Well, I definitely think you know, over the ten years
of us living in the city, we've seen the culinary
landscape change and be more diverse.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
There's, just like you said, every cuisine you could name
of it.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Each year, another new restaurant comes along, bringing a different cuisine,
so we are really fortunate to have that, and you know,
I think the chefs and the operators are really pushing it,
you know, like restaurants like Saffron amazing, amazing food and
I love Indian foods. So there's just so much going on,
(40:00):
you know, over the ten years, and I'm sure it's
just going to get even even even broader.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
I hope, so, I hope so too. Meanwhile, we love
that people swoon over curry goat, which a lot of
people think, oh, I we'd never eat goat, but we
ordered it and it was swoon worthy. It was Is
that Is that one of your standout dishes or the
ones you can't sing off the menu?
Speaker 3 (40:18):
That is definitely the one that cannot come off the menu.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
I don't know that that jerk fried chickens pretty up
there too.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
I know, I know that's a tough one. So that's
that's a close second.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Yeah, yeah, and the biscuits and the hush puppies.
Speaker 6 (40:32):
You know, it's interesting because I heard we think of
it as a as a delicacy because curried goat isn't
really very utilized in the United States, or goat isn't
very utilized in the United States, but it's it's a
worldwide big cellar.
Speaker 5 (40:46):
Yeah, it's it's one of the most popular meat dishes.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yeah yeah, So what's ahead for you? What's the hell.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Ahead for by? Is really taking a deep dive into
Caribbean food a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
I want to travel and see different islands and really
submerge myself.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
And basically bring.
Speaker 4 (41:13):
Recipes that all the people don't know about from islands
such as Trinidad or Dominica, just not the usual suspects.
I want to bring something where it's like, hey, this
region in I don't know Dominica, they do beautiful smoke
meats and showcase those things.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
So I really want to take a deeper dive.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
As I look at the restaurant turning ten, what is
the next chap to look like?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
And I think that is something that's really really important
to me in doing that.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
It's important because the restaurant landscape and the dining landscape
and the drinking landscape has changed quite a bit, and
you have to facor that in without losing control of
what you want to do, but also understanding that your
customer is changing and we all have read and heard
everything you know, so being sensitive to that as well,
and also economy too. The good thing is you can
(42:07):
take simple ingredients and use wonderful spices and ways of
cooking them to make them. You know, as you say,
it's not about shock value or opulence. I don't think
we'll ever see lots of foam or you know, frozen
co two on your menu. It's like it's home cooking
and this is what you would eat at home, right.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
Right, And I think that is also something that is
what I love about neons. It's not about the fruit,
fruit stuff. It's about soul satisfying food. So we don't
see the foams and we don't see the deconstructed things
because it just doesn't we're.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
Not about that.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Here, we were in Italy in somebody's surface. Are you
ready deconstructed pizza like a splat of it in a
pizza box? Isn't that weird? Yeah? And we had a
lot of food and we love brace.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
That's a little strange.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
It was. It brings up there, It really was, but
it was called unlike your culinary journey, ours was a
journey no menus, don't ask questions and we were like,
what is this?
Speaker 3 (43:13):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (43:16):
It was, but you know, to each their own. I
mean that's why we did enjoy and do enjoy visiting
compare Lopan and recommend it because you'll have food that
when you see it, you'll understand it and it's very
flavorful and you're kind going to go, what is this?
It's it's good. It's really good. We took on the
leftovers and had the next day because it's also very
generous and it was really horrific. So again we're talking
(43:38):
with Nina Compton, who has won many awards. You know,
we have a history with the James Spread Awards. Congratulations
on that. I hold awards here's awesome. I know TV
is amazing, but in the day, it's what you deliver
out of the kitchen and into your level of hospitality
that matters more than anything. And I think that's an
important way to leave as a final message to people,
(44:00):
particularly when inspiring to have a career, that it's not
about awards or the contestants and fame. It's about something more.
So leave us with that thought, Nina. For the person
out there who may be saying.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
I want to be like Nina Compton, I think you know,
for me, I was never driven by winning awards.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I was never saying I'm going to do this because
I want to win an award. Those just came along pleasantly.
Surprised by those things. I think my advice to anybody
in this industry or coming up in this industry is.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Just do it because you're passionate about it. Don't do
it because you feel like this is something that you
that's trendy.
Speaker 4 (44:43):
Stay true to what you are, and if you have
a culinary voice or PUSI you want to showcase.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Be proud of that.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
I think that was something for me my journey of
cooking with so many chefs that finally I was able
to find my code, their voice and showcase Caribbean food
in my restaurant.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
So I think, just stay true to what you what
you are, and what you want to do.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Always have a goal, you know, whether it's a small
goal or a big goal, but you know, challenge yourself.
I always tell people, don't have to get complacent, you know,
because that's an easy, easy way to get a little
too comfortable. But you have to be motivated. You have
to challenge yourself, you know, try and improve every day
(45:29):
because nobody will do that for you.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
You have to do that for yourself.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Absolutely, and also know when to push stop and stop,
you know, and reset, which I think you've learned to
do as well, and we all need to learn that
more in this crazy world. Again, I'm gonna hold up
the book. It's great quiole, which is the a Caribbean
term for creole in case you have figured that out. Recipes,
stories and teens. I learned that word when I was
(45:55):
a little girl going to Jamaica as Saint Louis Chef's
journe I used to go to Jamaica a lot as
a little girl, so I loved seeing this and some
of the dishes I used to eat when I was
a little girl there. So congratulations on ten years at
compare Lapan. A book all your success and living and
enduring this crazy industry, right, yes, yes, And to all
(46:19):
who are following, get out and come to New Orleans please.
This is a wonderful city year round and in the
summer it's quiet. You can get into every restaurant and
there's great culinary deals, restaurant week deals and wonderful things
and museums and go check out compare Lapan and the
(46:39):
hotel which you know, my friends all love the old
number seventy seven in chantlery. You can go, have a
great stay, a meal, and ever even step outside of
it rains. So thank you again, Nina. We really appreciate it,
my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
You've been listening to The Connected Table Live with Melanie
Young and David Ransom. We love sharing the stories of
people in our industry with you, and we encourage you
to get out there and expand your appetite and palette
and discover because we want you always to stay insatiably curious.
Follow us at the Connected Table on Instagram and listen
(47:20):
to our show on more than sixty five podcasts around
the world. We want you to and YouTube now, so
connect with us and we'll be back with another show
next week.
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