by Leslie Stewart
Ville Voice Eats Correspondent

One of the coolest things about being a culinary student at Sullivan is the opportunity to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with our fellow wizards.  Once per quarter, the school brings in a “Distinguished Visiting Chef” for a students-only demonstration and lecture.

So far my Sullivan experience has included a visit from Chef Lee Conway (AKA the “Camouflage Chef), who specializes in wild game and teaches hunters and fishermen how to make the most of their catch; famed TRU chef and cookbook author Rick Tramonto has also been a recent guest.  Both were interesting, of course, but by far the most rewarding, in my personal opinion, was yesterday’s visit from Chef Frank Brigtsen.

Brigtsen is chef and co-owner (with wife Marna) of Brigtsen’s, an uptown New Orleans restaurant on Dante Street that’s well worth the cab fare out of the French Quarter.  I first ate there back in my radio days when an industry pal took a bunch of us broadcast types to dinner at his good friend’s place.

At the time, Brigtsen, a protégé of legendary Cajun cuisine-meister Paul Prudhomme, had already been named by Food & Wine magazine as one of America’s Top Ten New Chefs and had garnered a prestigious James Beard Award, and has won numerous equally prestigious awards since.  All are well-deserved.  Brigtsen’s remains my hands-down favorite place to eat in New Orleans, one of my fave vacation destinations and undisputedly one of the best food towns in America.

Brigtsen’s menu is a delight, full of locally grown and raised foods, artfully prepared in the true Cajun tradition, albeit more upscale.  Brigtsen himself was an equal delight, very approachable, humble and genuine, with none of the unnecessary affectations you see on shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, etc.

His presentation was engaging, informative, and entertaining; he was generous with tips, techniques and recipes.  His demonstration included a shrimp etouffée, a seafood jambalaya, and the fried rice cakes known as calas (his version included crawfish, along with a green onion mayonnaise for dipping).  I’ll never make brown roux the same way again, and can’t wait to try out a few of the recipes for the upcoming Father’s Day meal, as my history buff dad is suddenly fascinated with the origins and development of Cajun cuisine.
Chef Frank wasn’t the only one cooking during his visit to Sullivan, however.  Chef Dave Moeller and other Sullivan faculty and students presented a fabulous menu for him the evening prior to his day of demos.

The seven course menu included a trio of soups – roasted cauliflower, carrot, and shelled pea; an appetizer of roasted loin of rabbit au jus with wilted napa cabbage, spaetzle and foie gras; a fish course of sautéed skate wing with morel mushrooms, caramelized cipollini onions, sea beans, and a champagne vinegar beurre blanc; an intermezzo of verjus sorbet; an entrée of roasted lamb rib chop au jus with sweetbreads, corn and leek cream, and Parisienne vegetables; a salad of tomato and pink grapefruit with house-cured bacon and a frozen yellow tomato and grapefruit vinaigrette; and an absolutely killer goat cheese cake with figs in a port reduction (I know it was killer because I got to assist with that part).  Chef Frank was still raving about it the following morning.

And, obviously, I’m still raving about the whole experience today . . .