When one thinks of a “rockstar” you might think of great performers like Mick Jagger or ‘80s hair bands like Mötley Crüe. In New Orleans, we have culinary rockstars. Our city has played host to giants like Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse and Leah Chase, to name a few. We continually create and nurture giants of the food industry. Whether it’s because of the tattoos, the “guess what color his hair will be dyed this week,” factor or his innovative cuisine, a current rockstar of the New Orleans kitchen is Eric Cook. Cook, following the success of restaurants Gris-Gris and Saint John, has written his first cookbook “Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine,” available for purchase Sept. 17.
Q: Why did now seem like the right time for a book?
No matter what I’ve done, the moves and the Bohemian journey along the way of this industry, I always managed to hang on to what I think is my prized possessions, which is my cookbooks. I’ve been collecting them for a long, long, long time. I’ve got all my grandmother’s cookbooks. I can read a cookbook front to back; it’s something that just sparks my interest. I guess it was like the pandemic. You start panicking, lock down, and what are we gonna do? I started really digging deeper and the book was kind of like a natural progression. But it’s like anything else, I didn’t know anything about going into it. It’s kind of terrifying, so, the process of putting things down on paper, were tough because I had to really go back and make sure what I was putting on paper was going to work and it’s difficult to do. I wanted to maintain my integrity. I’m just a kid from Arabi who’s still hustling every single day to be legit. It’s such a crazy process, but in the end I’m excited.
Q: What about the title? What is “Modern Creole?”
That was the hardest thing, like, how do you take 33 years of some mayhem, and you put a title on and go, ‘OK, that is what I want to say.’ It’s real cuisine, it is something that’s been with us for hundreds of years and it’s relevant.
Q: Gordon Ramsey wrote the foreword for your book. How cool!
It’s one of those things that I don’t know, it’s New Orleans, and I get kind of bombarded with some heavy hitters. We had a lot of good talks while we were doing his show. His brain is just on next level. But I didn’t think it would happen. I kind of joked about it to the publisher, like, ‘What if I call Gordon Ramsey?’ And I really didn’t do [the call] for like, a year or a year and a half. I didn’t want to get ahead of it. So when I finally reached out to him, he was like, ‘Hell, yeah, brother. I’d love to do it.’ He said, ‘Send me a bunch of pictures of you and me running around the swamp; you got to get my mojo going.’ I was like, ‘Alright, man.’ So I made the Gordon Ramsay photo file, a lot of behind the scenes stuff with us. I didn’t know what to expect. I don’t know anything about these things, but everyone seems to believe that [including Gordon Ramsay] was such a really genuine thing. And I’m super, super happy. But what a cool cat to have on your side.
Q: What’s the update on Saint John?
I’m excited. I’ve been chomping at the bit for weeks. But we should be closing this week. I’m gonna have keys in my hand. It’s the right spot at the right time [715 St. Charles Ave., the former Le Chat Noir space]. It was funny the way it all worked out. A lot of things had to fall in place. A lot of dominoes had to fall. And then, by the time I got to the site, my wife picked me up, she drove me over there. I was like, ‘What is this?’ Like, welcome, walk inside, let me know what you think. And I walked in, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Right away, I’m like, ‘This is it, man, this is it.’ So, the opportunity for more locals to be able to come and have access to parking, number one, with a parking lot right next door. The streetcar runs in front of us, there’s so many great things about it. The building is just perfect. And now, we’ve learned so much. The potential for Saint John is so huge. We’ve got the plan, so I think [the news will be out about our menu and more] somewhere out around Labor Day.
