ABOUT THE EPISODE
Hosts Brady and Jillian spend this episode on Louisiana’s Playground breaking down “I’ll Have the Usual,” the new Visit Lake Charles video series Brady spent a few years bringing to life. Modeled on the Food Network show “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” it asks seven local chefs, bakers, and food makers to name their favorite gumbo, po’boy, burger, and more around town, with one rule: you cannot pick your own place. What came back surprised him. Even at the most trained level, the chefs talk about food the way the rest of us do, through memory and feeling rather than technique.
ABOUT THE SERIES
“I’ll Have the Usual” is a seven-episode video series on the Visit Lake Charles YouTube channel, each installment running under five minutes. It leans on a simple idea Brady kept coming back to: the recommendation most people trust is the one from someone who knows what they are talking about. So, rather than having hosts weigh in, the series hands the microphone to people who cook for a living.
The chefs featured span the local food scene, from Rebekah Hoffpauir of The Bekery, Carolyn Shelton (TV chef) and Michael Gardner of Pasta Lab to chefs Lyle Broussard (Crying Eagle Lakefront), Zachary Aymond (Pujo Street Cafe), Reta Durgan (Mama Reta's Kitchen) and Amanda Cusey (The Terrace).
ENVIE EATS
SushiBoxx on Nelson Road in Lake Charles opened in June 2022, when the owner broke away after years of restaurant sushi service to start something of their own. The kitchen sources its seafood locally and moves fast, built for a quick lunch that does not break the bank, with the vermicelli, the Supreme Rice Bowl, and the Lake Charles Roll among the most-ordered. The Dynamite Roll stacks tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, cream cheese, jalapeno, and masago into a cold roll that balances the heat, and the Crunch Roll comes topped with French fried onions for an extra bit of texture. Appetizers hold up too, from a veggie-packed egg roll to crab rangoon with the right crisp on the edges. It sits just off 210 next to the South Lake Theater.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
EPISODE 108 TRANSCRIPT
[00:00] Cold Open
Brady Renard: ...surprise for me is that I thought I was going to get a lot of answers hearing the chefs talk about the food. You know, the textures and the cooking techniques and “this particular bread is...” But what’s funny is that even at the most trained level, they see food the same way we do. It’s the feelings, right?
Jillian Corder: Yes, it’s an emotional reaction to food.
[00:22] Intro
Brady Renard: Thanks for joining us on Louisiana’s Playground podcast, your guide to everything there is to see, taste, and do right here in Lake Charles.
Jillian Corder: That’s Brady Renard. And I’m Jillian Corder. You always forget to say your own name. And we’re excited to bring you the authentic stories and experiences that happen here in Southwest Louisiana, because we’ve got all the tools you need.
Brady Renard: I just don’t know what to do with my hands.
Jillian Corder: We should do the whole podcast like this. We have all the tools you need right here to plan your trip to Southwest Louisiana.
Brady Renard: A terrific show for you. It’s a little different, the model of it this time. We’re not talking to a guest. You’re going to have a lot of these two right here as we talk about our new television series that we have on our YouTube channel, talking about the usual and what it kind of means to have a usual. And the connections that we have with food is always something that I’m so kind of ingrained with and interested in. And so, a fun conversation. We’ll talk all about that. But of course, before we get to that, let’s talk even more food.
Jillian Corder: As if that’s not enough.
[01:24] Envie Eats
Brady Renard: With a great segment we call Envie Eats. And it takes us down Nelson Road here in Lake Charles to Sushi Boxx, opening in June of 2022. After years and years of restaurant sushi service, they said, you know, the owner said, “You know what, let’s break away and start our own and do our own thing.” And Lake Charles is just the better for it.
Jillian Corder: Yeah. And everybody likes it. Well, I do for sure. Likes a sushi lunch, right? A quick place to drop in, grab your lunch, go. Yeah. And I know anytime somebody at work suggests sushi, or Sushi Boxx specifically, everybody’s like, “Yes, that does sound good.” ’Cause it always sounds good, doesn’t it?
Brady Renard: And they have a lot of takeaways kind of through their entire catalog. So it’s also quick.
Jillian Corder: Yeah.
Brady Renard: Like, you can pop in and be out in less than two minutes if you’re really quick and know exactly what you want and where to get it.
Jillian Corder: And I always order the same thing, so I know.
Brady Renard: Yeah. And that was something that the owners, they wanted to make sure, they wanted to provide that service to the community. Like, if you can get a quick, fast, fresh lunch, and it doesn’t take much time and it doesn’t break the bank either. And so they said that their most popular dishes, though, beyond just the sushi, is the vermicelli, the Supreme Rice Bowl, and the Lake Charles Roll. And all of their seafood and stuff is locally sourced, so they try to keep everything local and fresh, too. And just overall, it’s a really cool local sushi joint, you know? So let’s start there. Before we got to the sushi, each of us got an appetizer. My favorite, always, I love an egg roll.
Jillian Corder: Egg roll.
Brady Renard: You can’t...
Jillian Corder: That’s also your favorite joke whenever we get hibachi and they roll the egg down the spatula. “Egg roll. Egg roll.” That’s his favorite.
Brady Renard: And so this was a very fresh, tons and tons of veggies, had a strong onion flavor to it, crunchy. And so just, for a fried roll, it was very fresh.
Jillian Corder: It doesn’t feel like heavy fried food.
Brady Renard: No, it doesn’t. And it was very, very good because of that. And then they had some kind of, like, sweet and sour sauce on the side that obviously elevates it. Wonderful, wonderful egg roll.
Jillian Corder: Same for the, as far as fried food goes, same for the crab rangoon, which is what I get every time I go to any place that has it. I’m going to get it, because think yummy, cream cheesy goodness with crab, fried, dipped in a sweet and sour sauce. Like, I mean, how could that sound bad to anybody? I know, right? I absolutely love these. This, like, the perfect little puff pastry that’s deep fried and filled with all that yummy goodness in it. And perfect texture, too. Like, the ends of it that are fried get that perfect little crisp to them to break off and eat. It’s a great little crunch. The kids love it, too, which is so surprising to me, how much our kids love sushi and dumplings, crab and all that. I don’t know what I expected, because when I grew up, I refused to eat anything that looked scary to me.
Brady Renard: Agreed.
Jillian Corder: But they are obsessed with it.
Brady Renard: Yeah, no, they are. And that’s good. And they really loved this place. I went, so I got sushi, and then I got an entree. So yes, I got a lot. Don’t worry about it. Stop judging. I got the Dynamite Roll.
Jillian Corder: This sounds like you.
Brady Renard: Tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, cream cheese, jalapeño, masago, sesame seeds, rice, nori, spicy mayo, unagi sauce. There’s so many flavors.
Jillian Corder: There’s like six different things in that ingredients list that are spicy.
Brady Renard: Yes. And all together, you know, it’s a cold roll. So all together, it’s like cold, and so it counteracts the spicy in an interesting way. You get so much from the tuna and the shrimp that’s fresh, and then you, you know, creamy from the cream cheese, there’s some jalapeño. You taste it immediately. Then you get the umami flavors and the salty flavors, and it all just comes up and you’re like, “Man, that was pretty good.” I’m not the biggest sushi fan. I polished off that whole roll with ease.
Jillian Corder: Yeah. And then you still have room.
Brady Renard: There’s a little kick. Yeah, it’s fresh. So many flavors. It was a beautiful roll. Like, there’s no other way to say it.
Jillian Corder: It’s also, like, visually appealing. It’s pretty.
Brady Renard: It feels like such an art. Like, it felt like I was eating the Mona Lisa.
Jillian Corder: Have you ever tried to roll sushi yourself?
Brady Renard: No, I have not.
Jillian Corder: Because it is an art. It is not an easy thing to do.
Brady Renard: I can imagine that. Well, this also, this was, it also looked like a piece of art, and so very, very good. Then I continued.
Jillian Corder: Because why not? Because nobody was there to stop you.
Brady Renard: I didn’t finish it all in one meal, though. But the bang bang shrimp fried rice: huge local shrimp, lots of flavor and crunch, over a shrimp fried rice there, lots of veggies and flavor there. That’s the one thing, is like, so much fresh vegetables everywhere throughout the meal. And so it felt so, you know, it just, I feel like when I eat well, I walk with a little bit of a pep in my step.
Jillian Corder: You ate that much?
Brady Renard: I didn’t eat it all.
Jillian Corder: But that’s what I’m saying, that you can eat, like, a ton of food, but when it’s, like, fresh and it feels good, it doesn’t, like, weigh you down when you’re walking out.
Brady Renard: No, it was so good. I mean, you can see, like, all the shrimp that were on top of it, and the different sauces and how each of them pair together. And look, I just, I really, really enjoyed it.
Jillian Corder: Well, I got the Crunch Roll, which is my go-to. Talk about, “I’ll have the usual.” That is my usual when it comes to sushi. I have the Crunch Roll, and there, it comes with imitation crab, avocado, which I have to forgo the avocado because I’m allergic. It’s the saddest allergy ever.
Brady Renard: Back-to-back episodes announcing your allergy.
Jillian Corder: I did. So sad. It’s also, like, the easiest allergen to avoid. Like, it’s not hard to.
Brady Renard: I talked to a lot of doctors. They said avocado immersion therapy is probably the best way to go.
Jillian Corder: Just dunk myself in guacamole.
Brady Renard: Until your body accepts it.
Jillian Corder: I’m down to try it. I was a lover of guacamole until it betrayed me one day. So the Crunch Roll comes with imitation crab, avocado, cream cheese, like, french fried onions on top, sesame seeds, rice, nori, spicy mayo. Spicy mayo is my favorite. The unagi sauce, which is that, like, thick, kind of Karo syrupy...
Brady Renard: Yeah.
Jillian Corder: I don’t know how else to describe that. It’s got, like, a syrupy feel to it, right? Kind of a bit.
Brady Renard: I like to describe it that way. Sure.
Jillian Corder: Yeah.
Brady Renard: It’s very syrupy.
Jillian Corder: Yeah. And so the Crunch Roll also is, like, a great size. I finished it off, but it’s not, like, too much where you feel like you’re just, like, stuffed.
Brady Renard: It’s a nice portion. Like, it is the perfect portion.
Jillian Corder: It really is. I really love the french fried onion on top. Not everybody does that. And that added just, like, an extra little something, flavor, on the top of it. Plus it was, like, a really familiar flavor to me as well. And since I’m missing the avocado in it, I felt like that was a really good thing to put on top of it. But perfect consistency, perfect flavor, and that is always my go-to.
Brady Renard: And it’s apparent how much experience they have in the sushi business, because each of these are so well constructed. And there’s, I mean, there’s dozens on their menu.
Jillian Corder: And you talk about consistency. Like, you can go anywhere in town and have a burger two days in a row, and sometimes it’s a little bit different, right? I always feel like sushi is one of those things that people that do it well really do it right, and it’s always consistent.
Brady Renard: Well, this is a great place. Like I said, just off Nelson Road, so not far off the interstate if you’re on that, you know, if you’re in that portion of town off 210.
Jillian Corder: Right next to my favorite nail place. And the South Lake Theater while you’re there. So eat some sushi, catch a show. That’s it.
[08:59] I’ll Have the Usual
Brady Renard: All right, Jillian, enough about food. Let’s talk about food. As we transition into a series that’s been, honestly, it was a few years in the making for me. It’s something that started off kind of as a passion project, and then everyone else bought on, and then one thing led to another and we had to kind of postpone it. The podcast studio was a big reason.
Jillian Corder: When this thing finally dropped, I was so excited. And literally, I got an alert from YouTube that told me it finally dropped. And I was like, I said out loud in my car by myself, “Finally. Finally.” Because Brady’s been working on this for a really long time.
Brady Renard: Yeah. And so I had a lot of it done, and then we just needed to clear some other things. And then finally, the timing’s here.
Jillian Corder: So let’s get to it. What is it, Brady?
Brady Renard: It’s called I’ll Have the Usual, as we kind of shorten it to The Usual. It is modeled after a Food Network show called The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Yeah, it was a really fun show. There’s celebrity chefs tell you where their favorite burgers, where their favorite sweet treats, their favorite fried dish. You know, there’s a bunch of different categories.
Jillian Corder: So you do that here locally.
Brady Renard: Correct. So I got some of our local, I call them chefs, bakers, and food makers...
Jillian Corder: There you go.
Brady Renard: ...to tell me where their favorite things are. I asked them, I gave them a list of questions, and I only gave them one rule with it. But I gave them a list of questions that kind of said, “Where’s your favorite burger? Where’s your favorite this and that?” As we’ll continue doing seasons after this. And they gave me their usuals, their recommendations. Because at the end of the day, I believe the stat is, it’s like nine out of 10 people say that the opinion they care about most is a recommendation from a friend or someone else that they know. And so using that as a logic is what I kind of want to do. It’s the whole essence of what Best Thing I Ever Ate was. And I said, “Well, why don’t we have that locally? Our food scene’s so awesome. We should kind of do that.” And so I went and did.
Jillian Corder: And these chefs that you talked to are celebrities in their own right, right? So they’re, like, award-winning, professional chefs. We can talk about food all day long here on this podcast, but Brady and I are not, we don’t have a trained, elegant palate or anything. We have no training. We don’t know the science of what we’re eating at all. We just know if we like it or not, right? And that differs so much between individuals. But for these chefs, I mean, this is their life.
Brady Renard: Yeah. I mean, we had seven in this episode. One that is a very prominent baker in town. One that makes pasta for a living, that creates elegant pasta. Then you have one that trained in Europe, that won the seafood competition, and another one that placed really high in our seafood competition and represents us in Chicago this past week.
Jillian Corder: That’s right.
Brady Renard: There’s so much of, these people know food. I have no other way to say it than that.
Jillian Corder: So listen to the experts on their opinions.
Brady Renard: Sure. And that’s what I wanted. Like, who are you going to listen to? You know, if you needed a medical opinion, you’re going to ask a doctor or the local banker, right? Like, someone’s opinion means a little bit more.
Jillian Corder: No offense to the local banker.
Brady Renard: As much as we love and want to talk food, a chef really knows what they’re talking about. So if they tell you that there’s something, that’s kind of where I want them to. Their expert opinion is worth listening to.
Jillian Corder: So when you approached these people, all of them were on board, right? Because they’re all chefs supporting chefs, right?
Brady Renard: I thought it was going to be a little bit of a, I don’t know. Every single one that I approached was like, “Absolutely. What can I do?” And they wanted to get in. And I said there was one rule. The only rule was, like, you can’t pick your own restaurant. I don’t think any of them had any issue with that. But that was the only rule, because we don’t want self-promotion. We want you to promote the things that you do. Your recommendation, your usual. And that was not an issue, because there were so many different topics. As we continue this, hopefully, into new seasons and new sets of videos, I think you’ll be really pleasantly surprised at how much variety that you’ll see from it. And, you know, I think the biggest surprise for me is that I thought I was going to get a lot of answers hearing the chefs talk about the food. You know, the textures and the cooking techniques and “this particular bread is...” But what’s funny is that even at the most trained level, they see food the same way we do. It’s the feelings.
Jillian Corder: It’s an emotional reaction.
Brady Renard: It’s the emotional reaction. It’s the, you know, “I chose this because I did this with my dad.”
Jillian Corder: Or it makes me feel good.
Brady Renard: It makes me feel that way. Or there’s something about it that makes me feel like a kid again, or this. And so...
Jillian Corder: It validates my own opinions on food, because I’m like, “Oh, they talk about it the same way I do.”
Brady Renard: Very few things, music and food to me are two of the only things that can transport you back in that way, right? And so that was a lot of fun. And in fact, let’s start, I want to go and rewatch some of these. Let’s start with Rebekah Hoffpauir of The Bekery, the Parisian-style bakery that we have in town, as she talked about her favorite gumbo.
[13:57] Rebekah Hoffpauir on Nina P’s Cafe
Rebekah Hoffpauir: Gumbo, I think of cool weather, football. It brings back the memories of, like, the whole family getting together to share a big pot of gumbo. I will look forward to a gumbo for three days if I know my dad’s making a gumbo. If I’m not going to my parents’ house for gumbo, I’m going to Nina P’s. Their gumbo is perfection. I always crave that comfort of gumbo. And so when I eat the gumbo at Nina P’s, it takes me right back to Sunday lunch with the family, to my parents’ house, eating my dad’s delicious gumbo.
Jillian Corder: And so what you were just saying is, like, an emotional response to food, right? So, like, Rebekah’s talking about how much she likes Nina P’s and their gumbo, but then she starts talking...
Brady Renard: Same, same, by the way.
Jillian Corder: But then she starts talking about her dad’s gumbo, which is not eligible for this list. But it’s still, it’s because, like, it brings her there.
Brady Renard: Right. And so, and I think we’ve all kind of found a gumbo in a restaurant or somewhere that, I’m like, “Man, that’s pretty similar to the one that I grew up eating.” And so finding that is so cool. And as we talked about, it takes you back. And every time that you eat gumbo, that’s something, like, I feel that same way about, like, a crab boil. I take it back to when I was a kid, because that’s something that my dad and I did a lot of times.
Jillian Corder: Yeah. And this is, like, a studied phenomenon.
Brady Renard: Sure.
Jillian Corder: Right? Where, like, food smells...
Brady Renard: That’s right.
Jillian Corder: ...they can take you back psychologically, like, actually trigger responses and emotion and memories.
Brady Renard: Yeah. And so that’s, yeah, I mean, it’s documented. So that’s what I think was so cool, is that as I went into this, just to help give either locals that maybe have never been or haven’t tried, or visitors coming in, a place to try and listen to this person, it ends up becoming this study of, “Man, while this is tasty, yes, it makes me think...” that you then think about food a little bit differently. And I ultimately love how that kind of happened. Now, let’s move on to another trained chef, Mr. Lyle Broussard, over from Crying Eagle Lakefront. This is one of my absolute favorites to watch. He broke down a lot of people’s favorites, the local po’boy place, Darrell’s.
[16:17] Lyle Broussard on Darrell’s
Lyle Broussard: Believe it or not, man, I still go to Darrell’s. I really do. Love it, man. That was the first po’boy that I picked up and I was like, “Damn, this thing is heavy.” One of my friends, he started driving when he was young. He’s like, “I’m going to Darrell’s.” I said, “What’s that? What’s Darrell’s?” He was like, “Man, you never been to Darrell’s?” I was like, “No, I’ve never been.” He’s like, “Come on, man.” We went to Darrell’s. And at the time, we were kids, so we’d have to split one. Like, “Man, this is good.” Then when I got old enough to drive, like, “You know, I’m going to get my own.” I always get the special. I only tried the shrimp po’boy one time. It was good. It was all right. But then I see my friends sitting around with the specials, and I’m like, “I should have ordered one of those.” Like, never again.
Jillian Corder: Okay, so I love the way Lyle talks about Darrell’s, because he can’t stop smiling when he talks about it.
Brady Renard: I was so pleasantly, like, he’s, you know, he’s got a very cool, calm demeanor. And then he started talking about, he lit up. He literally couldn’t stop smiling.
Jillian Corder: He couldn’t stop smiling. He was talking about it. He went through every bit of it. “Oh, the first time I ever went, I tried the shrimp po’boy.” That was just a one-time thing, because then he saw the special. He walked through the entire thing, and, like, what made him change his mind about which thing to order. I love the way he reacts to this.
Brady Renard: Where he talks about, as a kid, he used to have to have a friend bring him. And then once he was old enough, he started getting his own.
Jillian Corder: Yeah, they shared at the beginning.
Brady Renard: Or, honestly, it’s something that, we all kind of have food rules, right? “I’m not going to eat at a place that doesn’t do this or that,” or “I can’t do this.” His was, if the po’boy is way too neat, it’s probably not that good. So I love that as being a rule for him.
Jillian Corder: The more napkins, the better. And I love that, you know, you’ve got Lyle, who’s this trained, incredible chef in town, right? Who runs a fabulous new restaurant, right? And yet on his way home from work, he’s like, “I’m going to stop by Darrell’s.” Like, that’s the spot.
Brady Renard: I think we all have those spots that, no matter where you go or how anything changes in your life, you still have some of those staples that you’re like, “I can’t quit you.” And for him, that Darrell’s po’boy really is one of those, right?
[18:26] The Foods That Stick With You
Brady Renard: And what’s yours? What’s your...
Jillian Corder: My favorite po’boy?
Brady Renard: No, your...
Jillian Corder: This is the same one as Lyle, only I don’t get the spicy mayo. I get the regular with no lettuce.
Brady Renard: No, the types of food that kind of stick with you for so long, and it remains one that you’re like, no matter what, it’s still a part of you. Like, you find a way. I have a feeling I know meat pies are up there for you.
Jillian Corder: Oh, a Natchitoches meat pie. Oh, yes, that’s a great one. And I don’t get it very often, right? So we went to school at Northwestern in Natchitoches, right? But I had meat pies from Elsie’s Stop N Shop in Oakdale long before I ever went to college. And...
Brady Renard: We need an Oakdale counter at this point.
Jillian Corder: Sorry, it’s who I am.
Brady Renard: That’s where your story started.
Jillian Corder: That’s where my story began. I just, meat pies are so good, and they have that very specific flavor, very specific pastry crust to them. Whether it’s from, and why are they always better when they’re from a gas station? We’ve talked about that, too, a lot on this podcast. Things are always better when they’re from a gas station. So yeah, a meat pie.
Brady Renard: Yep.
Jillian Corder: That’s good stuff. That reminds me of home.
Brady Renard: Sure. And it does.
Jillian Corder: What’s yours?
Brady Renard: I was thinking about that. Once I asked you, I said, “Oh no, she’s going to ask me, and I’m going to now have to answer this question.” And I don’t know, for me, like, you know, despite growing up, it’s the crab boils and all those things. But at the same time, like, a ballpark hot dog still takes me back, right? Like, that’s always one that, when you find a place that has a great hot dog, like, it’s obviously nothing fancy. It’s probably bad for you. But it makes me feel so good. It makes me feel good when I eat one.
Jillian Corder: It’s an emotional response to it. And that’s what so much of this series is, that it’s these chefs having a really emotional response to something. Also, I love, like, chefs supporting chefs, and, like, throwing this huge amount of love and support behind other people in town who maybe they’ve never even met before. We all, I think, in my head, like, “Oh, you’re a chef, so you know all the other chefs in town, and you have chef parties and conferences and you all talk to each other.” They may not even know each other, but, like, that’s their favorite thing.
Brady Renard: Yeah.
Jillian Corder: And I like that.
Brady Renard: And everyone sees the food differently, right? Like, Lyle looks at it differently than Rebekah did when she was thinking of her dad. He was thinking of the time that it’s like, “I know which one I want, and I’m going to eat,” you know? Whereas someone like Miss Carolyn Shelton, who has been all over, whether she’s worked in planes, and she’s also been a celebrity chef, and she’s done etiquette courses. So she’s been all over, and so many different experiences. And yet for her, favorite gumbo turns into a history lesson.
[21:18] Carolyn Shelton on Gumbo’s Roots
Carolyn Shelton: Gumbo is usually made with a lot of love. Gumbo is a healer. It’s a friendship soup. It’s an international soup. It has a lot of history and a lot of, actually, health benefits, as a matter of fact. To make a good gumbo, it encompasses a lot of different cultures. The gumbo starts with the roux. The roux. Who gave us the roux? The French, okay? Then you have the okra. Who gave us the okra? The Africans. The Native Americans had the sassafras. And then you have the sausages. That’s the Germans. So you have the Germans’ influence, you have African influence, you have the French, you have the Native Americans. You have four different cultures. So that’s why you go different places, gumbo is made differently. But usually, it starts with the roux, cher.
Brady Renard: And in fact, I loved that she said it, because that’s one thing about gumbo that has been so true for me since I’ve really learned the origin, is that it’s truly Louisiana’s dish, because the same people that make up Louisiana each contributed something to what we know of gumbo today.
Jillian Corder: Yeah. And you have a certain fascination with gumbo on your own.
[22:27] Brady’s Master Gumbo List
Jillian Corder: Where’s your phone?
Brady Renard: Who wouldn’t?
Jillian Corder: Where’s your phone?
Brady Renard: Right here.
Jillian Corder: Give me that. Show the people. Where is it?
Brady Renard: It’s here.
Jillian Corder: Watch this. This is Master Gumbo List, and it’s all the different restaurants Brady has eaten gumbo at, just in this town.
Brady Renard: Yeah, just this town.
Jillian Corder: Just in Southwest Louisiana. Like, nowhere else.
Brady Renard: Subscribe to my Patreon. I’m just kidding. I don’t have a Patreon.
Jillian Corder: The gumbo type. Brady Renard tiers. You have tiers for the gumbo?
Brady Renard: Correct.
Jillian Corder: And you give it scores?
Brady Renard: Uh-huh.
Jillian Corder: Yep. And then ideas at the bottom of places he hasn’t yet visited for gumbo that are still on the list. Gumbo Wednesdays. You have a fascination with gumbo?
Brady Renard: I do. I love it because so much of it is, I think it is perfectly parallel to the people of Louisiana, and that’s what I love the most. It’s like, you go in Southeast Louisiana, and their seafood gumbo tastes different than the ones that we have in Southwest Louisiana. You don’t see as much chicken and sausage there as you see here. The ones here is different. Like, it’s all so different. There’s so many different styles. And yet at the end of the day, you know, as she said, each of the ingredients, and the way that we use the ingredients, come from a different culture.
Jillian Corder: It’s very representative of who we are as a melting pot.
Brady Renard: And it’s delicious.
Jillian Corder: And it tastes good, on top of that.
Brady Renard: So all of those things, I just, it’s an art, in terms of how you do the roux to when you introduce it. And there’s not one way to do it, but most people believe there’s one way. Some people are adamant, “You can’t put this in there.” Some are like, “Well, you have to.” And so, and I love, too, it’s like the thickener. There’s, like, four or five different ways that you can thicken the gumbo, from sassafras to okra, right? Like, you have multiple ways that you can do it, or you do more roux, right? There’s just so many different ways. And so I love that about the gumbo, and I love that she kind of pointed that out as well.
[24:24] Why Consistency Makes a Usual
Brady Renard: Some of the other ones that we saw, like Anna Delafosse at Seafood Palace, was one of the gumbos that someone chose. She said that people love hers because it never changes. The taste never changes. That’s why people love to eat Seafood Palace’s gumbo. Do you think, to having regulars, to having a usual, that has to be the core component?
Jillian Corder: Well, yeah, I do. Because if it was hit or miss on whether you really enjoyed it or not, you get a miss one time, and the next time you walk in, you order something different.
Brady Renard: But even if it’s not a miss in terms of whether you enjoy it, but if the flavor’s different, if it’s sweeter this time or more tangy this time...
Jillian Corder: I don’t know. I’ll say yes. I think consistency truly is key. I really believe that, because my favorite places, it’s always the same, right?
Brady Renard: We love routines.
Jillian Corder: We like a routine. We don’t love change. However, when you have a chef who’s willing to experiment a little bit, or change things up, or listen to opinions of other people, and the next time you come back, the menu’s a little bit different, or that thing is a little bit different, to be honest, I love that, too, because it shows that people are, like, constantly learning and evolving. So I think that there’s a beauty in that, too. Can I choose both?
Brady Renard: Yeah.
[25:45] The Burger Episodes
Brady Renard: Well, we haven’t talked too much burgers, and three of the episodes revolved around burgers. One of which is Zachary Aymond at Pujo Street, who has a great burger on his menu, by the way, the hot honey burger, is put there, as we learned on this podcast, because of me.
Jillian Corder: You put that on the menu.
Brady Renard: Yes, because I told him too many burgers are always dependent on the mayonnaise-based sauce. And I said, “I’m not the biggest mayonnaise fan. Like, I can do the burger sauce...”
Jillian Corder: “I want something else other than the mayonnaise.”
Brady Renard: “Give me something else other than mayonnaise.” And he challenged himself to do it, and he hit a home run, and it’s still on the menu. So I feel like I’m right. It’s spectacular. It’s wonderful. Anyway, he talked about the thing that drew him to a local burger spot downtown, at Cotten’s, was that it’s the classic diner style, right? You pick up the paper bag and you can see the grease coming through.
Jillian Corder: Grease in it, yeah.
Brady Renard: And he says, and the owner’s there, actually cooking the burgers in front of you. And it’s like, how often do you see that anymore? It feels like that was a staple in America for the longest time. And as we’ve just kind of changed our models and stuff, you don’t see it anymore. So you really get the classic taste, feel, and sight of a diner at a place like Cotten’s Downtown. And I love that we still have those locally, right?
Jillian Corder: Yeah, we do. And a lot of places are like that around here. You will actually find the owner there making the food at some of these smaller places, and I absolutely love that. Or even if that’s not the case, and you have an actual chef separate from your owner, the chef walks out to you and is like, “How’d you like it?” Because they want to learn from you, right? Anytime we’ve ever eaten anywhere where Amanda Cusey works, she’s always walked out and said, “What did you like? What did you not like? Here’s how I did this. Here’s what I’m thinking about doing next time,” right? Tons of locally owned places. Saay Patel, love him to death, because every time we go eat in Maplewood, he’s like, “Okay, what if we did this next time?”
Brady Renard: “I’ve got an idea. Hear me out.”
Jillian Corder: And so it’s, like, pitching an idea, right? I don’t know what he expects. Like, Brady and I are going to be the ones to bless the menu or something. But I love that.
Brady Renard: If you need my blessing on your menu, please give me a call. You can find me at 1205 North Lakeshore.
Jillian Corder: brenard@visitlakecharles.org. Send him an email. I don’t know. I just love that, though. I love it when the owner’s there, when the chef is there, communicating with customers straightforward. I just think nothing really beats that.
Brady Renard: No. And we’ve got so many great places to eat here. And that’s obviously a reason that visitors continue to come out. And, I mean, it feels like that is one of our calling cards, is our culinary expertise.
Jillian Corder: Yeah.
Brady Renard: And for a town our size to have as much as we do in terms of the variety...
Jillian Corder: Yeah. You know, a lot of people...
Brady Renard: That’s one thing that impresses me about our cuisine locally.
Jillian Corder: Sure. And I think a lot of people who are local to this area kind of forget it sometimes. They get stuck in their routines, and so they think, “Oh, it’s the same thing.” Branch out. I challenge you.
Brady Renard: I’ve lived in other places. We have so much variety.
Jillian Corder: Challenge you to go to the place you’ve never been before. And trust me, you can do it, because we go to a new place that we haven’t been before every single week on this podcast. 108 places we’ve been. So you can do it, too. I challenge you to go out and try something new, try something you’ve never been before, because you might just find your new usual.
Brady Renard: I love that. You know, Phillip says all the time, our son, “I love trying new foods.” And I think that’s the coolest thing that I’ve ever instilled in anyone, is that my kid loves trying new foods. And so you should, too. Be more like Phillip. Enjoy trying new foods.
[29:23] The Chef Picks That Stuck
Brady Renard: Well, let’s wrap this up. Of all the people and why they chose what, which one surprised you the most, do you feel like?
Jillian Corder: Okay, I won’t say surprising, but I just really love the way he talks about things. Michael Gardner from the Pasta Lab chose, this is his favorite burger, one of the burgers at 121.
Brady Renard: Yes.
Jillian Corder: It’s the way he talks about things in such a, like...
Brady Renard: It’s got to be the look. It’s like this picture.
Jillian Corder: He just paints this image, the way he talks about food in such a, like, a scientific... He talks about it the way, like, connoisseurs talk about art, you know? He just really knows what he’s talking about, first of all, and just, like, appreciates things just down to the molecule of what’s in that burger. And I don’t know, just the way he talks about it inspires me and wants me to be like, “I want to be a better cook,” or something. I don’t know. And then also watching them put that burger together. He says that the bacon has to hang over the edge of the plate. I’m like, “Yes.”
Brady Renard: Yeah, it does.
Jillian Corder: Yes, it does. I didn’t realize how important that was to me until I saw it be made. I was like, “That’s important. That’s very important.” I don’t know. I just like the way he talks about food. And, like, if you grew up watching, like, the Food Network, like an Alton Brown kind of scientific way behind it...
Brady Renard: I can watch, I can watch... I couldn’t sleep the other day, and I’m up at 2 a.m. watching Alton Brown.
Jillian Corder: What was he making?
Brady Renard: Dips. He was making dips. And I’m sitting there just locked in, like, “Yeah, you know what? That’s a good point.” We all do love it. We do love a spinach and artichoke.
Jillian Corder: I just, I don’t know. I like the way he talks about it. What’s your favorite? Do you have a favorite?
Brady Renard: I think one that stood out to me is that, you know, you have a classically trained chef who has spent time overseas and has developed your craft, and, you know, and yet, favorite burger, and she’s like, “I love the food truck outside of a local, of a local bar.” Which, yeah. And number one, I was so smitten by it that I had to go and try it. Obviously, I shoot all the videos, but I don’t necessarily eat the food while I’m there, so a lot of them I’ve had before.
Jillian Corder: I’m so glad she answered this, because then we started also eating this burger. I will save my appetite for post-9 p.m. on a Friday night, because that’s when they’re open.
Brady Renard: Library Riot’s Locavore food truck’s open.
Jillian Corder: So good. That is, that might be my favorite burger.
[31:57] The Hosts’ Usuals
Brady Renard: I was going to ask you. So we’re going to end this episode with some of our usuals, as you know, because our opinions are just as important as these trained chefs that really know what they’re talking about. And so I want to ask, for your three: your favorite burger, po’boy, gumbo in town. Burger, is it the same one, Locavore? Same one as Amanda?
Jillian Corder: It is so good, and it’s consistent every time. The cheese on it, so melty, and it comes with grilled onions, which I never allow on my burger anywhere, but I eat them on that burger. That’s really good. I do also like Cotten’s Jam Good Burger. It’s got a...
Brady Renard: You love a good cream cheese.
Jillian Corder: ...cream cheese and the spicy pepper jelly and the french fried onions on it. The little tiny, tiny shoestring onion rings. Yeah, that’s good. I don’t know. I think I might agree with Amanda on this one.
Brady Renard: Yeah. What about your po’boy?
Jillian Corder: I think I agree with Chef Amanda on a lot.
Brady Renard: I guess we’ve already talked about po’boy. It’s Darrell’s.
Jillian Corder: Po’boy is a Darrell’s special.
Brady Renard: I know Coolers Icehouse has become very popular with people, too.
Jillian Corder: I really like Coolers.
Brady Renard: Is it a tie for you?
Jillian Corder: Don’t hate me. They’re very similar. I mean, I really believe that they are very similar. I’ll take either. I’m used to Darrell’s only because that’s where I’ve gone for the last 10, 11 years that we’ve lived here. But yeah, I think they’re both very good. But you got to get the special. I get regular mayo, because I don’t like the kick of a special, of a spicy mayo, jalapeño mayo. But yeah, and I don’t need any of the lettuce.
Brady Renard: What about the gumbo?
Jillian Corder: I just want the meat and cheese.
Brady Renard: Jill likes gumbo a lot. She’s not quite as crazy as I am about it.
Jillian Corder: Well, no one’s gumbo beats yours, Brady.
Brady Renard: That’s very not true.
Jillian Corder: I think so.
Brady Renard: Is it Bux?
Jillian Corder: Bux is good. I choose Bux for a lot of things.
Brady Renard: They’re very good.
Jillian Corder: Very good stuff over there. You know what you were talking about a second ago? Pujo Street.
Brady Renard: Yes.
Jillian Corder: Pujo’s gumbo. It’s different.
Brady Renard: I love their gumbo.
Jillian Corder: I really...
Brady Renard: It’s my favorite in town.
Jillian Corder: Is it your favorite?
Brady Renard: I think that might be mine. It’s the most unique. I’ve got, like, three or four that I consider, you know, you saw my tier list. Three or four that are up there. Pujo Street has been one of my favorites, with their super, super dark roux and how they do it.
Jillian Corder: I think that might be one of mine. It’s just, it’s different.
Brady Renard: The most surprising, though, was Mazen’s seafood gumbo. Amazing. I was blown away by it.
Jillian Corder: Really?
Brady Renard: That one really surprised me, of how just awesome it was.
Jillian Corder: And your favorite burger?
Brady Renard: Favorite burger. How do I not choose the one that is on the menu because of me, though?
Jillian Corder: Oh, I think you have to.
Brady Renard: Right? Like, there’s a lot of great burgers. Like, Calla has an amazing burger as well.
Jillian Corder: They missed a chance to name it after you. I’m sorry to do that.
Brady Renard: But there’s one on Pujo Street that’s there because of me. I’m going to go with that one. So let’s go. Let’s go for gumbo. I’ll go Mazen’s seafood gumbo.
Jillian Corder: Got it.
Brady Renard: Although I love Pujo’s as well. And then we’ll go Pujo’s burger for their hot honey burger, because it’s there because of me. And po’boy, I know the answer. I’m going to go, well, the traditional one, I’m going to go the sausage po’boy at Darrell’s. But I’m going to throw a curveball, and it’s technically a sandwich, but it’s served on, like, a po’boy-style bread. There is a chicken Parmesan sandwich, they could call it a po’boy and it wouldn’t be any different, at 121 for lunch.
Jillian Corder: Okay.
Brady Renard: And it’s this Parmesan, kind of rosemary, some type of bread. I don’t know the right terminology, but I’m in love. And it’s melty cheese and sauce, and it’s...
Jillian Corder: Call Michael Gardner and get him to describe it for you.
Brady Renard: I’ll have to. And it comes with sweet potato fries that have a nice, like, sweet sugar coating on them. And it’s fantastic, and you need to try them. So hopefully we’ve kind of piqued your interest somewhere here.
[35:48] Where to Watch I’ll Have the Usual
Jillian Corder: Basically, what we’re saying is go to Visit Lake Charles’s YouTube page, or KPLC’s Roku if you stream, or whatever. We’ve got this stuff everywhere. And go watch The Usual.
Brady Renard: I’ll Have the Usual. There’s seven episodes. Each of them are less than five minutes, anywhere between, I think, two and a half to five minutes. So they’re not very long altogether. Hopefully you kind of see the personalities of the chefs. We get to see behind the scenes and how a lot of this stuff is made as well, so you see how fresh the ingredients and how they kind of prepare it. It was a lot of fun to make, and hopefully you enjoy it as well. Feel free to comment here. Let us know what some of your favorites and your usuals are. Hopefully, maybe we’ll get to them, if we haven’t already, in our Envie Eats portion. But a lot to do, and Season 2 coming up hopefully next year at some point, as we hopefully continue to showcase more and more local restaurants and more and more chefs, so you can kind of see not only a lot of the places to eat, but hear from some people that really know what they’re talking about.
[36:52] Sign-Off
Brady Renard: Thanks again for joining us here on the show today. We really appreciate all the time that you’ve given us, as we’re well over 100 episodes at this point, and the views only continue to go up. We really appreciate it.
Jillian Corder: Yeah, we sure do. We love talking about food, so let’s keep this thing going. We also like to talk about all the wonderful things that are happening across Southwest Louisiana. So please drop us a like, subscribe, rating, review. That, of course, helps us further share those stories and unique experiences that Lake Charles has to offer. So you can go to visitlakecharles.org/podcast for more of our episodes, advice on where to eat, and happenings this weekend. I’m Jillian Corder.
Brady Renard: And I’m Brady Renard. Thanks again for coming to play at Louisiana’s Playground. C’est tout.