As to be expected in New Orleans, the Krewe of Red Beans’ Bean Madness Championship in 2019 was fiercely contested,  bringing red beans and rice to the spotlight of culinary competitions. And, as with any challenge, there can only be one winner. 

The Queen of Red Beans is crowned.

Emily Shaya was crowned the Queen of Red Beans — with her recipe now creating new fans at Miss River, where red beans and rice isn’t just a Monday tradition — it’s celebrated daily. The restaurant, located in the Four Seasons New Orleans Hotel, is part of Pomegranate Hospitality, which owns Saba and Safta’s Kitchen in New Orleans, as well as other restaurants in the U.S. and the Bahamas.

The restaurant’s cuisine is guided by Emily’s husband, Chef Alon Shaya, himself a winner of two James Beard Foundation Awards. But when it comes to red beans and rice at Miss River, which is Chef Alon’s culinary homage to Louisiana cuisine, it’s Emily’s red beans and rice recipe that’s the star.

Studying the art and science of perfect red beans.

So how did this native of Georgia embrace one of the city’s most beloved dishes? Emily’s deep dive into New Orleans food began when she attended Tulane University as an undergraduate and its A.B. Freeman School of Business. Afterwards, while living in Atlanta, she got homesick for New Orleans food. “I missed New Orleans so much that I wanted to bring that piece of it there,” says Emily.

She experimented with cookbook recipes and the instructions on the back of the Camellia Brand Red Kidney Bean bag, brought back ingredients from her trips to New Orleans, and used her creativity to craft her signature dish.

“I decided I really wanted to perfect red beans,” says Emily.

Once she returned to New Orleans for good, her kitchen became a hub for friends and family to gather around simmering pots of beans.

The meat stock is the thing!

The red beans recipe would evolve even more with trips to local grocery stores. “I’d see what kind of interesting meats we could get — sausage or pickled pork … we eventually found pickled turkey necks and experimented with that for a while,” she says. 

A key ingredient became a rich, gelatinous stock made from chicken wings and sometimes pork. “I think the stock is really important,” says Emily. “It makes the beans creamy because the base is not water.” That and simmering the beans all day are “kind of like my secret weapons.”

Another key step for Emily is soaking the beans. “I just think it makes life a little bit easier,” she explains. “You don’t have to watch over the beans as much if you soak them.”

Here’s where to come eat these perfect red beans:

Her red beans recipe was adapted for Miss River, “So it has all the love and care that we do at home. The team here in the kitchen does it every day.” Emily’s red beans and rice are featured in two ways at Miss River: as a side dish, Emily’s Famous Red Beans and Rice, or as an entrée, Emily’s Famous Red Beans and Rice with Buttermilk-fried Chicken.

“We really wanted to pair fried chicken with our red beans and rice,” says Emily. “We’re kind of famous for our fried chicken here. We [also] do a whole chicken that is really a spectacle.”

Why Camellia Brand beans? For Emily, the answer is simple: consistency. “When you are soaking your beans, you can see how clean the water looks. You know you will always get beautiful beans from Camellia.”

Emily, who is a co-founder and director of New Projects at Pomegranate Hospitality, is still making her red beans and rice for family and friends as often as she can.

Whether in her own kitchen or made by the staff at Miss River, each pot carries the same intention: to feed, comfort and create lasting memories.

Emily Shaya’s Famous Red Beans and Rice Recipe

Bring Emily Shaya’s red beans home — a soulful, slow-simmered taste of New Orleans tradition, straight from Miss River’s kitchen.

Courtesy of Emily Shaya | Founder and Director of New Projects, Pomegranate Hospitality (New Orleans: Saba, Saba’s Lounge, Miss River and Chandelier Bar at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans, Safta’s Table; Denver: Safta, Ceci! Italian Lounge; Bahamas: Silan at Atlantis Paradise Island)

Miss River, Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans, 2 Canal St.; (504) 434-5701, missrivernola.com/; on Instagram. 

It’s Monday morning at 3 Southern Girls, and customers are starting to drop in, looking for their favorite dish. It might be a stuffed bell pepper, turkey necks, a fried catfish plate, gumbo, or as it is the traditional day for it — red beans and rice, served with pickled pork, potato salad, and cornbread.

It’s the type of comfort food that reminds you of home.

And that’s just how owner Gabrielle Smith likes it. 3 Southern Girls is all about food and family, which also includes the neighborhood’s residents — and fans near and far — who have embraced the restaurant.

How 3 Southern Girls Came to Be
Located in Jefferson, 3 Southern Girls is a result of Gabrielle’s dream, hard work, and faith.

While the restaurant business is part of the family’s heritage — her grandmother owned Ebony’s and Maxine’s in Shrewsbury (in Jefferson Parish) — Gabrielle isn’t a formally trained chef and had never worked in a full-service restaurant. But she wanted to share her love of food with others, praying fervently before making the decision to open a restaurant. “God said it was going to work,” she told her father, just before she signed the lease for the restaurant’s building.

She opened on Feb. 29, 2020. The restaurant had just started to hit its stride when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and restaurants closed.

It was another test of faith. And Gabrielle persevered.

A Red Beans & Rice Recipe Inspired by Her Grandmother

Today, 3 Southern Girls is a mainstay, and while the red beans and rice is a Monday special, it’s also available every day with smoked sausage.

“Typically, I’m going to soak my beans the night before. So when I come in the morning, it’s two hours max for my cooking time,” says Gabrielle.

After she arrives, the beans are drained, and the pot is filled back up with water. It is then put on high heat for the first hour.

“That second hour, I’m going to add my dry ingredients, my bay leaf with a little chicken flavor, as well as add garlic powder, onion powder, and other seasonings.”

Traditionally, many chefs add the trinity — bell pepper, onion, celery — at the start of the cooking process. Gabrielle takes a different tack; in the last 30 minutes of cooking, she adds these ingredients raw – not cooked or sautéed.

“My grandmother taught me to finish with your fresh seasoning — not start with it,” she says.

It’s something, she notes, that is hard for people to understand. “When you start cooking with all your seasonings, everything cooks out of your pot. But if you finish with it, everything’s still there,” she explains, referencing the flavor.

Another essential ingredient she uses is Camellia Brand Red Kidneys beans and the brand’s Lima beans (butter beans) for other dishes.

“I’m going to stick to what I know works,” she says. “And I just feel like when you’re talking about beans, it’s what you are raised on. I’ve never seen any other kind of beans in our house.”

Who are the 3 Southern Girls — the ladies illustrated in the restaurant logo? The name was dreamed up in honor of Gabrielle and her two sisters, who don’t work at the restaurant, but like Gabrielle’s customers, appreciate her delicious food. Because it’s just like being home

3 Southern Girls, 4402 Jefferson Highway, (504) 381-4276; Facebook: @3SouthernGirls504; Instagram: @3SouthernGirls_; Hours: Mon-Fri. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

It started with a tortilla.

Then a pupusa, followed by a birria taco and ultimately a Central American restaurant with a full menu.

But first, that tortilla.

Mawi Tortillerias on January 8, 2024. Photo by Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee rhrphoto.com

Expanding Their Tortilla Empire

Will Avelar started Mawi Tortilla with his father Carlos and brother Fernando in 2017 as a wholesale tortilla bakery.

During COVID-19, Mawi Tortilla business was down due to most restaurants’ reduced operations, so the company began making and selling pupusas (inspired by Carlos, who is from El Salvador) and then birria tacos, which went viral on Instagram.

“Since then, we realized this location would probably benefit more from doing retail food than just wholesale tortillas,” says Will. The production of tortillas is now in Kenner.

The Spotted Rooster Rice

One of the restaurant’s popular dishes is Gallo Pinto, which translates roughly as “spotted rooster.”

The restaurant likes to use Camellia Brand small red beans or small black beans to make the Costa Rican-style rice and beans dish.

A New Orleans native, Will spent time in Costa Rica, where his mother’s family lives. In Costa Rica, “black beans are a big part of their rice dish,” he states in a Camellia Beans video. “Most Costa Rican homes have a pot of Gallo Pinto and rice. It’s that much of a staple item that you always have it.”

Crafting the Gallo Pinto

The dish starts by boiling the beans. “You can soak them to speed up the process, but it’s not necessary,” says Will.

“From there, you take the cooked beans and strain the liquid, but keep it. Then in another pot — or once you’ve cleaned out the same pot — you sweat the aromatics like onion, bell pepper, garlic, and cilantro in olive oil or butter,” he says.

“Add uncooked rice, toasting it a little bit, then add the bean liquid to cook the rice, and add the cooked beans, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. Taste the liquid to ensure the seasoning is good,” he says.

“Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.”

Gallo Pinto pops up as a special, sometimes as part of a Costa Rican-style breakfast served with eggs, cheese, some sort of protein, and plantains.

Red Beans Versatility

The restaurant also uses small red kidney beans to make refried beans and sopa de frijoles, a traditional bean soup, which is cooked with fried pork rinds and served with rice, boiled eggs, and avocado.

Another specialty that is more New Orleans in style, but with a Central American twist, is the restaurant’s version of red beans and rice, served on Mondays as a special.

It starts as traditional red beans and rice, prepared using Camellia Red Kidney beans and using the “trinity” (celery, onions, bell pepper), garlic and bay leaf. But it is a meatless version, made as a “way to cater to our guests who want a meatless option,” says Avelar.

A new addition are the sides of two pupusas served with curtido [pickled cabbage] and salsa, which “are two things you must have when eating pupusas,” says Avelar.

Freshly sliced avocado is also added, which may seem unusual. But there is a reason.

“My father always adds avocado to any beans he’s eating so I thought of putting that on our red beans and rice as something that our guests would like to try because it’s unique to the way he eats his beans.”

Avelar said he created this dish with the purpose of connecting both Louisiana and El Salvador on one plate.

“It represents traditions I identify with in my cooking and upbringing,” he says.

Blending Culinary Influences

If Will Avelar’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he has been involved in four of Chef Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants, working his way up through the ranks of Emeril’s, NOLA, Delmonico, and finally, as the opening chef for Meril. In addition to running Mawi Tortillas, he recently became the corporate chef for Hufft Marchand Hospitality.

“It’s the flavors that I’m familiar with, techniques I grew up learning in my career, but also incorporating that into the traditional foods that we have in Central America,” Will says of Mawi Tortilla’s dishes. He likes to experiment — crawfish pupusas, for example — but also keeps traditional favorites on the menu, sometimes adding a bit of Louisiana flair with Camellia Beans.

Mawi Tortillas, 5050 W. Esplanade, Metairie, mawinola.com, on Instagram, (504) 644.2624, Mon. – Sat. 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

When a plate of red beans and rice with French bread comes to the table, a debate can sometimes arise about the correct way to eat it.

Should the French bread be used as a scoop, a way to soak up the last bits, or as a separate accompaniment slathered with butter? Then again, why make a choice?

Just like the debate over who makes the best red beans and rice, the debate over how to eat the French bread is ongoing. But no matter the preferred eating style, all agree that the French bread has to be from Leidenheimer Baking Company.

French Bread in New Orleans

Leidenheimer’s was founded 1896 by George Leidenheimer, when New Orleans was teeming with bakeries. About a decade beforehand, the City Directory listed 150 bakeries.

Leidenheimer immigrated years earlier from Deidesheim, Germany. He opened the bakery on Dryades Street and in 1904, moved it to the corner of Simon Bolivar Avenue in Central City, where it remains today.

At first, Leidenheimer made the heavy, dense breads he was more familiar with from Germany; however, around 1905, the bakery segued to making French bread, in addition to other types of breads popular during that time period.

How much did a loaf of French bread cost? At the turn of the century, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of a nickel per loaf.

The Proof is In the Water

What gives Leidenheimer’s French bread its flaky, thin crust and fluffy interior is a combination of interesting influences, but the Mississippi River’s hard water plays a big role.

Other factors include the fermentation process and the weather.

“We naturally ferment our dough, allowing it to age and develop flavor and its unique crumb characteristics,” says bakery Director of Operations and fifth-generation owner William Whann.

“Our bake time varies based on the ambient temperature. We have to put a considerably harder bake on our products during the hotter months because the New Orleans humidity will soften the bread’s signature crust,” he added.

But even with the introduction of technology, the bakery still harkens to its roots.

“While we have incorporated the use of automation to increase output,” says Whann, “human touch will always play an important role in our products. Every po-boy loaf produced at Leidenheimer is still hand-stretched to its signature 32-inch length.”

Po-boy bread in New Orleans is often referred to as French bread and vice versa, but they started out differently.

While French bread had been available in some variation since the city was founded in 1718, po-boy bread was introduced to New Orleanians in 1929. The first po-boys — sandwiches that can be filled with an infinite amount of combinations — were credited to Martin Brother’s Grocery which made them during a streetcar strike. The brothers, who had been streetcar conductors, decided to help out and created a loaf of bread for the “poor boys” to eat or share with their families.

Originally, a typical French bread was a family loaf roughly 16-inches long. It was fatter in the middle at around 4- to 5-inches wide, with narrow, pointed ends. Notes Whann, po-boy bread was developed as a long loaf uniform in width – because when making sandwiches, restaurants were having to throw away the unusable ends.

In the past, New Orleanians may have used the ends of the French bread as a makeshift bowl for their red beans and rice. According to a Southern Foodways 2006 interview with Joe Darensberg, whose family worked at the bakery for generations, “My dad said, ‘We put red beans in the ends of the French bread …” (Perhaps the ends worked well as a large scoop!)

Leidenheimer Today and Beyond

Today, Leidenheimer customers can order different sizes of its French/po-boy bread depending on their needs. The company is the largest producer of French bread in New Orleans.

The bakery also makes pistolettes with the same formula that range in size from 4 inches to 12 inches and is the largest producer of muffuletta bread in the country.

“We bake and deliver tens of thousands of loaves daily to both local and national customers,” says Whann.

“In addition to supporting the needs of our incredibly loyal, local customers, we have had the unique opportunity in recent years to connect with restaurants and chefs all over the country through social media, which has been an incredible experience to see how people are using the product across the States,” says Whann.

Working with Whann in the bakery business is his father, Sandy Whann, president; aunt Katherine Whann, office manager; and sister Katie Whann, marketing and social. Mitch Abide has been the longtime plant manager.

While some may argue cornbread is a go-to accompaniment to red beans and rice, for many, only a slice of Leidenheimer’s French bread will do.

leidenheimer.com/; on Instagram; 504.525.1575.

When owner and chef Jeffrey Heard opened the doors to his restaurant on March 2, 2015, his wife made the red beans and rice.

“She had always cooked them for me at home,” Heard says. “So I let her cook them here.”

But when he entered the Krewe of Red Beans “Bean Madness” contest in 2017, he decided to take on the challenge himself. Working from the memory of his mother’s red beans and rice recipe, he made a batch and had his oldest brother do the taste-testing. His brother proclaimed them “marvelous.”

Heard’s red beans made it to the final eight contenders out of 64 in the competition, but in trying to make more batches, he wasn’t able to cook the beans long enough. “They didn’t have enough time to break down right,” he says, and they didn’t make it to the final four.

Despite that, Heard was hooked on making red beans and rice.

Precision: The Key to Heard’s Red Beans

The process for making everything he serves at the restaurant is precise — including the red beans and rice.

“What I do now is soak them in water overnight. Then, the next day, I cook them on a high fire for about eight hours,” he says.

“And then after that, I simmer them on a real low fire for about 12 hours. I don’t put any seasoning or anything in it. I’m just trying to get them broken down.”

Once they reach the consistency Heard likes, if he doesn’t need them right away, he separates the red beans into portions and puts them in the refrigerator or freezer. Heard then sautés onions, peppers, and pork sausage and puts that aside, divided into portions, as needed. His dry seasonings, including garlic and onion powder, are all ready in a Ziploc bag, again, divided into portions.

Most of the prep takes place on Saturdays, so when Mondays roll around, “I’ll just put it all in the pot, so with that process, it takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to finish cooking.”

His secret? Don’t rush the beans. “I found slow cooking them on that real low fire is what really will make them creamy.” His preferred bean is Camellia Red Kidney Beans. “It’s just something my mom always used. It was like it was a rule and the only kind we had in the house, actually,” he says.

From Front of House to Back of House

Heard was born and raised in New Orleans, the second oldest of six boys. He worked in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years, serving in a variety of front-of-house positions, including waiter, operations manager, and banquet captain at places such as Restaurant August and the Crowne Plaza/W Hotel/Le Méridien on Poydras Street.

Though Heard didn’t work in the kitchen during that time, he watched and learned from chefs such as Michael Gulotta, Michael Stoltzfus, Brian Landry, John Besh, Alon Shaya and Agnes Bellet. And he credits learning the importance of how to plate food so it looks appetizing to his time at Restaurant August.

While working at these establishments, he would often be asked where to find authentic New Orleans food – “I want to go where you eat,” people would say to him. No one knew better than he did, so when the opportunity came along to open his own restaurant, he took it.

A Restaurant of His Own

Heard’s family members are his main collaborators: son, Jeffrey Heard Jr. and daughters Tia’Nesha Heard-Dorset and Angel Heard.

The restaurant’s Audrey Mae’s Catering is named after his mom. Heard was catering before he opened the restaurant at the corner of Magnolia and Felicity streets, in a building with historic roots. Built by Johann Heinrich Keller of Keller Southern Soap Works, it housed the largest manufacturer of soap products in the South in the late 19th century, with products distributed to the eastern U.S., Mexico, and Central America. The front of the building still has the Keller name on it. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it accommodated a food store and the restaurant’s dining area, but neither the food store nor the inside dining area have re-opened.

Heard Dat Kitchen’s menu is available for take-out or can be eaten outside at the picnic tables, but Heard is hoping the owner will soon re-open the building. He’d like to use the larger kitchen and offer inside dining again.

“It would be a perfect spot for coffee, as the neighborhood doesn’t have a coffee shop,” says Heard, who prefers to wear a t-shirt proclaiming, “Exceed Expectations,” a phrase based on Ephesians 3:20.

The red beans and rice do live up to the promise of the t-shirt’s expression; served with a choice of fish or chicken that’s blackened or fried, it is a popular menu item. (Heard points out the blackened chicken works well with the red beans.) Two other signature menu items include the Superdome — a blackened fish dish in a lobster cream sauce with fresh corn and crispy onion rings, and Bourbon Street Love — a baked macaroni dish topped with fried chicken and a crawfish cream sauce.

Heard Dat Kitchen is both a neighborhood spot and a place people seek out – for the food, the experience, and for Jeffrey Heard himself.

Says Chef Gulotta, “I worked with Jeffrey years ago when we had to execute massive private dinners together, and he was unflappable through countless high stress situations – and his knowledge and love of great wine is also unmatched. When I tried his food at Heard Dat Kitchen, he floored me again.”

“My biggest motto is, I tell people that I’m in the memory-making business,” says Heard.

Heard Dat Kitchen, 2520 Felicity St., (504) 510-4248, @_hearddat_ on Instagram, heardatkitchen.com. Hours: Mon. – Sat., 11 a.m.- 8 p.m.

If you can’t say Camellia, say “La La”!

Ms. Bonnie Stanzak was born in New Orleans in 1948 – just a few years after we began packaging our beans in the iconic cellophane bag with camellia flower logo and selling them in big supermarkets like Schwegmann’s. Her grandmother, Maw Maw, made red beans as far back as she can remember. She says “I think one of my first solid foods was my Maw Maw’s red beans. She made the best red beans I ever tasted. They were always so creamy and tasty. She always told me that if I thought she made the best, it was because she used the best – Camellia Beans. As a young child I couldn’t say Camellia, so I would say ‘La La.’ I’d ask, ‘Maw Maw can I have some La La beans?’”

Bonnie Stanzak’s Maw Maw when she was young, living life to the fullest and cooking the best red beans!

Searching for childhood’s lost beans.

Bonnie grew up and moved to New York City as a young woman, and her beloved Maw Maw passed away. She tried to re-create her Maw Maw’s red beans and rice, looking all over for a “La La” brand of dried red beans, and of course no one knew what she was talking about. But when she returned to New Orleans for a visit, problem solved! She says, “When I asked the New Orleans taxi driver if she ever heard of ‘La La’ beans, she said no, but the best beans she liked was ‘Ca-mel-LA.’ That seemed to strike a chord, so when I went to a store and found them! When I made that first pot of beans, I knew that I had found my Maw Maw’s beans. I mashed them up in the last 30 mins of cooking like she always did, and tasted them: nice and creamy! They are truly the best. And now my daughter, son and grandchildren are enjoying Maw Maw’s ‘La La’ beans.”

Remembering a true Southern lady and cook.

Bonnie’s Maw Maw lived in the New Orleans area, and from what Bonnie has shared with us, she was a typical New Orleanian – enjoying life to the fullest! Says Bonnie, “She was a fantastic Southern lady and cook. Her seafood gumbos and red beans were unbeatable. I have a picture of her at about age 25 in a bathing suit, hair cut short, smoking and showing a lot of skin for those days! She was the first feminist that I knew! She raised my mom on her own, working as a seamstress from the time she was 11 until retiring at 65. She cooked on weekends, freezing food so there was always a hot meal on the table when she got home. Camellia Beans were always a part of the weekend cooking.”

Maw Maw as Bonnie remembers her, and the inscription Maw Maw wrote in a cookbook she gave her granddaughter.

Here’s to another 100 years of Maw Maw’s “La La” red beans and rice.

Stories like Bonnie’s are the heart and soul of Camellia Beans, making every day special at our headquarters in New Orleans. Bonnie finished her story with best wishes for the family mealtime traditions of the future: “I could go on and on about this lady and am very proud to call her my Maw Maw and to be part of the Camellia family to carry on this wonderful tradition. Happy 100th Birthday Camellia! Maybe the world enjoy your product for 100 more!”

It’s a bustling scene inside Mother’s Restaurant. Visitors simultaneously look around, taking in this old school New Orleans eatery, while perusing the menu and trying to make a decision about what to order. Should they get the restaurant’s Famous Ferdi Special, a combination of ham and roast beef “debris” with its juices unabashedly soaking into the po-boy bread and down the sides? Perhaps Jerry’s Jambalaya, named after the late owner Jerry Amato, or the signature red beans and rice. Regulars go straight to the always-in-motion serving/deli line to get their favorite dish. Tables are overflowing with Mother’s food and those who enjoy it, a testament to the enduring popularity of this restaurant.

Much of that has to do with brothers Jerry and John Amato, who bought the restaurant in 1986. And much has to do with the staff — such as Miss Pat, who has been there for more than 30 years and has done a little bit of everything.

It’s family. It’s New Orleans. It’s about the relationships between people, as well as with food.

A Recipe is Born
It was Jerry – with culinary training from previous hospitality jobs, studies at Delgado Community College and The Culinary Institute of America – who had an innate sense of what tasted good and which flavors worked together. He was always able to take traditional New Orleans dishes and elevate them.

“Jerry really brought a culinary take on it,” says Charles Pizzo, who does public relations and social media marketing for the restaurant, about the food at Mother’s.

An example is the red beans and rice.

The origin of the red beans and rice recipe at Mother’s starts with the founders, Simon and Mary “Mother” Landry, who opened the business in 1938 on Poydras Street. It was there where they fed the neighborhood’s longshoremen, warehouse workers, and others looking for po-boys and hearty New Orleans dishes.

Years later, Chef Odie Mae Peters refined the red beans and rice recipe.

“She tweaked the recipe a little bit,” says Pizzo. “She added more ham because Mother’s cooks its own ham.”

When Jerry arrived on the scene, he saw all the leftover ham fat as the result of trimming, and realized it could be used in the red beans, among other dishes.

“It is a secret ingredient to a lot of Mother’s old-time dishes,” shares Pizzo.

Chef Roland Swazy agrees: “Though it’s no longer fashionable, it’s fat that makes the red beans taste good. And Mother’s happens to have a lot of ham trimmings available.”

After the ham fat is rendered, then the vegetables — onions, green onions, bell peppers and garlic — for the red beans are cooked in it.

Mother’s ham is cooked at the restaurant. “We only use Chisesi Brothers ham,” says Alex Salas, daytime manager, who has been at the restaurant for 16 years.

In addition to cooking the vegetables in the rendered ham fat, the ham bones, which are cut in half, are boiled with the red beans.

Pizzo notes that the ham is not salted. The flavor is enhanced by Mother’s secret sauce, a glaze that covers the ham when it is cooked. Ham chunks are also used in the red beans recipe, as is smoked sausage from Creole Country that is made to Mother’s specifications.

Mother’s uses Camellia Red Kidney Beans. The beans are not soaked, but instead, they’re put through a few rinses to help release the starches. (The restaurant also has specialized equipment so it can cook the beans low and slow at a controlled rate.)

The beans are then boiled in half chicken stock and half beef stock, a.k.a. “debris gravy.” The stocks are made in-house.

The Legacy Continues
Chef Swazy has been put in charge of carrying on the restaurant’s culinary traditions. Swazy started as a dishwasher in 1987 and worked his way up to become head chef, learning what made Mother’s so special along the way.

“Chef Jerry Amato, who mentored me, was big on the need for consistency. Regulars come to Mother’s Restaurant year after year, and they want and expect everything to taste the same,” says Swazy. “While some restaurants try to be cutting edge, Mother’s aims to be traditional. We’ve seen adult children bring their elderly parents in to eat,” he added. “These are folks who worked in what were once office buildings along Poydras Street, such as the Lykes Building or One Shell Square. They tear up and get emotional, telling us ‘Your food tastes exactly like I remembered it.’”

And that’s why Mother’s Restaurant remains beloved.

Mother’s Restaurant, 401 Poydras Street, mothersrestaurant.net, (504) 523-9656. Hours: 7 days 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

Arkesha Baquet is a busy woman. It’s just a half-hour before opening at Li’l Dizzy’s in Tremé, and menus must be reviewed, supply deliveries confirmed, and she needs to peek in the kitchen to check on the Creole-Soul food favorites this beloved eatery is famous for.

If a restaurant can embody a city’s culinary history, traditions, and heart — as well as its past, present and future — then Li’l Dizzy’s is it.

Arkesha, and her husband Wayne Baquet Jr., are second-generation owners of the restaurant founded by Wayne’s father, Wayne Baquet Sr., in 2004.

The Baquets and Their Long-Standing Culinary Legacy
The family has a long, rich culinary legacy in New Orleans. Before Li’l Dizzy’s, there was Zachary’s on Oak Street, and before that, Eddie’s in the Seventh Ward, run by Wayne Sr.’s father, Eddie Baquet Sr. Eddie learned the business working for his aunt and uncle, Ada Baquet Gross and Paul Gross, at their restaurant, Paul Gross Chicken Coop. The Chicken Coop opened in the mid-1940s and was among the first Black-owned restaurants in the city.

Li’l Dizzy’s is the last of the Baquet family restaurants that’s still in operation today, and Arkesha and Wayne Jr. took it over in February 2021, after Wayne Sr. retired during the pandemic. (Those who are curious will appreciate this tidbit: the café was named after Wayne Sr.’s grandson Zachary, who played the trumpet at St. Augustine High School and was nicknamed Li’l Dizzy after famous trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie.) Says Arkesha, “It’s a family business where a lot of people like to come with their families.”

Some Things Have Changed, While Others Have Stayed the Same
With Arkesha and Wayne Jr. at the helm, only a few things have changed: the restaurant just serves lunch, the buffet has been removed, and service is now tableside and take-out. Food is served in take-out containers for the ease of both customers and staff.

What hasn’t changed are the recipes. Those have been part of the Baquet family lore for generations. Wayne Sr.’s wife, Janet Jourdain Baquet, created the recipes. A few are by his mother, Myrtle Romano Baquet.

The red and white bean dishes, credited to Janet, are legendary, and the recipes can be found in “The Baquet Family Cookbook”.

The two recipes are the same, except for the beans used, but as Arkesha learned early on, the white beans better be Camellia’s Great Northern beans – and not lima beans.

“People will have a fit,” says Arkesha. “Because, I’m telling you, when we first opened up (post-pandemic), and we started selling white beans, the question almost every customer asked was, ‘What kind of white beans are these?’ They did not want those lima beans.”

Arkesha was asked this question so many times, that she even called Wayne Sr. about it.

“He said, ‘If you give them something else, they’re not going to be happy,’” says Arkesha.

Soaking the Beans and Secret Ingredients
Some additional things that haven’t changed are the way the red and white bean dishes are made — using Camellia Beans — and soaking the beans overnight.

“My mother said that it’s sacrilegious not to soak your beans,” Arkesha says. “I don’t know how you would get away with them being good. That’s what would scare me; are they going to be hard?”

One ingredient that gives the bean dishes a special kick is the notable hot sausage the Baquets make in-house. The hot sausage can also be served alongside the beans, or customers can choose options like smoked sausage or fried chicken.

The red beans are served only on Mondays and usually sell out, while the white beans are served only on Tuesdays, and are just as popular.

Customers can thank head chef John Cannon (who some may know for playing the tuba in the Stooges Brass Band) and lead cook Lawrence Miller: Cannon makes the red beans, and Miller makes the white beans.

Li’l Dizzy’s Third Generation
Li’l Dizzy’s third generation includes Arkesha and Wayne Jr.’s children, Jene and Jace, who can be found helping out on Saturdays. Wayne Jr., who is the president of a wholesale company, is there, as well.

“We’re all here on Saturdays,” says Arkesha.

And they’re dedicated to keeping the Baquet culinary legacy alive.

Li’l Dizzy’s, 1500 Esplanade Ave., lildizzyscafe.net; on Instagram; (504) 766-8687; Mon-Sat. 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Ham Hock and Sausage

A new Instant Pot recipe from our friends at Taste of the South, this hearty Monday meal made with smoked ham hocks and sausage is sure to start the week off right.

Southern-Style Vegetarian Blackeye Peas

These vegetarian Blackeye Peas are simple to make in the Instant Pot but full of complex flavor! Serve with collard greens, and you’ve got a great meal that’ll please even the pickiest one in your bunch.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

A slow cooker chili that does all the work for you, this dish offers up lots of healthy plant-based protein with very little effort.

Senate Bean Soup

When there’s a chill in the air, and it’s starting to feels like fall, pull out the pressure cooker and whip up this easy soup made with Lady Cream Peas and ham hocks. Mmm. (Feel free to sub Navy beans, if you prefer.)

The post No-Brainers: Busy Weeknight Favorites first appeared on Camellia Brand.]]> https://www.camelliabrand.com/no-brainers-back-to-school-bean-favorites/feed/ 0 https://www.camelliabrand.com/the-appalachian-bean-kitchen-vs-the-new-orleans-bean-kitchen/ https://www.camelliabrand.com/the-appalachian-bean-kitchen-vs-the-new-orleans-bean-kitchen/#respond Wed, 05 May 2021 15:19:19 +0000 https://www.camelliabrand.com/?p=41907 This post hails from R.L. Reeves, Jr., a Texas photographer and writer who is living and documenting life in the read more ...

Etta Sullivan, Lily Taylor, and my grandma Nellie Sullivan. Photo courtesy of R.L. Reeves, Jr.

This post hails from R.L. Reeves, Jr., a Texas photographer and writer who is living and documenting life in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. His recipes and cooking notes can be found on his food and culture blog, scrumptiouschef.com

“Boy you’re not gonna amount to a hill of beans.”

That was my grandma Nellie Sullivan’s standard exclamation anytime I did something that got her ire up.

That was about as strong a ‘talking to’ as I ever received, but in the Cumberland Highlands of Eastern Kentucky that was plenty stout enough.

In the early part of the 20th century a hill of pinto beans had such little worth the good mountain people of the region quit growing them.

It was cheaper and less taxing on the granny women who tended the gardens to just saddle up one of the family’s mules and ride down to Bargo’s General Store and buy a big sack for a few pennies.

That’s how the invective “…hill of beans” came to be.

I’ve lived all over the southern region of the United States and have never found bean-loving cultures as strong as the ones in Eastern Kentucky and Louisiana, specifically New Orleans.

Let’s discuss:

Ham hock vs Creole or hot sausage.

The standard protein for a bowl of Appalachian pinto beans is a giant ham hock with plenty meat attached. You lower it into the broth along with the dry beans and magic occurs over the next two hours as the beans turn tender and the silky ham meat falls off the bone.

Here in New Orleans we do the same thing but with the addition of Creole or ‘hot’ sausage serving as a meaty garnish that straddles a bowl of Camellia kidney beans.

There is a deep love in this part of Louisiana for ‘pickle meat,’ a hold-over from the pre-refrigeration era in Louisiana. If your family had a surfeit of fresh hog meat they had to figure out a way to preserve it to last them through the winter. Pickling that fresh meat ensured that they would have plenty protein to last them throughout the year without the luxury of a big Frigidaire in their kitchen.

That pickled pork meat was and is a standard part of the red beans kettle.

When I was a little kid, hog killing time was marked by the first frost. That’s when the pigs kept in my grandpa Big Jim Sullivan’s pen knew the end of their days had come. Pickling was my grandma’s forte and was reserved for vegetables. Big Jim had a smokehouse in the backyard with 50-pound bags of saltpetre at the ready. The fresh meat was covered with a blend of that sodium nitrate along with regular salt and that combination cured and preserved the meat to great effect.

Hickory smoked, cured ham hocks were part and parcel of every pot of pinto soup beans that my grandma ever made.

Corn bread vs French bread.

I still remember the look of disdain I received from a New Orleans waitress when I asked after cornbread on a vacation here back in the 80s. “We don’t serve that dawlin” she flatly stated. My mind raced. How was I supposed to soak up the likker in the bottom of my bowl? A foot-long loaf of French bread quickly arrived to table, and it was fine but not in the same league as a pone of hot cornbread garnished with a hunk of cow’s butter. If you opened a diner in Eastern Kentucky and did not serve cornbread you’d go belly up within a month. If you tried the same thing in New Orleans sans French bread you’d shutter just as quick.

Any day of the week vs Monday.

Across the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky folks hit the kitchen on a nightly basis to cook up a kettle of pinto beans. There is not a traditional “bean day.” Here in New Orleans we do things a little different. Monday is the day that cooks across the city fire up the bean pot to feed family and friends. Restaurants here further the tradition by putting sandwich boards on the sidewalk in front of their establishment with quaint artwork trumpeting the kitchen’s bean output for the day.

Fried potatoes vs rice.

Every pinto bean cook in Kentucky has their own particular way they fry their potatoes as a standard side for their beans. My daddy would cut Irish potatoes into crude batons and slowly cook them in rendered hog lard with plenty yellow onion til the potatoes were crisp and the onions were tawny brown and fully caramelized. You’d then take the potatoes and put them in the bowl with the beans and make a heavenly mash.

In New Orleans we simply boil up a pot of good rice, put the rice into the bottom of the bowl and pour the beans over the top. If you’re really feeling enterprising you may also toss a cube of bouillon in the rice kettle.

Piccalilli vs hot sauce.

That rich pot of beans you’ve been simmering on your stovetop all day needs an acidic counterpoint to give it a little jolt. In Kentucky that call is answered by piccalilli, a lightly-fermented jar-bound melange of vegetables that have been treated with vinegar and allowed to mature in a dark cupboard. In New Orleans we crack open a bottle of Crystal or Tabasco hot sauce and douse the beans with the liquid fire.

Chile spice is foreign to the Kentucky tongue, where people will talk of how a bell pepper “lit them up.” Down here on the bayous we love our hot peppers, and are always figuring out ways to get a little extra heat in our dishes.

I’m left to wonder who has the stronger bean culture, Kentucky or Louisiana?

Neither. This is not a zero sum game. Each place has a clutch of dedicated eaters and cooks who pour their heart into their bean kettles. I’ve been fortunate to call both states home and you won’t find a place on earth with more welcoming people – and you can’t beat the cooks or the food cultures of either.

 

 

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White Bean Pesto Pasta

A no-brainer weeknight meal, this White Bean Pesto Pasta offers a fresh-tasting, protein-packed dish full of healthy whole grains. Just four ingredients make it fast and easy!

Cozy Minestrone

This healthy, veggie-packed soup combines fresh vegetables, pasta, diced tomatoes, and Camellia Brand Cannellini Beans. You’ll wanna curl up and get cozy with a big bowl.

Pasta E Fagioli (Bean Soup with Pasta)

A classic Italian dish, our Pasta E Fagioli gets big flavor from salt pork, Camellia Brand Great Northern Beans, and Dagostino Birdseye Pasta.

Kid-Friendly Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

Super easy to make, this stick-to-your-ribs staple includes great northern beans, red kidneys, and Dagostino Fleur de Lis Shaped Pasta. Just add a salad and your favorite crusty bread for a complete meal.

Kid-Friendly Pasta & White Bean Salad

A high protein lunch for kids and adults alike, this salad can be made ahead and enjoyed right out of the fridge, all week long. And it tastes great with any combo of your family’s favorite veggies and cheeses.