|
Guest Chef- July, 2000
Chef John D. Folse, CEC, AAC
Chef John Folse is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana-based
corporations. Lafitte's Landing Restaurant in Donaldsonville is recognized as one of
the finest restaurants in and around New
Orleans. White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge houses his catering and events
management company. Chef John Folse & Company Manufacturing, the only chef-owned and -operated manufacturing
company, produces soups, sauces, entrees
and specialty items for chain restaurants,
foodservice and retail establishments across
the country. Folse has authored numerous
books available in bookstores nationally.
He hosts his own National television cooking
show, "A Taste of Louisiana" on PBS, and his syndicated radio show, "Stirrin’ It Up!" can be heard worldwide.
Folse is respected around the world as an
authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and
culture and has gained national recognition
within the retail and foodservice community
for his efforts in new product development
and manufacturing. He has taken his famous "Taste of Louisiana" from Hollywood to the Great Wall of China,
opening promotional Louisiana restaurants
in Hong Kong, Japan, Beijing, London, Paris,
Rome, Bogota, Taipei and Seoul. In 1987,
Chef Folse was selected as "Louisiana Restaurateur of the Year" by the Louisiana Restaurant Association
and in November of 1988, the Louisiana Sales
and Marketing Executives named him "Louisiana's Marketing Ambassador to
the World." In 1988, Chef Folse made international headlines
by opening his "Lafitte's Landing East" in Moscow during the presidential summit
between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.
This opening represented the first time an
American Restaurant had operated on Soviet
soil. Immediately following this venture,
John hosted ten Soviet chefs for the first
Soviet American Culinary Exchange.
In 1989, Chef Folse was invited to create
the first ever Vatican State Dinner in Rome, and while there had a private audience
with Pope John Paul II. In 1990, Chef Folse
was named the "National Chef of the Year" by the American Culinary Federation, the
highest honor bestowed upon an American chef.
His Lafitte's Landing Restaurant was inducted
into the "Fine Dining Hall of Fame" in 1989 and received the DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North
America) award in 1996.
Folse has been honored by local, state and
international governments for his continuing
efforts to showcase America's regional cooking
around the world. His most prestigious acknowledgment
to date was Nicholls State University's decision to name their new culinary program
in his honor. The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at
Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana, offers Associate
and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Culinary
Arts.
John shares recipes from his award winning
show- Stirrin' It Up
- Thought you knew everything these was to
know about roux? Well you haven't talked to Chef Folse!
|
