Page 36 - March & April

34 MYROUSESEVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2013
I f you’ve ever watched Top Chef and
thought I want to do that, pack your
knives and go to Thibodaux.
At the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute
( JFCI) aspiring professionals can earn
associates or bachelor’s degrees in culinary
arts. Nicholls State University began
offering classes through the institute in
1995, and in 1997, the university offered the
first four-year Bachelor of Science degree in
Culinary Arts at a U.S. public university.
This isn’t a cooking school; it’s a major
culinary college. Students complete
rigorous programs combining class hours
in food history and fundamentals, with
hands-on courses in everything from
regional cuisine to international baking and
pastries. Folse himself teaches a class in the
food contributions of the seven nations that
settled Louisiana.
Students also run their own restaurant, Le
Bistro, rotating through every position from
dishwasher to executive chef. Externships
at the end of sophomore and senior year
provide on-the-job, real-life experience in
restaurants around the state and as far away
as Lyon, France.
JFCI culinary graduates are making a tre-
mendous impact on the culinary industry. In
Louisiana alone, high profile JFCI graduates
include Michael Gulotta, Chef de Cuisine,
Restaurant August; Nick Landry, Corporate
Chef, Bruce Foods; and Ben Thibodeaux,
former Chef de Cuisine at the Palace Cafe
and Executive Chef of the soon-to-open
Tableaux. More than two-dozen JFCI culi-
nary graduates work at Rouses Markets.
“Our students are going up against the
big-name culinary schools and taking the
jobs,” Executive Director Chef Randolph
Cheramie said. “We instill real discipline,
pride and work ethics in our students. We
are incredibly proud of them.”
Cheramie himself is self-taught. His love of
food was nurtured at his family’s restaurant,
Randolph’s, along Bayou Lafourche in
Golden Meadow. What his grandparents
and parents taught him he is passing along
to a new generation.
Soon JFCI will have the facility and
resources to expand enrollment from the
current 300 students to as many as 600. A
crowd gathered recently under the oaks on
the banks of Bayou Lafourche to witness
the groundbreaking on the institute’s new
33,000 square foot, $12.5 million dollar,
state-of-the-art space, which will unify the
institute’s classrooms, teaching kitchens,
and Le Bistro under one roof. In all, the new
building will house four complete teaching
kitchens, a full restaurant kitchen to service
Le Bistro, and a demonstration kitchen for
community events and public classes. The
plan is to begin teaching students in the
new space in August 2014.
“The new dining area for Le Bistro will be
drop-dead gorgeous and the demonstration
kitchen will allow us to offer the community
everything from simple classes to culinary
boot camps,” Cheramie said. “For years we
have had to turn people who want this away
because we did not have the facilities so we
are extremely excited about this. We really
want to be closer to the community.”
John Folse Culinary Institute
Jyl Benson is a writer and editor based in New Orleans.
About the Writer
by Jyl Benson + photos by Matthew Noel and courtesy of Tri-Parish Times