NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANTS & FOOD - Chef's Corner

Chef Chef Susan Spicer of Bayona Restaurant

Susan Spicer’s Lemongrass Scallops with Thai Purple Rice and Coconut Broth

Chef Susan Spicer brings the spirit of a seasoned traveler to her work: an eclectic and discerning taste, an eye for details others might miss, an openness and passion for collaboration that would make her at home anywhere. Fortunately for New Orleanians and our visitors, her real home is here, and when she brings together fl flavors inspired from around the globe, they settle into harmony on the varied menu of the French Quarter’s Bayona restaurant. So, when she mentions two of the things that excite her about the new year, it’s only fi fitting that the fi first is a foreign enticement—a trip to Vietnam—and the other is one of the joys of great local ingredients: the return of the Louisiana oyster. “We’ve been waiting for them to fatten up,” she explains, “and it looks like they’re just about ready.”

Although famous for her ability to bring together global infl uences as diverse as Latin American, French Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern cuisines, Spicer’s creative process always begins with the fi ne ingredients she has on hand. With those elements in mind, Spicer and her team brainstorm possibilities that she shapes into a menu both multifaceted and balanced. Th is combination has brought Spicer and Bayona, now in its seventeenth year, the highest accolades of the world of cuisine, including a James Beard Award for Best Chef, Southeast Region.

A great way to sample the fruits of this skilled improvisation is to try the Saturday lunch menu, a relatively new feature at Bayona. Each Saturday offffers a menu created that morning, a dozen savory dishes and a couple of desserts from which, for $20, lunchers can choose any combination of three small plates. Bayona’s dinner menu constantly changes as well, but you can still be assured to fi nd their signature dishes there: starters such as the grilled shrimp with black bean cake and main courses like sautéed Pacifific salmon with choucroute or their celebrated sweetbreads.

Chef Spicer praises the dry-packed scallops featured here as “super sweet and versatile.” The secret? “Don’t be afraid to get the pan hot enough for the scallops to become crisp and golden,” she says. “That may be the biggest difference between home and restaurant cooking.”