K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen's chef and owner, Paul Prudhomme passed away on Thursday, October 8. He was 75. According to Tiffanie Roppolo, the CFO of Prudhomme's ventures, the well-known chef died due to his brief illness.
Prudhomme first rose to popularity in the cooking industry back in the early 1980s, after launching his first restaurant 'K-Paul's', a French diner serving some meals from his childhood.
Though Prudhomme had no formal training, he was able to bring his food venture to the top and even hyped the interests of many food enthusiasts over Cajun food, particularly the gumbo, etouffee and jambalay, which were all unknown outside the Louisiana area.
The American chef boomed and apparently became a cooking sensation when the country's top restaurants were only serving European food.
One of his chefs, Frank Brigsten, described Paul whom he spent his 7 years with in the kitchen. "The way Paul approached everything was to try to make things more local, more regional, fresher, cooked to order. At the time, all those concepts were fresh and new. Now we all cook that way."
He also said, "He was always on a mission and nothing was impossible for Paul. He did things his way and let the food speak for itself. He changed the way we eat in New Orleans in a major way, by bringing Acadian or Cajun cuisine to the restaurants of the city."
Besides being known for pulling great ideas in the market, the deceased chef had always been looked-up to for his innovations. One of his most well-known dishes is using his technique called 'blackening', a meat or fish topped with spieces.
Among his well-patronized dishes was the Blackened redfish, which was also one of Prudhomme's favorite traditional Cajun dishes.
"We had all this wonderful food, we raised our own rabbit and duck, and all anyone wanted was blackened redfish." Prudhomme said during one of his interviews back in the year 1992.
Following the news of his death, the New Orleans chef Isaac Toup's restaurant sent their condolences, saying "We lost a culinary legend today."