Frank Brigtsen's new cookbook serves up his legacy
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Chef Frank Brigtsen greets a guest at his eponymous restaurant. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
It took decades, but chef Frank Brigtsen recently put out a cookbook he feels like he's been writing since the very beginning of his New Orleans career.
Why it matters: "It's not just a collection of recipes; it's my legacy," Brigtsen says. "This is what I share with the world, and I finally got it done."
The big picture: Brigtsen put out "Color of Flavor" with Blue Runner Foods.
- One night in December 2024, the Gonzales-based company's owner, Ricky Thomas, stopped in for a solo dinner. He and Brigtsen are pals, and he asked if the chef was in the kitchen that night.
- He was.
- "So I came out, and he stood up, looked me dead in the eye, and said, 'Frank, you want to do a cookbook?'" Brigtsen says. "It must have been a really good dinner that night."
The serendipitous moment was a long time coming.
- A fourth-generation New Orleanian, Brigtsen worked his way up the ranks of local kitchens.
- A Commander's Palace apprenticeship under chef Paul Prudhomme turned into a job at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter.
- Not only did that job create the opportunity for Brigtsen to meet his lifelong love and business partner, Marna, but Prudhomme and his wife, Kay, helped him open his own restaurant, too.
- Brigtsen's has been a Dante Street fixture since 1986.
Brigtsen's other love? Teaching.
- As NOCCA's current chef-in-residence and through 15 years offering classes at the New Orleans Cooking Experience, plus 17 years at Nicholls State University and countless pop-ups, it's impossible to estimate how many people have passed through Brigtsen's tutelage.
- At Nicholls, Brigtsen said, a lot of the students already knew Louisiana cooking. "They know gumbo. … But part of my mission was to help them appreciate it. Yeah, you can do this, this and that, that's great, but let me explain the context of gumbo, of étouffée, of jambalaya."
- "When you understand the context of these dishes and these foods, your appreciation is heightened. And I loved it."
Flashback: Brigtsen made two pamphlet-style cookbooks in the early pandemic months. Their sale, he said, paid the rent.
- They also prompted him to write down even more recipes and develop a cookbook concept, but the project never went anywhere.
- That's why Blue Runner's partnership was so crucial, he says, to getting this project finally done.
- "Ricky feels like I do, that it's important that we protect, preserve and share Creole culture and cuisine," Brigtsen says. "It's an investment in this culture."
Dig in: "Color of Flavor" is available online and at Brigtsen's Restaurant.
- He's also signing copies at Barnes and Noble in Metairie at 1pm Saturday.