Chef Shonda Cross is a self-taught chef who grew up in New Orleans. She changed careers to jump into the culinary world and worked at Nina Compton’s Compere Lapin for eight years, five of them as sous chef. More recently, she launched her own culinary business, offering weekly menus for pick-up and catering and private chef services. She’ll have a booth at French Quarter Festival at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and in summer, she’ll work with chef Serigne Mbaye on a special Juneteenth dinner, Afro Freedom Afro Feast. For more information, visit @chef_shonda on Instagram.
Gambit: How did you get interested in cooking?
Shonda Cross: I started cooking at home and found a true love for it. I always watched my sister cooking for the holidays, when I was 12 or 13. It didn’t become a passion until I started cooking in my own kitchen and exploring different recipes and baking. I was making vegan cookies, peanut butter cookies. I was going nuts.
For a while it was sweets, and then I moved over to savory and started exploring foie gras and quail — things I hadn’t eaten at home but wanted to try. I had friends in the culinary space. They made me want to try all of these different things.
After cooking those types of dishes, it made me want to dig deeper in the culinary space. When I saw chef Compton was opening a restaurant here, I reached out to her to see if she would give me a chance. It was my first professional kitchen job.
I actually saw her in Rouses. I think I said, “I have never worked in a kitchen before, but I think I have a passion for it, and I would be forever grateful if you would give me a chance.”
I was in pastry for three years. I liked to make ice creams. That’s one of my favorite things: developing the flavors and textures.
I went from pastry straight to sous chef. Leaving pastry, I was so excited. I finally got to put my hands on all the things I’ve watched.
Gambit: How did you start your own business?
Cross: I went back (to Compere Lapin) after the pandemic. I got to a point that I was working so much that I was missing out on a lot of family time. The restaurant is in a hotel, so it’s open seven days a week and every holiday. I wanted to be closer to my family.
I took a small break and then a friend called me up for a contract job and cooking for the military. We did that for nearly two years on and off. When we finished, I started a pop-up, DeauxJo, with a friend of mine, JP (Joshua Peterson). A Creole-Japanese pop-up. That was incredibly fun.
My friend JP has a lot of experience in that space. He’s planning to eventually move to Japan. I learned a lot from him. We got to create all of these beautiful dishes and fuse these cultures together. It was amazing.
We made things like a jambalaya onigiri. It was a great seller as well. It was jambalaya with sticky rice wrapped in seaweed and we topped it with a Creole yum yum sauce.
Then I branched off and dove into the private chef sector. Four months ago, I leased a space in Gentilly. Now I am using that kitchen space for pop-ups and catering. I am enjoying it. I miss the camaraderie in the kitchen and working alongside great chefs, but I like to have my time away.
I am having a lot of fun (offering pick-up food), doing all these different menus every week, but I am leaning towards private chef work and catering.
Four decades in and French Quarter Festival continues to grow.
Gambit: What are you doing at French Quarter Fest?
Cross: This is going to be my first festival. I did Food Fight last year. That was a lot of fun. I did one of my top sellers. I did blackened fish over grits with crawfish sauce, and I came in second place.
French Quarter Festival is going to be the biggest event I’ve taken part in. I am doing things that have done really well when I have put them on the menu. I am doing jambalaya arancini. I am doing blackened salmon cakes, which are like crab cakes but using salmon. I am serving it as a slider with a pickled mirliton slaw on a brioche bun.
I am doing crawfish queso. I think that was one of the favorites at the festival tasting I did. I am adding Creole spices to the queso, and it has crawfish, red peppers and scallions.
I have assembled a team with friends that are coming in from Houston and Mississippi and some folks from right here in the city.
Magasin Vietnamese Cafe is back, just a block up from where it originally opened a dozen years ago.
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