Amelia Belle Casino chef featured in magazine

Dean Terrebonne, executive chef at Amelia Belle Casino, will be featured in Louisiana Life magazine, highlighting his participation in the sixth annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off.
Terrebonne and nine other chefs from across Louisiana vied for the coveted culinary title of Louisiana Seafood King during the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience’s Grand Tasting event held over the Memorial Day weekend.
The chef held a luncheon Monday at Amelia Belle as part of the magazine’s interview process. The lunch served was his competition meal, Terrebonne said.
It included a Crab Salad of fresh Louisiana jumbo lump crab meat remoulade encased in a parmesan cheese basket as an appetizer. The main course was Mangrove Snapper a la Dupuy — fresh pan-seared mangrove red snapper atop a red onion coulis with sherry wine and sherry vinegar accompanied by Butternut Squash Risotto, Tabasco Beurre Blanc sauce and lump crabmeat.
The dessert course was the chef’s signature dessert, Lemoncello and Mascarpone Genoise Cake.
Terrebonne said his favorite food to cook is fish, either grilled or sautéed.
“My mom wasn’t a big meat eater, and she always had a lot of seafood. We probably have some of the best seafood. Gulf of Mexico seafood is second to none,” Terrebonne said.
Use of Louisiana seafood in recipes is a cause Terrebonne champions. His father, uncle and cousins were commercial fishermen, and he has participated in numerous charity events to support the industry, particularly after the BP disaster in 2010.
“We’ve got a backyard here of nothing but great, great seafood. It’s sold all over the world,” Terrebonne said.
The chef’s number one cooking tip is to clean as you go.
“I love my momma. She was a great cook. She was clean, but she wasn’t tidy,” he said.
Terrebonne is a graduate of Johnson Wales University in Providence, R.I., with associate and bachelor degrees in culinary arts, and food and beverage management.
He completed European apprenticeships at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels and a U.S. apprenticeship at Landsdowne Conference and Resorts in Fairfax, Va. He worked in Colorado Springs, Colo., Portland, Ore., and Seattle, as well as working as a banquet chef at New Orleans Country Club and executive chef at Goodwin House in Fairfax, Va.
Hurricane Katrina brought Terrebonne to Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Va. Upon his return to Louisiana, Terrebonne worked as executive chef at Belle Terre Golf and Country Club in LaPlace, consulting chef for Parrie’s Louisiana Grill in Morgan City and now as executive chef for the Amelia casino.
Terrebonne also taught at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University.
Among his accolades are an appearance on the WWL Channel 4 cooking show; 2007 Chef of the Year, American Culinary Federation; second place, New York dessert competition; and first place, Johnson Wales University cooking competition.
The chef began his career as a medical technologist with a major in chemistry and microbiology and worked at Washington University Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. He also served two tours in Vietnam as a Green Beret where he was awarded two Purple Hearts, the Silver Star and the Bronze star.