Morgan City restaurant teams up with Culinary Institute for Saturday event

Rachel Mundell is a student chef who has experienced amazing opportunities in her young career and will be featured at Morgan City’s Latin Corner Saturday.
The 21-year-old senior at Nicholls State University’s Chef John Folse Culinary Institute has been to the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France, as part of a 16-week study abroad program, and she was chosen as the guest chef at Morgan City’s Latin Corner.
Saturday’s event is the first in what co-owner Francisco Sterling hopes will be a quarterly dining experience featuring up-and-coming student chefs displaying their culinary skills.
“We want to bring the young students out here and have them try out what they learned over the years,” Sterling said.
Sterling is looking forward to bringing the event to Morgan City.
He wants to help build up Morgan City and believes bringing young chefs into local restaurants to create fine dining experiences can bring diners from Houma, Lafayette and Baton Rouge.
Mundell was recommended to Sterling by Dr. Bart Denys, a Thibodaux cardiologist.
While she’s still a student, the Springfield, Virginia, native has had a bit of experience running a kitchen.
Sophomores and juniors in Nicholls’ culinary program run LeBistro, located at the Carmel Inn in Thibodaux.
According to the university’s website, this “allows advanced culinary students to create and execute a menu, greet and service customers, and perfect their skills in a restaurant setting.”
Mundell agrees.
“It kind of gives you a real experience,” dealing with people, food preparation timing and other nuances, she said.
Mundell said she created Saturday’s menu with a decidedly French influence, having just returned from studying abroad.
She was one of 36 international students hailing from 12 countries chosen for the 16-week course.
There she learned French cooking techniques and gained experience in preparation of breads and pastries among other items, she said.
“It was definitely one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life,” she said.
The Louisiana students had a slight advantage, though, because so much of the local cuisine is French-inspired, Mundell said.
All course instruction was in French, a language she did not know prior to leaving the United States.
Diners will receive soup and starter salads, choice of one entrée, two sides and a dessert for $55. Wine pairings are available for an extra $20.
Starters are Soup au Pistou and Salad Lyonnaise. Entrée choices are braised beef cheeks in mushroom and herb sauce, boneless chicken legs braised in a red wine and mushroom sauce or roasted drum with homemade aioli crab topping.
Choices for sides are Parisian potatoes with rosemary; risotto du jour; mixed squash, zucchini and onion; or sautéed spinach, mushroom and pearl onion. Dessert will be banana bread pudding topped with caramel sauce.
Sterling said reservations are encouraged, but walk-in patrons will be accepted.