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The excitement was evident as students, faculty, staff and guests mulled around the new Lanny D. Ledet Culinary Arts Building last week during a special preview event prior to tomorrow’s official grand opening celebration.
The building, the new home of the university’s Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, has been a project years in the making with $12.6 million invested in creating a state-of the art facility for students to get a taste of working in the restaurant industry.
The 33,000-square-foot facility was designed by Thibodaux’s Duplantis Design Group, PC and New-Orleans based Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, and was constructed over two years beginning in 2013 by Alexandria’s Ratcliff Construction.
At the main entrance, a retail space where fresh breads and pastries fill glass cases invites visitors in, while Ledet and Folse’s portraits hang on surrounding walls, serving as a inspiration to all those who pursue a career through the institute. Ledet, manager of Gheen’s Golden Ranch, who died in 2012, oversaw the meal planning and staff of the property’s “Big House” and was a global ambassador for local cuisine.
Le Bistro, the institute’s student-run restaurant once located at the Carmel Inn, now resides inside the facility as well, renamed Bistro Ruth in honor of the “First Lady of Steak” and Ruth’s Chris Steak House founder Ruth Fertel. The restaurateur received the institute’s Lafcadio Hearn Award in 1999. Portraits of her donated by the Fertel Foundation hang in the 96-seat dining room. A Chef’s Table and President’s Dining Room are also available for those wishing to have private gatherings.
“Being in [the building] for the next semester is kind of like a light at the end of the tunnel for me,” culinary senior Hilary Scott said. “I remember coming to Nicholls and as a freshman hearing them say, ‘Oh, by your sophomore year, this new building is going to be done.’ Then in my junior year, ‘Oh, this new building is going to be done.’ Finally getting to see it built and actually being in here is just phenomenal.”
The facility also features a handful of classrooms and a teaching and demonstration room, where instructors can show off cooking methods that are projected to classroom televisions with the use of three cameras.
Individual kitchens have also been created for pastry, meat fabrication and stocks, soups and sauces, complete with industrial equipment specifically for the room’s function. A fourth general skills kitchen is currently unequipped, providing space for the program to expand in the future as funding allows.
“In the past, it was a lot of making it work with what you had,” Scott said of the previous workspace, which shared the university’s Gouaux Hall with several other programs. “This new building is very specified for each thing. There’s a different kitchen for each class, there’s different equipment for each class. … It’s very organized and very easy for people to get acquainted with what they are working with.”
Although Scott is finishing her time with the institute, she said she’s excited to be part of this new chapter and looks forward to seeing what the future holds for the program.
“For incoming freshmen especially, in talking with some of them, they are so excited to use industry products,” she explained. “They are used to cooking in their mom and dad’s kitchen and now they get to see [what a real restaurant is like.]…Being able to see the whole picture, it really gives students more of a perspective as to what it’s going to be like in the real world. That’s the closest you are going to get to simulating working in a restaurant.”
Nicholls will celebrate the grand opening of the Lanny D. Ledet Culinary Arts Building at 10 a.m. tomorrow, Aug. 20.
