BAYOU EATS

article by Vanelis

Moore Clark

He first dishes that Chef Don Green learned to cook from his mother. “I honestly just started making the dishes I loved eating,” he says, listing chicken and dumplings, beef tips with rice and gravy, and smothered steak and mashed potatoes. Originally from West Monroe, he moved to Baton Rouge around age twenty, finding his way into the culinary world by way of Maxwell’s Market, a traditional-style delicatessen. His first cooking job “ever” took the form of assisting in the meat market section. Drawn to the meticulous preparation and craft of butchery, he ended up enrolling at the Louisiana Culinary Institute. “That’s where I really started my whole journey of cooking,” he says. Currently, Chef Green is flexing his culinary chops at Acadian Superette in Lafayette. With no plans of slowing down, he has found fulfillment in his craft and in the enjoyment of sharing his passion one savory dish at a time.

“I wasn’t really much of a home cook,” admits Green, adding “I was considered a husky child growing up, so I did like to eat.” For him, Northeast Louisiana was at the crossroads of country cooking. It was a place where soul food met Cajun flavors with a dash of Texas flare. Simple flavors came alive under careful technique and preparation. While working at Maxwell’s Market, he learned the ins and outs of cooking on a grill and the joys of using cast iron skillets, which he considers “the Holy Grail of cooking.” He still has the first cast iron he ever owned, a gift from his father purchased at a “feed and seed” on the road toward Farmerville.

Before joining the rich history of the Acadian Superette, Chef Green started as a banquet chef at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Baton Rouge. There, he learned the tedious art of managing a large-scale operation, at one point catering for an event of 2500 people. “We would host the LSU football teams, so I was able to