Cuisine
A U G U ST 2 0 2 0
36
BLACKBERRY JALOPENO JAM
&
SONIC-STYLE
SUSHI
IN
THE
BIG-HEARTED
FEEL-GOOD FOOD TOUR
CITY OF MINDEN
Historic Downtown Minden features seventy-one historic properties dating from as early as the 1850s. Walkable, with markers detailing each home’s story, the district highlights architectural styles ranging from Greek Revival to early Georgian. Photo courtesy of Webster CVB.
W E E K E N D S AWAY
Food for the Soul
EATING MY WAY THROUGH MINDEN, A PLACE OF NEW BEGINNINGS
By Jordan LaHaye
“W
e’re the w e i r d church in this town,” Serena Gray told me, pushing through the front doors of what was once the Northwest Louisiana Technical College. The campus, abandoned in 2013 when the college relocated, now houses the Christian Church at Minden (CCAM), a “nontraditional, multi-cultural, and multi-denominational church.” Gray’s mother-in-law Ginger, one of the senior pastors, explained: “Whatever the other churches in town were doing, we wanted to do the opposite—to be a place for the people who fell through the cracks, who weren’t being served in some way.” In Minden, there are churches on just about every corner—some almost two hundred years old—and, as Gray, who is the Executive Director at the Webster Parish Convention and 36
Visitors’ Commission, put it: “Saturday afternoons, there’s almost no foot traffic downtown. But on Sundays! Everybody’s just gotten out of church, and [before COVID-19] every single sit-down restaurant was full of people, all in their Sunday best.” Christianity is big here. Still, church isn’t exactly where I imagined I’d end up on my two-day tour of Minden. Neither was it, I think, part of Gray’s plan to show me her city. But earlier that afternoon, sitting in her passenger seat and eating Sonic-style sushi (more on that later), I noted that during my time in Minden I’d observed a remarkable spirit of service virtually everywhere I looked, and how often the term “our church” had casually come up in conversations regarding the town’s activities. She nodded, finished chewing on her egg roll, then asked: “You want to see it?”
A U G 2 0 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
Lunch at Geaux Fresh I had come here, actually, for the food. Now—as Gray will tell you—Minden isn’t exactly an epicurean’s paradise. In the words of Chef Jodie Martin: “In Minden, we’ve got fried chicken, some good barbecue, and Mexican.” But Martin, who opened Geaux Fresh in 2017, fills in the gaps, providing highquality, health-focused meals with a radical commitment to fresh ingredients. I’d heard it was worth the drive. Poring over a menu of burger bowls (“Amazing—it’s just a burger patty on a salad, but call it a burger bowl and everyone thinks it’s just the greatest thing!”), wraps, colorful salads and sandwiches, and a “Cheaters Anonymous” burger menu with tempting add-ons like caramelized onions, turkey bacon, gouda cheese, pesto, and even an Italian sausage
W
link—I found myself enamored with the words: house-made blackberry jalapeño jam. The Black Bayou it was, featuring pepperjack and mozzarella cheese with—upon Martin’s recommendation—pig and avocado added. Between two slices of pressed sourdough, buttery avocado slices pushed against the tangy sweet jam, finishing with the satisfying crunch and just-enough greasiness of thick slab bacon. “I like to say we’re fresh fast food,” said Martin of her approach. “We give you a better version of what you were going to eat anyway. Want a burger and fries? Sure. I won’t claim that they’re low calorie, but it will be real, high-grade meat, fresh formed, grilled to order. And those French fries are baked, with nothing on them but a little kosher salt.” She doesn’t own a fryer, saying that’s better left to the fried chicken pros. Her talent for taking a traditional meal and manipulating it into something better for you came from working in—you guessed it—a church. “The pastors I worked for, they were really health conscious, and I’d have to create menus for them. So: chicken alfredo, I’d make it dairy free, using a vegan cheese. If it was a bakery dish, I’d flip from white refined sugar and flour, blend my own oats to make oat flour, and toss in coconut sugar instead.” The story of Geaux Fresh begins when Martin was twenty-five years old, sitting in a church service on a Sunday night. A guest minister was there, and he asked the congregation to think of the message taught in 1 Kings:17 and 2 Kings:4, two stories in which a widow is told to use everything she has to serve someone else, and is rewarded with more than she could possibly need. “’What do you have in your house?’ he asked. And I said, ‘Lord, I don’t even have a house,” remembered Martin, who, at the time, had just finished recovering from addiction and was living in her parents’ home, trying to start anew. “I had a cookbook of my parents’, and I liked the pictures of cheesecakes in it,” she said. “So I started making cheesecakes.” The endeavor eventually turned into a solid twenty-year side gig, which also edged her into the world of hospitality, particularly with her church. “I was just cooking constantly—
