Six Degrees of Kevin Belton

By Poppy Tooker

Kevin Belton is a gumbo of English, French, Native American and African ancestry. His mother’s family has roots in the French-Caribbean island of Martinique, and his French-speaking father’s family came from the Bayou Lafourche area of Southeast Louisiana near Thibodaux. Standing six feet, nine inches tall, the big guy has a heart to match his imposing size.

As a child, Kevin Belton was surrounded by love and food. That love was evident in every bite served by his mother, Sarah Thomas Belton, and her mom, Magnolia T. Battle, when the family gathered around the table. “We tried to have breakfast together every day, but family dinners were a must,” Kevin recalled. Nan, as he called his grandmother, always lived with the Beltons Uptown on Valence Street, just off Freret. That bustling corridor was the place Nan and Kevin regularly shopped. “Across from Canal Villere [longtime New Orleans grocery chain] there was a butcher shop with live chickens and turtles,” Kevin said. “Nan would call to the butcher as we passed, ‘I need two.’ He would quickly dispatch a pair of chickens that we’d pick up on our way home for that night’s dinner.”

Typical of many homes, Kevin’s days of the week were marked by what was for dinner. Mondays meant red beans, Wednesday dinner was panéed meat, and seafood was served most Friday and Saturday nights. There was always dessert. “Mom baked a wonderful homemade chocolate cake. It was yellow cake with her special chocolate icing,” Kevin smiled. “That was always my birthday cake growing up.”

In 1977, while Kevin was in Baton Rouge playing football for LSU, his mom passed away, changing the course of her son’s life forever. “I quit football and came back to New Orleans. I had been studying marketing at LSU, so I enrolled in classes here, but never graduated. Mom always said, ‘Jump on a barge and take it down the river. If you don’t like it, jump on the next one. If you don’t like that, take one going the other way. That’s been my approach to life.’”

A part-time job with a tourism company led in many ways to Kevin’s role today as New Orleans’ culinary ambassador. During that time, he crossed paths with the New Orleans School of Cooking founder, Joe Cahn, who saw a spark in the young man. “Let’s work together” he suggested, and Kevin was soon the manager of Cahn’s Louisiana General Store. “I learned so much about Louisiana and its food by traveling to buy authentic ingredients for the store. We’d go to Gueydan for Ellis Stansel’s popcorn rice and to Ville Platte for Mr. Ortego’s special hot sauce.” Until it was on the shelf at the general store, the fiery concoction was previously available only out of Mr. Ortego’s trunk!

Within six months at the New Orleans School of Cooking, Kevin found himself following in his mom’s footsteps when he began teaching there. “I guess it was in my blood,” Kevin said. “Mom was a schoolteacher, and I got to sit in the back of her classroom during the summer watching her teach. She made class so much fun, so that became my approach.”

Another door opened when Kevin followed his mentor, Joe Cahn, to WYES for the live Showboat Auction. “That was how I learned to do live TV,” Kevin reflected. “Somebody didn’t show up that next weekend and they asked if I could auction a board for them. Before long, I was featured in their pledge breaks, too.” As an only child, Kevin played alone in his room pretending to be people he’d seen on TV. That make-believe helped hone the innate talent for entertaining so characteristic of Kevin Belton today.

When WWL-TV icon Frank Davis died in 2013, the station dedicated the studio kitchen — a place that had been Frank’s domain since the 1980s — to him. An entire month was devoted to Frank’s memory, with Kevin re-creating Frank’s recipes on air every Tuesday morning leading up to the dedication. When the month was over, Kevin was asked to fill Frank’s shoes. Humbled by the opportunity, Kevin thought, “I can’t be Frank. I can only be me. But I do talk to Frank all the time when I’m at the station,” he laughed. “Going through the equipment locker that originally was Frank’s, I’ll say to him ‘Hey! Did you see that?’ wondering what he’d think about some new food craze — like the Cronut.”

Kevin’s years of commercial TV cooking success are unparalleled in the Crescent City. Public television opened its doors in 2015 after Chef Paul Prudhomme retired from his long-running PBS series. WYES Programming Director Beth Utterback asked Kevin to come see her. Utterback said, “Chef Paul retired, and we want you to do the next

series.” Almost speechless, Kevin remembered: “As I left Beth’s house, I called Chef up on the phone. I felt like I was asking permission. I said to him, ‘I was told you’re stepping back, and they’ve approached me about it.’” The legendary Chef Prudhomme immediately replied, “Take it! Do it and make it your own!” Today Kevin has completed four 26-episode series accompanied by companion cookbooks. PBS affiliates across the country broadcast his popular show.

Kevin credits all he knows today from the priceless knowledge shared so freely with him by New Orleans’ cooking greats. “I have childhood memories of eating at Dooky’s and was eventually blessed to be with Miss Leah in her kitchen. To stand at the stove and be friends with Paul Prudhomme; to hang out with Louis Evans in the Pontchartrain Hotel kitchen and with Mike Roussell at Brennan’s,” he marveled. “They taught me and showed me the food but, more importantly, they showed me how to treat people, how to handle the business end of it, as well,” he reflected.

Kevin’s thoughts always return to the women in his life. As important as Kevin’s mom and Nan were in making him the man he is, he credits his beloved wife, Monica, for making him look good today. “Anything you see me do, know it came from her first!” he said emphatically. The inseparable pair make quite a team, as evidenced in Kevin’s latest book, Cookin’ Louisiana, co-authored with Monica.

While Tuesdays remain Kevin’s cooking day at WWL, over time he has become a special field reporter for the station. “When some of the other guys show up, everybody looks around, like, ‘Uh-oh! Who’s getting indicted?’ But when I show up they say, ‘Chef Kev’s here! We’re going to have some fun.’” Just as Frank Davis had his Naturally N’awlins beat, Kevin is busy developing new segments for WWL News called So New Orleans. “It’s about what makes us, us. Think about how we give directions — everything’s lakeside, riverside, uptown, downtown. The crazy way we pronounce things in different neighborhoods…our food,” Kevin laughed.

One thing is certain. No matter what Kevin Belton has a hand in, he is always in it with all of his heart.