2013 Chefs to Watch – Chef Michael Gulotta

CHEF MICHAEL GULOTTA

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2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Michael Gulotta
Chef Michael Gulotta
Mopho
New Orleans, Louisiana

Michael Gulotta is the embodiment of the person who always knew what he was going to do with his life. “I grew up in Lakeview in New Orleans, and as long as I can remember, I wanted to cook,” he says. Fortunately, his mother encouraged him, took him on trips to the grocery store, and supported his idea to attend the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University. “As far back as I can remember, even at about age 9 or 10, my mom would do the cutting and chopping, and I would cook.”

Ultimately, Michael found himself working in fine kitchens at Emeril’s Delmonico Restaurant, and for Chef John Folse at Bittersweet Plantation. But it was Chef John Besh for whom he truly wanted to work. “I wanted to work for him because at August he was doing the best in the city keeping true to
classical techniques,” Michael says. “Nothing is pre-packaged, and everything is butchered in house. I was working in the Black Forest in Germany, but after Hurricane Katrina, I came back here as sous chef and then later chef de cuisine. I liked the idea of keeping local farmers on their feet by investing in their produce, and making great food from their products.”

Michael says cooking in New Orleans offers an opportunity to draw from the various cultures that exist here. “When I first took over the restaurant, I was trying to do everything in a classical French style,” he says. “But New Orleans is a melting pot, and here I can take all of these cultures and assimilate them into the menu.”

Recipe

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2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  Salad of Blue Crab and Candied Acorn Squash
Salad of Blue Crab and Candied Acorn Squash

 

Meet the 2013 Chefs to Watch

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2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Daniel Causgrove
Chef Daniel Causegrove
The Grill Room
New Orleans, Louisiana
2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Chris Wadsworth
Chef Chris Wadsworth
Triumph Kitchen
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Michael Gulotta
Chef Michael Gulotta
Mopho
New Orleans, Louisiana
2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Alex Harrell
Chef Alex Harrell
Sylvain
New Orleans, Louisiana

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2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Justin Girouard
Chef Justin Girouard
The French Press
Lafayette, Louisiana
2013 Chefs to Watch - Chef Michael Gulotta  2013 Chef to Watch Bronwen Wyatt
Chef Bronwen Wyatt
La Petite Grocery
New Orleans, Louisiana

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by paul a. greenberg / photography by william dickey / photo styling by anna pollock

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