After opening a year ago in Baton Rouge’s Southdowns neighborhood, Kalurah Street Grill has invigorated the local dining scene with fresh, contemporary cuisine with a touch of international flair. The modern American restaurant, housed in the former Chelsea’s Café location, has won over the Capital City with a gorgeous new interior and a seriously mouthwatering menu from Executive Chef Kelley McCann.
A Baton Rouge native, Kelley spent summers washing dishes at a family friend’s restaurant and afternoons snacking on maraschino cherries at the bar where his mother worked. Yet it wasn’t until he was in his early 20s and had been working front-of-the-house positions at Galatoire’s Bistro when Brian Landry (now executive chef at Borgne in New Orleans) came on as chef that Kelley imagined a culinary career of his own.
“When I saw this 29-year-old chef from New Orleans come in and take over a restaurant, I realized that cooking has a lot of potential for growth, so I kind of took that to heart and started working as much as I could, whenever I could,” Kelley says.
