S1:E18 Nina Compton I New Orleans Heir Apparent
Winner of the 2018 James Beard Award "Best Chef: South" and one of Food and Wine magazine's Best New Chefs 2017, Chef Nina Compton is the chef/owner of award-winning Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro in New Orleans where she creates robust dishes that meld the flavors of her Caribbean upbringing and love for French and Italian cuisine, while highlighting the Gulf and Louisiana's beautiful indigenous ingredients.
Nina, daughter of Sir John George Melvin Compton, the first prime minister of St. Lucia, grew up surrounded by the ocean, flavors and beauty of the Caribbean. She was inspired to cook and share meals at family gatherings that lead to her dream of becoming a chef. Nina worked her way up in kitchens in St. Lucia and Jamaica before deciding to attend The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.
Upon graduation, Nina began her professional journey at the Michelin-starred restaurant, Daniel in NYC, working and continuing her culinary education alongside world-renowned chef/ restaurateur Daniel Boulud and his team. In the years that followed, Nina furthered her career in Miami eventually becoming Chef de Cuisine at Scarpetta restaurant located in the Fontainebleau.
After competing on BRAVO's acclaimed cooking competition show, Top Chef where she was a finalist and voted fan favorite, an opportunity lured her to New Orleans allowing her to open her own and critically-acclaimed restaurant, Compère Lapin, with husband/restaurateur Larry Miller.
In this episode, Nina and host Brad Johnson discuss her culinary influences and journey, growing up in St. Lucia as the Prime Minister's daughter, her family's activism for education, how she maneuvered through the uncertainty of the pandemic, her core philosophy of leading by example with humility and executing at a high level, and the mission bequeathed to her by Leah Chase, the Queen of Creole Cooking.
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