Culinary Journeys

Chefs Tramonto and Folse announcing their new partnership.

The partnership between Chefs John Folse and Rick Tramonto is one that began out of a mutual admiration, and was cemented by a shared history shaped by hardship but nurtured by food. Both chefs grew up, figuratively and literally, in the kitchen. In this Q&A, they talk about the culinary beginnings that ultimately made them the men – and the chefs – they are today. In addition to being award-winning chefs, John Folse and Rick Tramonto are acclaimed authors. Folse’s The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine and Tramonto’s forthcoming memoir Scars of a Chef offer a more in-depth look into the chefs’ personal and culinary histories.

What is your earliest memory involving food and cooking? 

John Folse: I can’t even remember a time when I wasn’t involved in food and cooking.  As children, my mom and dad made us an integral part of the kitchen.  Each one of my five brothers and two sisters were doled out tasks according to their skill level.  As a young child I remember fetching sweet potatoes from a cupboard, one in each hand, and passing them on to an older brother for peeling and slicing.

My fondest memories are of the Sunday family gatherings where the men cooked.  Often over a hundred extended family members were in attendance. The conversation and education discovered at these Sunday dinners influences everything I do today.  Cooking has indeed always been a part of my life. After all, I grew up in Cajun Country.

Rick Tramonto: My parents and grandmothers were very blue-collar people but well-educated cooks. On the weekends we’d have lots of family over and everyone had to pitch in and do their part.

My earliest cooking memory is rolling meatballs with my Grandma Adeline. I must have been around five at the time, taking meat from a huge bowl, learning how to roll them into balls then placing them on the sheet tray. In my house, cooking wasn’t just an “only on the weekend” thing. We didn’t eat food out of boxes, or eat foods that were pre-frozen. We made everything from scratch.

What’s the first dish you learned how to cook?

Chef Folse

JF: I always loved Dirty Rice, which is rice cooked with small pieces of chicken liver or giblets. (Find a recipe for Dirty Rice from Chef Folse here). For a young boy living in the swamps of Louisiana “dirty rice” was not only a staple on our table, but a dish that was fun and easy to make. 

Mixing dark chicory coffee with scalded milk to create café au lait for breakfast was probably the first “dish” I ever created.  But without a doubt, it is dirty rice that I remember best as the first real dish I ever cooked.  I was probably seven years old. 

RT: Cooking wasn’t something that I took to right away, but it was always a part of my childhood. It was almost like a chore, whether it was making ravioli or roasting whole chickens. I guess the first “dish” I remember making was minestrone soup. I remember being really young – maybe eight – and learning how to make that for my family.



How would you describe your journey in the culinary world?

JF: I began my journey in cooking at the apron strings of family and acquaintances in St. James Parish, Louisiana. That love of local cuisine and culture inspired my passion to cook and share the uniqueness of our area.  Like all young culinarians, there were huge obstacles along the way: social distractions, lack of commitment, void of patience and an unwillingness to simply listen. After discovering that this was not a path to success, the pendulum swung to total obsession and a desire to absorb all things culinary, from ingredients to global technique. During my 30-year journey, this fabulous world of cooking has taken me on visits to cook for Presidents and Popes, produce food television and build a multi-faceted food company ranging from restaurants to food manufacturing and even publishing.

RT: My journey to cooking was an unconventional one. I left high school in 1977, and needed to find a job. Most people in Rochester, where I’m from, got a job at a gas station or became mechanics. But I wanted to cook because that was what I was most familiar with.

Luckily, I had a great opportunity to interview for a new restaurant opening in town: Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers. I had never heard of the restaurant, it was the first franchise for the city. When I filled out the application, I remember leaving the “Education” boxes blank. The manager I interviewed with asked me why I had done that, and I told him I hadn’t finished high school. They basically said, “Hey kid. We’re going to give you a chance.”

After working in Rochester, I realized that if I wanted to do this cooking thing for the rest of my life, I was going to have to learn as much as I could, and to do that, I would have to start apprenticing.

What do you feel was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome in establishing yourself as a chef?

Chef Tramonto

JF: The greatest obstacle that I had to overcome was a fabulous culinarian by the name of Chef Paul Prudhomme. Paul was a giant in the kitchen and was considered the father of Cajun cooking. When he created his now legendary blackened red fish, the world took note of Cajun Country and its cuisine. It was at this time that many Louisiana chefs tried to take advantage of the culinary wave established by Chef Paul. 

But most of the media content wanted to hear what Paul had to say rather than the young chefs coming up the “Bayou.” It became apparent to me that if I wanted to break out with my own style, I could bring Cajun to the world. Soon, I had opened promotional Louisiana restaurants from Hong Kong to Taipei and from London to the Soviet Union – the first opening of a foreign restaurant in the USSR prior to its fall. I even fed the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, in Rome. 

RT: The biggest obstacle I faced in my culinary career that I had to overcome was being uneducated. It went beyond not finishing school or not knowing European languages. I didn’t know how to read. I wasn’t able to follow recipes; everything I learned had to be hands-on. But I have a photographic memory, so once I learned a dish, I was able to make it again myself. Personally, I had to overcome an addiction to drugs and alcohol. Having to focus and refocus and enter rehab to clean up my life.

When you were first starting out, who was your greatest culinary influence?

Chefs in the Restaurant R'evolution
test kitchen

JF: My great uncle Paul Zeringue, whom we referred to as “Nonc Paul,” was the cook to emulate. Even today at family gatherings, his name is passed around the dinner table more often than a bowl of rice dressing. 

Professionally, it had to be Chef Fritz Blumberg, a German chef who first recognized the culinary talents of this young South Louisiana cook. He was from Munich, arrived in Pittsburgh to work for the Mellon family, and eventually found his way to Baton Rouge as corporate chef for the hotel where I happened to be employed. I was mesmerized by his talent, and for reasons I still don’t know, he was inspired by the flavor and ingredients of our South Louisiana culinary scene. He needed to know more about our food, and I needed to learn everything there was to know about classical cuisine, so he became my mentor. We were friends until he passed away in 2008.

RT: My first culinary influences were my family, my grandmother Adeline in particular. From there, my appreciation is to the people who mentored me, who wouldn’t normally let a guy like me through the back door of their kitchen. People like Alfred Portale and Pierre Gagnaire, who helped me hone my technique and helped me articulate my thoughts on food onto the plate.

Now, John has become a huge influence of mine. Working with John has taken cooking to the next level for me because he brings rich history and depth to our company. He takes me places I wouldn’t have gone before.

'Tis the Season For Birds on the Wing



Ducks at dusk, Creole, LA.

In the R'evolution kitchen, we've begun work on the "Wild Game" portion of the menu, which is inspired by dishes from my childhood.

When I grew up we knew months not by the calendar, but by what was in season. It wasn’t September or the beginning of autumn; it was dove season and the start of deer season. November meant quail, squirrel and rabbit seasons. Snipe season was December and the New Year brought geese, ducks and coots. 

Duck hunting in Louisiana.

It’s duck season now in Sportsman’s Paradise. Located at the apex of the Mississippi Flyway, Louisiana is home to some of the best waterfowl hunting in America. Our coastal wetlands, marshes, rivers and lakes are home to mallards, pintail, teal, white fronted geese and snow geese. In Louisiana, waterfowl hunting is a passion…some would say a birthright.



Hunting in Louisiana is generational.

I remember as a young Cajun boy, laying on my back looking up the sight of a 410 barrel at a sky blackened with birds. Lying beside me looking upward were my five brothers, all steady at the aim, great shots, who effortlessly seemed to bring down whatever bird was in their sight.

Not me. I couldn’t hit the side of a barn. It was then that I realized once and for all that I was not a hunter. I wasn’t destined to harvest the wild game; I was meant to cook it. So, I became a chef. I came from a long line of great hunters. I don’t know how many generations of grandfathers preceded the two that I knew, but I’m sure just as they were hunters, those unknown great-grandfathers taught them the skill as well. Naturally, my father was the best of the best. He knew the swamp like no other and was as comfortable there as he was on our front porch.



Chef John Folse and Cajun Escoffier Lee Roy Sevin, Cocodrie, LA.

Our home was filled with ingredients from the swamp floor pantry. I vividly recall trying my best to hide the contents of our old Frigidaire ice box from visiting friends, because it was filled with wild things including heads, feet, feathers and furs, while most of theirs contained domesticated meats such as beef and pork destined for the table. Little did I realize how blessed the Folse family actually was. In fact, we wanted for nothing, because the swamp floor was indeed the richest of all pantries and one an aristocrat could only hope for.

My culinary education in the art of preparing wild game delicacies came at the hands of the “Escoffiers” of Cajun Country. At Uncle Paul Zeringue’s camp on Cabanocey Plantation we learned to chop the trinity and make the best duck and andouille gumbo anyone could ever hope for. At Ivy Bye’s camp on Burton Lane I learned to cook ducks in sauce piquante and fricassèe. At Guy Caire’s camp one could watch an African-American cook from St. Emma Plantation prepare the best of the swamp harvest for governors, senators, state representatives and those too high and mighty for us to know. At Camp La Pirogue on Richbend Plantation my brother, Larry, and Griz Granier manned the stove for venison stews with wild mushrooms and dove breast fricassée. These were the classrooms where we were educated in game cookery, and although we felt that we graduated with honors, none of us could ever cook a dish to resemble that of our teachers. We still long for and create those unique flavors today and are excited to include them on the menu of Restaurant R’evolution.

In the Beginning

Chef John Folse

Often in Louisiana, you’ll hear the phrase, “An American by birth, but Cajun by the grace of God!” No statement could be truer when describing the passion and excitement that those of us born in South Louisiana exude when sharing our culture and cuisine with visitors. This is indeed a special place; a place like no other. And, by the grace of God, I was born here, in a trapper’s cabin bound on one side by the Mississippi River levee and on the other by swamps and marshlands.



Louisiana fur trapper, early 1900s



Five generations of Folses ago, in 1720, Jean Gorg Fols, a shoemaker from Ramstein, Germany, in the Palatinate along with his wife, Julienne, walked west from the Rhine River to Orleans and then to Port Louis at L’Orient, France. It was at this port that they boarded the sailing ship Les Deux Freres on November 14 for their voyage to Louisiana. Of the 4,000 Germans who signed up as indentured servants under contract to John Law’s Company of the Indies, the Fols’ were two of just 1,000 who eventually made the voyage overseas. More than 3,000 perished while wintering at the port or returned to their homeland. After arriving here in Louisiana, they settled 25 miles upriver from New Orleans on the west bank at present-day Hahnville. 

Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana

Between 1755 and 1760 the first wave of Acadians were arriving on Louisiana’s shores from Nova Scotia. The Spanish government of Louisiana welcomed these bedraggled refugees and settled them upriver from the Germans in present-day St. James Parish. During this same period records show that, Antoine, a grandson of Johann Jacob Foltz, was born. We assume given the various languages and dialects in Louisiana that Jean Gorg Fols and Johann Jacob Foltz are one and the same. In less than 40 years, Antoine left the river and founded the new Folse settlement on “Lake of the Germans” or Lac Des Allemands. Vacherie Folse was founded. 

In the late 1800s, my grandfather Louisey Folse was born in the town of Vacherie. In 1914 he and my grandmother became the proud parents of my dad, Royley, on those same banks at Lac Des Allemands. 

I guess if one word were to describe my German heritage it would be “tenacity.” When I reflect on the perils my ancestors faced, their commitment to food, cultural preservation, faith, family and dedication to God, I am inspired to share their story nearly 300 years later. As we go through this blog journey together, I’ll tell their story and that of Louisiana’s seven founding culinary nations.





Unique Raw Ingredients -
Chef Folse holding an
alligator, one of the
exotic ingredients of
the Bayou State

 It was my love of Louisiana and passion for food that defined my mission in life: to share Louisiana’s culture and cuisine with the world. Naturally, when I met Rick Tramonto a decade or so ago it only took a moment for our conversation to move from “hello” and a handshake to boudin, oysters on the half shell, sautéed Louisiana frog legs and other exotic foods of the bayous. 

I remember precisely the day I met Rick. He caught my attention immediately as I observed him gracefully maneuvering through the dining room at TRU, his Chicago restaurant. I had met him before, but this was the night I came to know him and understood his passion. His love of the restaurant, its food and the guests was obvious. Each diner looked at him in awe as though the great Talleyrand, Carême or Escoffier were in their midst. I watched as he stopped long enough at each patron’s table to adore and be adored. It was a restaurant moment that we in the business all long for. Eventually, he made his way to my table and after greeting and meeting each of us with a gentle handshake and an attentive eye, I knew the rest of the evening would be magical. The artistic details, first-class service and overall ambiance of that first visit remains embedded in my mind today, although I experienced it many times afterward. 

Once we became friendly acquaintances, we grew in respect for each other and I came to learn of his journey from obscurity to the pinnacle of the culinary world. Although so many have begun a journey out of adversity, few have achieved the ultimate destination that Rick has. 



Chef Folse presents the
Distinguished Visiting Chef
award to Rick Tramonto

 It was a few years later that Rick agreed to accept the role of Distinguished Visiting Chef at the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University on the banks of Bayou Lafourche in Thibodaux, Louisiana. This was our first experience together through sugarcane fields and cypress trees. On this journey Rick and I shared our life stories, our heritage and our passion for food. It was here that we became great friends and confidants. Little did I know that a few years later, after our work together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we’d become partners in a restaurant development company called Home on the Range. Little did I know that Rick would move to Louisiana and live within a mile of my house. Little did I know that after 33 years in the restaurant business my first endeavor into the New Orleans’ restaurant scene, Restaurant R’evolution, would be in the Royal Sonesta at the corner of Bienville and Bourbon with Rick Tramonto as my partner. Little did I know that I would share Louisiana’s rich culture and unique raw ingredients with Rick, introduce him to fishermen, farmers, trappers and oystermen and share the stovetop in a menu development kitchen with a man I considered one of the top chefs on the globe. 

Measuring Up - Chef Folse and Karl
Zimmerman check the length of the
alligator's tail for a sauce piquante

Processing alligator meat at Riceland
Crawfish, Eunice, LA

But, that’s exactly what happened.  I realized that if we were to open Restaurant R’evolution successfully in the heart of one of the greatest food cities in the world, we needed to be totally joined at the hip and head, sharing the same philosophy, technique and Louisiana passion. We agreed to spend as much time in fisherman’s boots and hunting gear as we did in the kitchen, and thus began Rick’s crash course in Louisiana’s unique raw ingredients. This journey will continue in the coming months, as we explore what makes a gumbo a gumbo, a Cajun roux different from any other and the “trinity” a necessity in every cast iron pot. 



Chefs Rick Tramonto, Donald Link,
Matt Murphy and John Folse enjoy
the spoils of their frogging trip to
Henderson Swamp

 Over the next few months, Rick and I will share our story of building a restaurant where people come to experience what can be found in no other location in the world.  We’ll take you on the boudin trail; you’ll join us in Henderson Swamp to pull bullfrogs from the water with our bare hands; you’ll see us stop the car to pull an alligator from the roadway, but more importantly, you’ll be here with us as two chefs come together as one to create a true R’evolution in South Louisiana. You won’t want to miss this journey.

- John

Two Storms

As I write this, I’m sitting in my office at my home in Chicago, waiting to catch a 2:00 p.m. flight. I flew in on Thursday night, after driving from my new house in Gonzales, Louisiana (about an hour outside of New Orleans), to the airport. It was about 68 degrees when I left. I didn’t even wear a jacket. Imagine my surprise when I got in to Chicago at 8:30 and was greeted by a frigid snowstorm. Welcome back to Chicago! I’m freezing my ass off. Thank goodness Eileen brought me a jacket.

After almost a month away from my family, all we wanted to do was cook together, watch the Bears game and enjoy being together as the blizzard went on (and on) outside. Having lived in Louisiana for nearly a month, I kind of miss this, but I know I’m going back, although a little late since my flight is delayed.

Sitting here, looking outside at the wind whipping the snow around, I can’t help but think of another storm in another city. The storm that cemented my resolve to work with Chef John Folse. I’m talking about Katrina. I remember sitting with Eileen at our dining room table in Vernon Hills, and watching that monster storm unfold. All I kept thinking was, “I have to call John. I have to find John.” So I tracked him down and he told me, “Yeah, it’s up for grabs, man.” And he said he just needed me there, needed me to come and help. I got on the next plane.

At this point, I had known John for nearly 10 years, had seen him periodically when he came to Chicago, so there was this ongoing relationship. He would always pop into Trio or Tru, and he was always a great supporter of me as a young chef. When we first got close was when he started his Bittersweet Dairy operation, and he started doing cheese competitions. We did a cheese dinner at Tru with five cheesemakers, five wine makers and five chefs. I was  paired up with John, and that was really the first time we got to spend three days together, hanging out one-on-one, cooking together, and we just hit it off. He’s so easy to hang out with. At the end of that dinner he invited me to come to Louisiana to see his world. So a few months later, I went, and I was blown away.

John’s “Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine”(THE definitive book on the subject, which is now in its ninth printing) was just coming out, and he invited me do a book signing with him at a local Barnes & Noble. My Tru cookbook was just coming out, so I said why not? I had no idea what was coming. We pulled up to this store, and it was like utter mayhem. 300 or 400 people in line. It was like Julia Child was there. He had his staff at White Oak Plantation catering it, passing food. I was like, “Oh my god, this guy is like a folk legend. He’s like the Emeril or Julia Child who nobody knows about where I come from. What is going on here?” So we walk in, and we sat there for three hours and signed books. Let me tell you, it was daunting. I was coming from a city where I had established myself pretty well over the years. Here, nobody knew who I was. And meanwhile, John sold 30 books for every one I sold. It was the first time I ever realized how major this guy was. Everybody knew him. He was like an ambassador for not only the state of Louisiana, but the whole region. People drove in from as far away as Mississippi and Texas to meet him.

Three years passed after that visit, and we stayed in touch. And then Katrina hit, and I went back to Louisiana. John offered to take care of the security clearances with the government. He was contracted to feed people by the levees and in St. Bernard’s parish. I couldn’t picture what I was walking into. I had never been to a war zone, so I couldn’t get my arms around it. But through my eyes, seeing it first-hand was like being in an evacuated military situation. There were people seeking refuge, people on IV needles lying in the halls of the airport. It was just incomprehensible. And sure enough, I find John out front with a police escort, and we drive down in to the city in this convoy. 

John had these mobile kitchens set up, and for about a week we just cooked for all these refugees and rescue workers. They’d come in after pulling bodies out of houses and they’d eat and do some counseling, and we’d pray with them, and they’d go right back out. Then we moved our operations out into the suburbs – Baton Rouge and those places where the Mississippi River borders, where churches and convents were overflowing with people seeking refuge from the cities. We were making boxes of simple things like crayons and juice boxes for kids, bottled water and backpacks. It was incredible to see all of the companies that were donating stuff  -- Kmart, Wal-mart, Target, Sysco, Starbucks.

Fast forward another week, and I’m about to head back to Chicago. John and I were driving back to the airport, and we stopped on the Sunshine Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River. We’re watching Hurricane Rita come in. And our conversation took a deeper turn. We talked about our faith and this feeling like the apocalypse was coming, with all of these traumatic things happening in the world. It was like being on the top of a mountain, complete alone. Imagine being the only two people standing in the middle of an expressway, with not a car in sight. And it’s just quiet. All you can see in the distance is black skies. That’s the day we decided we needed to work together. That day and that moment started something. John will tell you more. He’s from there. He can paint the picture of the sugar cane fields and the oil refineries all around us as we talked, so you’ll see it all as clear as day, like I do.

So now, more than five years later, I’ve moved to Gonzales, Louisiana. John and I are working on our first restaurant together, Restaurant R’evolution. As soon as I land in New Orleans, I’ll go back home, then head into meetings all day tomorrow with John and our team at Bittersweet Plantation. We’re reviewing the final kitchen drawings (more on that later), and tomorrow is all about getting them finalized and approved, so bids can go out and demolition can start. Last week we tasted pastas for the new menu. The rest of this week is all about formulating and tasting the fish dishes. We’re on our way.

- Rick