Paul Prudhomme
| Paul Prudhomme | |
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Prudhomme in 2008
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| Born |
July 13, 1940 Opelousas, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | October 8, 2015 (aged 75) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Kay Prudhomme (deceased) Lori Bennett (2010 – his death) |
| Website | www |
| Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Cajun cuisine, Louisiana Creole cuisine |
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Current restaurant(s)
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Paul Prudhomme (July 13, 1940 – October 8, 2015), also known as Gene Autry Prudhomme, was an American celebrity chef whose specialties were Creole and Cajun cuisines, which he was also credited with popularizing. He was the chef proprietor of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, and had formerly owned and run several other restaurants. He developed several culinary products, including hot sauce and seasoning mixes, and wrote 11 cookbooks.
The youngest of 13 children, Prudhomme was raised on a farm near Opelousas, the seat of Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana. His father Eli Prudhomme, Jr., was a farmer, but the family struggled to make ends meet during Prudhomme's childhood. Prudhomme was named Paul on his birth certificate as a priest thought he should have the same name as a saint, but he instead went by the name Gene Autry Prudhomme during his youth.
Prudhomme opened his first restaurant in Opelousas in 1957, a hamburger restaurant called Big Daddy O's Patio. The restaurant went out of business in nine months, which also saw the end of his first marriage. He became a magazine seller initially in New Orleans, and afterwards several restaurant jobs took him around the country. During this period he began creating his own spice mixes and giving them away to customers. In 1970, he moved back to New Orleans to work as a sous chef at Le Pavillon Hotel. He left after a short while to open Clarence Dupuy's restaurant Maison du Puy. While there, he met his second wife, Kay Hinrichs, who worked at the restaurant as a waitress. In 1975, Prudhomme left to become the first American-born executive chef at Commander's Palace under Richard Brennan, Sr. Chef Paul turned the unsuccessful Garden District restaurant into a world-class destination.
In 1979, he and Kay (now his wife) opened K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The restaurant's was named as a portmanteau of their names, with Paul working as head chef and Kay as restaurant manager. For a while he attempted to operate the restaurant while still working at Commander's Palace, but the demand in his new restaurant was such that he moved to work there full-time and also hired Emeril Lagasse to work in the kitchen. In 1980, he was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Ordre National du Mérite Agricole in honor of his work with Cajun and Creole cuisines.
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Wikipedia