(big band music)
- I think cooking is very complex.
For me, it's a dedication.
It's a lot of passion,
it's a lot of hard work.
It's not for the weak of heart at all.
When I'm cooking, I'm connecting with the food.
I'm having my little moment of making that dish.
It becomes this whole complete package of not just
making the guests happy,
but making myself happy.
My name is Nina Compton,
I am the chef owner of Compere Lapin.
And this is where Hollywood eats in New Orleans.
The story behind Compere Lapin
is a folk tale that I grew up with in St. Lucia.
I kind of wanted to bring the Caribbean to Louisiana,
and let people know my background.
My philosophy for the restaurant was
making people feel comfortable.
I think a lot of people want to have
that neighborhood restaurant.
That affordable, approachable, and seasonal.
The goal of the restaurant
is not to come in and have one dish,
it's to have multiple.
The idea is to pretty much have a little bit of everything
when you come in for dinner.
And the way we cook here is very simple.
You know, a couple of ingredients,
but all of those ingredients shine together.
This is actually my favorite dish on the menu.
It features local shrimp, beautiful vegetables,
and we make a jalapeno cilantro broth.
And we pour this table side.
It's really light, and refreshing,
and just full of flavor.
And if I'm hungry at the end of the night
I have a double order.
When I first thought about opening my restaurant here,
I was very nervous.
New Orleans is such a,
it's a heavyweight culinary destination.
And when I came here,
it was this overwhelming response.
People were hugging me in the street,
telling me thank you for moving here.
You know, I watched you on television,
can't wait to see you open your new restaurant.
When we had our opening night,
we had a guest he actually brought
his pet bunny with a top hat.
People feel like they just have to bring a bunny,
like a token of appreciation.
We have some from Mexico,
some from the Caribbean, some from Europe.
Every rabbit has a story.
People here are really supportive,
and trying to like build me up,
and not everywhere would do that I don't think.
It's come a long way.
A side note,
when we were apartment hunting,
there was a place down the street.
I'm like oh my gosh,
I'm like Larry that's the one.
We're gonna live close to the restaurant,
and he's like no no no,
He's like I wanna live in this area.
Emma Roberts came to the restaurant,
and we started chit chatting,
and I'm like oh you know, where are you staying?
She's like I stay in the (mumbles).
And I'm like I'm describing the apartment
that I almost lived in,
and she's like I live in that apartment.
Tom Cruise came in.
I thought it was a joke,
my husband was like Tom Cruise's people called
they are coming in.
And I'm like OK, I'm not gonna believe it until he actually
sits in our restaurant.
He came, and he actually sat on this table over here.
And I kinda geeked out a little bit.
I think he had the tuna tartare,
and I think the chicken.
He kept it very simple.
The film industry is huge here.
It gives people jobs,
it pumps money into the economy,
so it really keeps things moving,
and fresh, and energized.
I want my guests to leave challenged a little bit.
Have them try something like (mumbles),
or guava curry or something different
where they will be like oh that sounds fun,
maybe I'll have one of those.
This is a dish that I used as a platform
to bridge the gap between
my upbringing from the Caribbean,
to where I am now.
So today we're gonna make sweet potato gnocchi.
We're just gonna mix this up
until it's nice and smooth.
I'm gonna add a little bit of salt,
and then we're gonna add some egg yolks,
just make sure everything is really well incorporated.
Next flour, just until it comes together.
You don't want to over work the dough
or it can become really hard.
And we're just gonna pipe it out.
This is the fun part.
It's very soft, it's not very starchy.
So we got the sweetness
with the spiciness of the goat.
A little bit of flour,
just gonna roll them again
so they don't stick to each other.
So now we're just gonna cut these up.
And then we're gonna poach them
to complete the dish.
After we braise the goat
we take that braising liquid,
we refortify it with ginger, onions,
tumeric, habanero, curry leaf,
star anise, cardamom, all spice,
you name it, everything is in there.
All the spices in that sachet are really really intense,
and very floral,
so when you taste the goat it's just spicy
creamy uncured stew.
So this is the goat meat that's already
taken off the bone, head to tail,
everything is in there.
And then now we add dried tomatoes that we peel,
put them in the over for about three and half hours,
with oregano and rosemary,
and that's just for a little bit of sweetness as well.
So now these are floating and we're gonna put them in.
So we're gonna let these poach
in the actual liquid just so as they are cooking,
they are soaking up all the flavors of the goat.
So now we're gonna finish it
with a little bit of toasted cashews.
And I like putting nuts to finish dishes
'cause it adds a little bit of texture as well.
And then a little bit of fresh cilantro.
And that's our curried goat.
New Orleans is definitely like St. Lucia.
The buildings, the old wooden homes,
the bright colors.
Mardi Gras, we have Carnivale at home as well.
So there's a lot of things that we have in common
that makes me feel really comfortable here.
The city definitely influences me on a daily basis.
It just has this charm to it.
People love food here.
If they're having breakfast they're talking about lunch.
If they're having lunch,
they are like where are we going for dinner tonight.
There is no rush here.
I wanna have wine, I want to have cocktails, it's a must.
And that's something that people expect here
because cocktails were actually developed in this city.
I couldn't half step on that one,
I had to deliver on this.
So we are giving Stracciatella
a little bit of a rest tonight.
It is replaced by the ricotta,
so it's hazelnut, honey, and fresh truffles inside.
My staff are very important to me.
I mean I tell people,
I don't cook every curried goat.
I firmly believe in training people very well
on what you want,
and then you kind of let the foot off the gas.
You go through a lot having a restaurant.
Working 12, 14 hours a day, sometimes 16 hour days,
we all go through these things together.
And that's the biggest thing for me,
is how do you break that up?
How does it become fun?
Change it up, it's Monday night.
The moment I knew I fell in love with cooking was
when I was working on the line with Norman Van Aken.
Saturday night service, chaos.
Eight o'clock at night, everybody's screaming and yelling,
ticket machines are going off.
And I remember I just zoned out for a second,
and I started listening to the sounds of cooking.
It was just about just connecting with the senses.
You know, smelling, tasting, seeing.
That moment for me was just like,
this is why I want to do it.
People go to restaurants,
and do they really feel like it was worth it?
Would you go back a second time?
I want my guests to be like oh my gosh,
I can't wait to have that curried goat tonight.
I want them to feel that moment
where you have that craveable sensation,
where it's like I want to come back.
I'm expanding our Creole cuisine in my own way.
(inspirational music)