2012 Chefs to Watch – Brad McGehee

CHEF BRAD MCGEHEE

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Growing up outside San Francisco, Chef Brad McGehee has always been keenly interested in not only bringing high-quality products to the table, but also knowing their connection to the land.

“When I started at Ye Olde College Inn, we had a small garden with raised beds,” he says. “Now, we’ve developed almost an acre of land on Carrollton Avenue in the middle of New Orleans and have a couple dozen chickens laying eggs for us.”

Brad grew up watching his grandmother cook and considers himself fortunate to be part of a family that dined out oft en. He cites that early exposure to excellent food as his greatest inspiration. Yet while he loved food, especially his grandmother’s fried chicken, it took him some time to realize his culinary aspirations.

“First, I studied business, thinking I’d be an accountant, then I took fire service classes to be a fireman. I’d thought about a bunch of careers before deciding to study at the California Culinary Academy.”

After graduating, he came to New Orleans for an internship under Chef Tory McPhail at Commander’s Palace, where he stayed for a year. He then went on to work at Peristyle, Wolfe’s in the Warehouse, and the Ritz Carlton’s M Bistro under Chef Matt Murphy.

In spring 2011, he took the helm at Ye Olde College Inn, a neighborhood standard since the 1930s. Over its eighty years, it evolved from an all-night bar to a lunch spot to eventually offer dinner service. The garden now supplies about 10 percent of the restaurant’s needs, and more than 40 percent of its meat and produce comes from producers within a two-hour drive of the Crescent City.

The abundance of exceptional local meat and produce is one of the aspects of cooking in Louisiana that most inspires Brad. Much of the College Inn’s ground beef comes from the Straight Stick Ranch in Abbeville, owned by the same family that owns the College Inn, and Brad now serves pasture-raised duck from Sandy Sharpe of Covey Rise, on Lake Ponchartrain’s Northshore.

“The citrus here is really awesome, and satsumas are my all-time favorite fruit. I’d never heard of them before I moved here, but now I eat them raw, make jams and jellies, glazes for fish, salads, cocktails … the possibilities are endless,” he says.

While a connection between the Bay Area and the Crescent City may seem hard to put together, Brad has noticed a distinct similarity between them: “[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][People of] both cultures love to eat and live for good food.”

Recipes

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 Click to meet the 2012 Chefs to Watch

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photography by Sara Essex Bradley[/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]