Chef Drake Leonards: "Wherever I went I learned how to cook. And I learned a little bit more about myself as well. I meet new people and was exposed to new things. This journey is not just about cooking. You take inspiration from all over. Just being exposed to new things and being around people with different backgrounds, it starts to rub off on you. And you never know where it's going to come in to play in your life."
What we covered in this episode
Chef Drake Leonards describes the food scene in Houston as dynamic from fine dining to casual dining.Every culture is represented in Houston from the Golf Coast to Louisiana.Chef Drake Leonards remembers the sense of community from his small town in Louisiana where he grew up and this is something that he tries to take with him today to his restaurant. Everyone cooks in this small town and he was fortunate to eat really well and go to the smoke shop and the smokehouse and get the andouille sausage.Chef Drake Leonards moved to Queens, NY after college and was exposed to different cultures. He worked at Café Boulud.He then decided to discover the roots of his Louisiana heritage going to France. He spent two years in Europe.Chef Drake Leonards opened his restaurant Eunice in Houston in 2018.Eunice has a seasonally-inspired menus marring European influences and Louisiana heritage with ingredients from the Gulf Coast.His creative process is something that has to make sense: seasonal + local + inspiration from somewhere + tie back to Houston + collaboration.Chef Drake Leonards is obsessed with Texas BBQ, and Tex-Mex. 5 rapid-fire questionsLink to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast
Links to other episodes in Houston
Chef Chris Shepherd - UB PreservBaker Matthieu Cabon - Magnol French Baking
Submitted questions from podcast listeners
What does Chef Drake Leonards put in his gumbo recipe?That was something that I grew up with. And it's found in little pockets in Louisiana. I think gumbo is something that is different from home to home, from region to region, from parish to parish. And so every gumbo a little bit different. Every gumbo is unique. The cook makes it unique. By the way they do it. But we serve ours with a little bit of potato salad. I like mine with a nice dark brew. And I like it a little thicker. I like to add a little smoked meat sausage, and Tasso, and a little chicken. I love a chicken and sausage gumbo. It's what I grew up with. I love a great seafood gumbo as well. Serve it with just a little bit of potato salad right inside. It is something unique. At the restaurant, we take the skin of our chicken and make little chicken cracklings and serve that with a little side of chicken cracklings and potato salad. In your home you can make the potato salad. I like just a little touch of horseradish on the potato salad. And you can crush up little pork crackling, like chicharrones from these great markets throughout the country. It just gives you a little crunch. With saltine crackers is the way that we eat it as well, growing up at home with potato salad and our rice.
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Chef Drake Leonards at Eunice in Houston
DIsh Chef Drake Leonards
Grits Eunice Drake Leonards
Gumbo by Chef Drake Leonards in Eunice / Houston
Click to tweet
Houston reminds me very much of what New Orleans and I think Louisiana were a couple of hundred years ago, with a huge number of people who come in and bring their cuisine, culture and way of life. And it just kind of blends here in Houston beauti...
What we covered in this episode
Chef Drake Leonards describes the food scene in Houston as dynamic from fine dining to casual dining.Every culture is represented in Houston from the Golf Coast to Louisiana.Chef Drake Leonards remembers the sense of community from his small town in Louisiana where he grew up and this is something that he tries to take with him today to his restaurant. Everyone cooks in this small town and he was fortunate to eat really well and go to the smoke shop and the smokehouse and get the andouille sausage.Chef Drake Leonards moved to Queens, NY after college and was exposed to different cultures. He worked at Café Boulud.He then decided to discover the roots of his Louisiana heritage going to France. He spent two years in Europe.Chef Drake Leonards opened his restaurant Eunice in Houston in 2018.Eunice has a seasonally-inspired menus marring European influences and Louisiana heritage with ingredients from the Gulf Coast.His creative process is something that has to make sense: seasonal + local + inspiration from somewhere + tie back to Houston + collaboration.Chef Drake Leonards is obsessed with Texas BBQ, and Tex-Mex. 5 rapid-fire questionsLink to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast
Links to other episodes in Houston
Chef Chris Shepherd - UB PreservBaker Matthieu Cabon - Magnol French Baking
Submitted questions from podcast listeners
What does Chef Drake Leonards put in his gumbo recipe?That was something that I grew up with. And it's found in little pockets in Louisiana. I think gumbo is something that is different from home to home, from region to region, from parish to parish. And so every gumbo a little bit different. Every gumbo is unique. The cook makes it unique. By the way they do it. But we serve ours with a little bit of potato salad. I like mine with a nice dark brew. And I like it a little thicker. I like to add a little smoked meat sausage, and Tasso, and a little chicken. I love a chicken and sausage gumbo. It's what I grew up with. I love a great seafood gumbo as well. Serve it with just a little bit of potato salad right inside. It is something unique. At the restaurant, we take the skin of our chicken and make little chicken cracklings and serve that with a little side of chicken cracklings and potato salad. In your home you can make the potato salad. I like just a little touch of horseradish on the potato salad. And you can crush up little pork crackling, like chicharrones from these great markets throughout the country. It just gives you a little crunch. With saltine crackers is the way that we eat it as well, growing up at home with potato salad and our rice.
#gallery-3 {
margin: auto;
}
#gallery-3 .gallery-item {
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 25%;
}
#gallery-3 img {
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
}
#gallery-3 .gallery-caption {
margin-left: 0;
}
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
Chef Drake Leonards at Eunice in Houston
DIsh Chef Drake Leonards
Grits Eunice Drake Leonards
Gumbo by Chef Drake Leonards in Eunice / Houston
Click to tweet
Houston reminds me very much of what New Orleans and I think Louisiana were a couple of hundred years ago, with a huge number of people who come in and bring their cuisine, culture and way of life. And it just kind of blends here in Houston beauti...
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