With the wind blowing fiercely and the air filled with much excitement, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls held a public ground breaking ceremony for the Ruth Fertel Culinary Arts Building at the Rienzi Levert Plantation on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Later that evening, the sixth annual Lafcadio Hearn Awards dinner was held in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union Ballroom.
Many distinguished community members and state officials, along with faculty, staff and students, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
“I feel the addition of this new building will enhance the educational experience for our culinary students, however the most impressive aspect of this building is that it has been made possible by private donations with the lead gift coming from the Ruth Fertel foundation,” Donald Ayo, university president, said. “Equally important to the continuation of this project is the generous donation of the Rienzi-Levert plantation by the J.B. Levert Land Company,”
This new building will be named for Ruth Fertel, founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House who died in April 2002. She had committed $600,000 from the Fertel Foundation to support the building of the new home of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. A dinner was held last spring that brought an additional $400,000, increasing Fertel’s total commitment to one million dollars.
The donation of the 400,000 square foot building will consist of the following: six kitchens, a commissar, an auditorium, a computer lab, several classrooms and a student operated restaurant. This new building will be constructed to enhance the Rienzi-Levert plantation, which the J.B. Levert Company will be donating to Nicholls.
Nicholls plans to use the building, a historical site, for offices, lodging for special events and receptions. The new building will allow the culinary institute to attract and train students competitively by providing a high level of educational opportunity. This addition is expected to be ready for the spring semester of 2004.
At the Lafcadio Hearn Awards ceremony, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute once more honored individuals who have made a difference in the food service industry. The two honorees for this year were Charles Brandt, Baton Rouge restaurant owner, and Justin Wilson, a Cajun culinary legend.
The Lafcadio Hearn Award was named after a man who, in the 1880s, was the first to record his Creole recipes.
Almost 300 people, including Nicholls representatives and families of the two honorees, attended the banquet and waited patiently for the program to begin.
“Tonight we are gathered here to pay tribute to two individuals who will be receiving the Institute’s highest honor, the Lafcadio Hearn Award,” said Chef Folse.
Randy Fertel, speaking on behalf of his mother and the Fertel foundation, congratulated this year’s Lafcadio Hearn Awards honorees.
“I would like to congratulate Mr. Brandt on his Lafcadio Hearn Award I can say you are certainly in good company.”
Charles Brandt, a Switzerland native, entered into the culinary field by training for three years at the Hotel au Lac in Zurich. He arrived in the United States in 1949, and in 1973 he created the restaurant that he had spent a lifetime pursuing. It would become known as the Chalet Brandt. The Chalet Brandt has earned a four star rating for over 20 years from the Mobile Travel Guide.
Before he presented the second award, Chef Folse, owner and executive chef of the John Folse and Company, praised Chef Charles Brandt saying, “My greatest aspiration is to come close to being as good as a chef as Brandt.”
Justin Wilson was known worldwide for his Cajun cooking skills and sense of humor. A native of Amite, he wrote five best selling Cajun cookbooks, two books of Cajun humor stories and recorded 27 albums of comic Cajun tales. Perhaps his biggest achievement was the success of his syndicated cooking show.
Chef John Folse attributed Chef Wilson as, “opening the door for all future chefs on television.”
“The Institution has shown impressive growth. In a short amount of time, more than 200 students are now pursuing a culinary arts degree, making this one of our fastest growing degree programs at Nicholls,” Ayo said.