Chef Duke LoCicero – Café Giovanni
Chef Duke LoCicero’s Café Giovanni has operated in the French Quarter since 1991. Serving “New World Italian Cuisine,” Chef Duke’s food is as delicious as he is entertaining in person. We Live to Eat recently chatted with Chef Duke about food, his career and The Last Supper.
We Live to Eat: So, how did you get involved in the restaurant business?
Chef Duke: I started when I was 12 years old as a bus boy working for the House of Lee which was a prominent Chinese restaurant owned by the family of Harry Lee.
WLTE: So, do you know how to cook Chinese food?
CD: Absolutely!
WLTE: Did you go to culinary school?
CD: Yep – CIA, Culinary Institute of America. I knew what I wanted to do after working at the House of Lee.
WLTE: So, you obviously grew up in New Orleans.
CD: Born and raised. There are only a few of us [local] chefs that are actually born and raised in New Orleans.
WLTE: Do you have a lot of food memories from when you were younger?
CD: My grandfather was actually in the restaurant business. He had a restaurant/grocery on Magnolia Street right where the Superdome is. Then he moved to Metairie, opening up LoCicero’s on Metairie Road in the 1960s. He had that for about 6 years.
WLTE: So did you go out to eat a lot as a kid?
CD: We went out to eat constantly. Plus, my mother was a great cook. My dad had certain dishes that he liked to do, like his meatballs. My grandmother was also a great cook. It’s always been in my blood.
WLTE: When you’re not working at Café Giovanni, where are some of your favorite places to eat out in New Orleans?
CD: We love to go out for Sushi. We eat at Zea’s. I cook at home a lot on my days off, but my problem is I can’t cook for 4 people, I cook for like 300 people.
WLTE: [Laughs] Well, what kind of dishes do you cook at home? Italian?
CD: I do everything! I love New Orleans cuisine. I do a lot of Asian. I do Southwest ‘cause I lived in Houston for 7 years. I’m classically trained French and then Italian. So, I have a blend of all those and I’m Sicilian, so I was born and raised on pasta and red gravy.
WLTE: [Laughs] You’ve surely had a lot of celebrities at Café Giovanni. Have you ever been nervous to cook for someone?
CD: When I was in Houston, I was 26 years old, and I got to cook for the G8 Summit, and that was the only time I’ve ever been really nervous. We’ve had a lot of celebrities in the restaurant, but that event in Houston was the only time I can say that I’ve been nervous. I was also in charge of the “thank you party” that was given by George H.W. Bush. I had the Secret Service in the kitchen with me.
WLTE: It’s your last day on Earth and you have to order your last meal. What will it be?
CD: Whoo, that’s hard. [Pause] I would say a Shrimp Poboy. A good bowl of Gumbo. Crabmeat over a great piece of fish. And if I get a dessert then I’d have pick a gelato. You know, I’m a Louisiana Seafood fanatic. Forgot to mention Crawfish Pie earlier.
WLTE: If you could cook for any person living or dead, who would it be?
CD: I would have liked to cook for Jesus at The Last Supper. [Laughter]
WLTE: [Laughter] You are so funny Duke.
CD: I know, I know. I’m a character. I may not be a great chef, but I am a character.
WLTE: Last question – what does We Live to Eat mean to you?
CD: I think it’s a way of life here. After Katrina, people were hugging and kissing me because I opened the restaurant [quickly]. It was a way for them to feel that things were getting back to normal. We may not be the healthiest city, but we eat because we love it. And we’re the only [American] city with its own cuisine. And here’s another thing: it’s hard to be an executive chef here, because everybody is such a good cook. You go to Oklahoma, and all you hear is, ‘my mother-in-law can’t cook!’ Here, it’s, ‘well, it’s not like my mom’s gumbo; it’s not like my aunt’s gumbo.’ So, when you feed a local and make them happy, you’ve done something.
WLTE: Yep.
CD: Without our food here, we would just be another city. But it’s not just the food. People always ask me,’ what makes New Orleans?’ And I tell them it’s not just the food, it’s the people. The food and the people go hand in hand. That’s on a serious note, because after Katrina, I realized how important the restaurants were to the people. People were getting together, hugging and crying…it was really an experience.
WLTE: Thank you Chef Duke.
CD: Thank you. Come see me in the Quarter!
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