Restaurant August, which in its six years has been noted repeatedly for its contemporary Creole cuisine, has become the centerpiece of a fledgling restaurant empire for chef-owner John Besh.
This spring has been a busy one for Besh, who joined Restaurant August when it opened in 2001 and later bought it from the investors. He has added two new restaurants to his portfolio, which already included Besh Steakhouse in the Harrah’s New Orleans Casino.
“In the first week in April, we reopened La Provence on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, a beautiful restaurant owned for 35 years by my mentor, chef Chris Kerageorgiou,” Besh says. “It was always my dream to go back and run the restaurant with him one day. When he became ill late last year, he approached me about making that dream finally come true.
“Sadly, he passed away in February, and we took the time to mourn his passing and to make some updates to the restaurant. Now it is a working farm to provide for the restaurant, including micro greens, Berkshire pigs and chickens.”
Then, at the end of April, Besh opened Lüke, a brasserie on St. Charles Avenue.
“It has a much more casual focus, but the food is amazing and the atmosphere is fun,” Besh says. “Both Lüke and La Provence allow new creative outlets for me. It is very satisfying because it allows August to continue to grow in a cutting-edge direction that has made it so successful. August used to have to be all things to all people. Now we can solely focus on continuing August as the benchmark of fine dining in New Orleans.”
Restaurant August has developed a cult following among locals and visitors to New Orleans for its innovative menus.
Because of its location in higher ground in the business district, it was among the first restaurants to reopen after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Brett Anderson, restaurant writer with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, wrote recently: “Seemingly emboldened by the challenges of New Orleans life, Restaurant August’s John Besh has inspired his kitchen with an intensified reverence for local tradition. The beet and crab salad scattered with black-eyed pea croutons, the truffley pan-seared pompano over artichoke confit, the oysters three ways—my favorite being the one fried then finished with buttermilk dressing seasoned with paddlefish roe—all take you to new places without looking far for inspiration.
“Just food? Perhaps. But the confluence of imagination, technique and aesthetic intelligence found on the plate is also an example of something we see too rarely in these parts: justification for swagger.”
Arich history Besh apprenticed in Germany and traveled in Provence, so many of the influences on Restaurant August’s menu are Continental. The German apprenticeship and travels abroad instilled a sense of locality on Besh, he says. “I learned the importance of sustainable agriculture and its relationship with sustainable cooking,” he says, “and I gained a renewed enthusiasm for procuring regionally sensible ingredients that allows for much better product. I use these ideas every day at August. I still send my promising cooks to Germany to apprentice. The experience changes who you are both as a person and a chef.” Besh was opening chef at Restaurant August in October 2001 when it debuted after the four-story building underwent a $3.5 million renovation. He bought the restaurant in 2005 from owner August “Duke” Robin for a reported $2 million. “It had always been my goal to be the sole owner of a restaurant,” Besh says. “When the opportunity to purchase August from the investors came along I was thrilled. Being the owner means that no one is looking over your shoulder, questioning your decisions. With that freedom I knew I could work to achieve my vision of what August should be. Committing myself financially was just one piece of the puzzle. To experience all the great things we have accomplished while also learning from the mistakes we have made has been extraordinary.” Like New Orleans, the building has a rich history. “It was originally a warehouse built in the 1880s,” Besh says. “Through the years it has had many different uses from saloon to cotton exchange. “In 2001, we did an entire renovation from top to bottom,” he adds. “What was important to me was keeping what was beautiful about the building while still completely transforming it into a functional restaurant. I also wanted to restore what we could not save to the character of the Creole building. My biggest imprint and goal from the beginning was to create food here that, like the building, was a contemporary approach to our Creole roots. By staying true to that goal we have turned an old, outdated building into the home of the finest restaurant in New Orleans.” The Creole-French building glistens at night with large chandeliers and a sense of reflected history. “The ambiance is beautiful,” Besh says. “People walk in the door and are awed by the surroundings, and that makes them all the more ready to enjoy a wonderful meal. You cannot help but honor all the influences of the past when you work in such a beautiful setting.” Caring for the community While parts of New Orleans are returning to the prehurricane bustle, restaurants continue to face hardships. “The most difficult challenge has been staffing,” Besh says. “We asked our staff to return to a city that had a question mark on it. There was no housing to be had. We had no idea how we were going to get food into the city. Prices were through the roof. “In retrospect it was crazy to reopen so quickly in such a depressed environment, but from the light in the very first customer’s eyes we knew we had done the right thing,” Besh recalls. “We could see hope in their eyes. If just one thing could get back to normal, maybe someday everything would.” Besh says the storm and ensuing diaspora of the city’s residents has improved restaurant operations. “It also taught us to be even more customer-focused, and we learned how to run a restaurant highly efficiently,” Besh says. “We had to use our resources completely and waste nothing. The relationships we formed locally helped many purveyors survive after the storm. We needed each other to make it through.” With the doubling of Besh’s number of restaurants in the past month, the chef-owner still sees Restaurant August as the centerpiece. PHONE: (504) 299-9777 WEBSITE: OPENED: 2001 CUISINE: contemporary Creole PER-PERSON DINNER CHECK AVERAGE WITH BEVERAGES: $60 BEST-SELLING DISH: sugar and spice duckling with Anson Mills grits and roasted duck foie gras SEATS: 120 AVERAGE WEEKLY COVERS: undisclosed CHEF-OWNER: John Besh “August is the flagship, a training ground that spawns the cooks, supervisors and managers that later transfer to lead other operations,” he says. “It sets the standard of excellence for our company. When those people are put in place at other locations, they are fully versed on the expectations to be met. So by making sure we have the right people in place who know what to do, we are able to grow. August is also our corporate headquarters, so it is easy to remain in touch with all aspects of the business.” Besh says he remains proud to be among the culinary professionals helping to rebuild New Orleans. Frank Brigtsen, whose Brigtsen’s restaurant now carries the tagline of “Rebuilding New Orleans – One Plate at a Time,” says the city’s chefs are vital to keeping the Crescent City moving ahead despite the adversities. “It’s chefs like John who are helping bring people back to city,” Brigtsen says, “not only the visitors and customers but also providing opportunities for employment.” “John is a very community-minded chef,” says Ashley Graham, leadership director for Share Our Strength, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to fight hunger. “He cares about using local ingredients and supporting local farmers and fishermen, he is always expressing an interest in helping however he can. He flew to D.C. to be part of Share Our Strength’s annual DC Dinner benefit and has been a longtime supporter here in New Orleans. I know he participates in a wide variety of events here and he was generous in feeding volunteers who were helping rebuild Dooky Chase and Willie Mae’s Scotch House restaurants.” Besh says he’s proud to be a part of that rebuilding effort. “I see August as the crown jewel of fine dining in the jewel-studded crown of New Orleans,” Besh says. “We will continue what we started before the storm. Our employees and staff, to me, are the future of New Orleans, and as long as we all show up every day and do our absolute best, the future of New Orleans is assured.”Menu Sampler Organic greens with pumpkin seed brittle, Point Reyes blue cheese and pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette $8 Salad of heirloom beets, crab, Allan Benton’s cherry wood bacon, mustard greens and quail eggs with black-eyed pea croutons $10 Hand-made gnocchi tossed with blue crab and winter truffle $12 Berkshire pork “cracklin” salad with a warm chanterelle tart $10 P&J oysters three ways: crispy fried with Louisiana caviar ranch dressing, pepper-seared with country ham and truffle spoon bread, and horseradish crusted $12 Speckled trout “grenoblois” with two celeries $31 Louisiana redfish with cauliflower, crab and caviar $29 Sugar and spice duckling with Anson Mills grits and roasted duck foie gras $28 Pheasant cooked two ways over fennel “choucroute” with lady apple and rye-bread gnocchi $29 USDA Prime filet of beef with greens, porcini and smoked marrow $36 Slow-cooked shoulder and roast rack of Broken Arrow Ranch venison with porcini and turnips $28 Jim McCloud’s rabbit cooked two ways over artichokes barigoule with Muscadine grape reduction $26
