A Seat at Bernadette's Table
In Gonzales, an 1830s-era planter's cottage reopens as a vehicle for creative Southern cuisine
At the intersection of Highway 44 and Highway 22 in Gonzales, there's a compound of buildings where you can fulfill a number of needs: Longing for a bowl of red beans and rice? The Cabin Restaurant is famous for theirs. Looking to explore local history? The various buildings on the property offer fascinating individual origin stories (only the gas station has always stood where it is now) and date back as far as one hundred and eighty years ago, the oldest being the main building, which served as one of the ten original slave dwellings of Monroe Plantation. Need to get hitched? The Cabin's spread of historic buildings and ample courtyard space makes it a popular choice for weddings, though they don't take walk-ins. And if you're out for a chef-driven curation of the South's most delicious food traditions—well, you'll have to wait just a bit longer for Bernadette's Table, which has now entered the preview-dinner stage of its impending re-opening.
Need to get hitched? The Cabin's spread of historic buildings and ample courtyard space makes it a popular choice for weddings, though they don't take walk-ins.
In its past life, Bernadette's was a cozy fine-dining French spot helmed by Chef Gerard Hemery and owned by Joel Robert (whose father Al owns The Cabin). Guests were greeted at the door of the 1830s-era planter's cottage and promptly served champagne, to be enjoyed in the parlor inside. Dinner came in upwards of five courses, served sometimes in as many hours. Credit for the evening's pace and detail was due to the original Bernadette (Troxclair), Al Robert's godfather's mother, who threw her share of leisurely dinner parties at Donaldson Track Plantation.
At the restaurant Bernadette's, the wine cellar was well stocked and frequently visited. Dishes were primarily of the French tradition—Hemery is a native of Brittany—but sometimes borrowed from the Cajun and Creole cuisines when the chef found need for more spice. The tablecloths were white linen and the escargot was flambéed.
Hemery retired in 2013 and his visionary restaurant shuttered too. When Bernadette's reopens later this year, it won't be another cook lacing up Hemery's chaussures. It'll be Chef Joshua Hebert, general manager and executive chef at The Cabin Restaurant, intent on delivering a changing menu that reflects the many cooks and characters who make up the South's diverse cuisine. In his extensive travels through the region, Hebert takes care to ask churchgoers, community leaders, and other cooks of local renown to share their best creations. In Bernadette's menus, he promises, he'll run his takes on these beloved family dishes and donate 20% of dish proceeds to a charity of the family's choosing.
Hebert has enthusiasm and drive in spades, but a recent preview dinner showcased his particular talent for weaving estimable local produce through several dishes in increasingly creative iterations. Satsumas, which Hebert's wife's uncle Bunga grows in abundance, were especially well represented at dinner: in a bourbon, blackberry, satsuma, & honey slush (served, with a wink, in a Slushpuppie cup) alongside redfish rillettes over a sweet pepper & satsuma butter; in a satsuma honey mustard dressing with smoked duck breast (over apple and pecan woods) served over Fullness Organic Farm's roasted root vegetables; in a Louisiana citrus butter (which competed with sous-vide & cast-iron roasted rabbit saddle to be the most divine part of the third course); and in a satsuma curd semifreddo (which translates to "semi-frozen" and which Hebert laughingly admitted is "the cheater's ice cream") drizzled with satsuma & raw cane sugar syrup and paired with a satsuma basil mimosa.
Hebert and Chef de Cuisine Adam Reeson (who serves currently as The Cabin's sous chef) took time too to celebrate blackberries and basil, redfish and rabbit, all manner of root vegetables, and bushels of herbs, lettuces, and shoots. The restaurant's wine cellar remains well stocked and put to good use.
These are chefs who know their local growers and who trust the traditions of the larger region, who are confident enough to play around in the kitchen and who can recognize a grove of superlative satsumas in their uncle-in-law's backyard and put them on the menu accordingly.
Tickets are now on sale to the second preview dinner on February 25. Follow Bernadette's Table on Facebook and Instagram or join the mailing list at bernadettestable.com for news of upcoming preview dinners.