Small Town Chefs 2022: Chefs Matt and Alexis Indest
Chefs Matthew and Alexis Indest elevate the comforts of small-town Cajun country
In Chefs Matt and Alexis Indest’s Preservation kitchen in downtown New Iberia, a basket of Gulf shrimp is made golden by the melding tastes of the tropics and the Cajun prairie: shredded coconut and tasso. Nearby, more shrimp cheerfully mingle with scallops and crab in a citrus marinade—waiting to be artfully arranged in a succulent tower of seafood tartare, drizzled in house-made chimichurri. A fried softshell crab poses seductively atop a pile of linguine and Puttanesca sauce. Buffalo sauce simmers on the stove, ready to paint a fresh-fried plate of frog legs. And if it’s Steak Night (Wednesday), the filet mignons, flat irons, and butcher block specials are practically flying out the door (at fifteen percent off).
Struggling to articulate a definition for his culinary style, Matt said, “I kind of fuse everything together. Take bits and pieces and put our own spin on it.” On his menu, you’ll find elements of Italian, Mediterranean, Central American, and traditional French cuisines—all integrated into a locally-rooted comfort foods, crafted using traditional methods of preservation—smoking, pickling, aging, fermentation, and salting. “It’s about making the most out of your food,” said Matt, who grew up as an outdoorsman in New Iberia, enjoying the distinct cuisine of the region. But with Preservation, he and Alexis wanted to offer something more than just another Cajun restaurant.
“I’m not trying to duplicate something that your grandmother’s been making,” said Matt. “Nobody can beat your grandmother’s cooking. We don’t really want to compete with that. We want to try to do something along those lines, but with a different delivery.”
“We’re drawing out the comfort food that people are already accustomed to around here,” added Alexis, “and taking a subtle spin on it, offering something more worldly when it comes to tastes and flavors.”
Unaware of Wednesday night’s significance at Preservation Bar & Grill, my husband and I waltzed right in from the sleepy downtown streets at 6:30 pm, surprised to find it bright and bustling, crowded even. Dressed in work clothes and postured in a way that signaled comfortable familiarity—patrons sipped cocktails, bent over steaks, and wandered from table to table, patting each other on the back and asking “How’s your mama?”
“It’ll be about an hour wait,” our hostess kindly told us. Surprised, our stomachs growled, but we smiled back at her—“No problem,” and settled in at the bar, where we were immediately tended to. In addition to its extensive list of organic, biodynamic wines (“though of course we still have the Kendall Jacksons—some things you just can’t get away from when you’re working in a small town,” laughed Alexis), Preservation’s cocktails are all original creations energized by names like “Mario Speedwagon,” “Yoga Pants,” and “Magnum P.I.” The concoctions themselves are elevated, but approachable: a vodka drink with cherry limeade, Topo Chico, and Sprite; Amador Bourbon with orange bitters and smoked simple syrup. I elected for La Yarara—tequila sweetened by prickly pear and seasoned with black sea salt.
Our bartender, we learned later, has been with Preservation since its beginnings in 2019, along with much of the current staff. “We’ve had our same crew pretty much since the beginning,” said Matt, noting that even considering the restaurant industry’s nationwide “Great Resignation” crisis, Preservation has managed to avoid significant turnover. “This place is exactly what we wanted to create,” said Alexis of their commitment to maintaining a positive company culture. “We wanted a restaurant that is a haven for people.”
This intentionality comes from the decades Matt and Alexis have spent working in every position from the front to the back of the house in restaurants across the country. Each of them recalls an early childhood passion for food—Alexis in Albuquerque, New Mexico staying up late at night watching Great Chefs of America; Matt in New Iberia, captivated by Cajun comedian Justin Wilson’s cooking show on PBS. “I always had a different idea of how I wanted food served,” said Matt. “I kind of caught the culinary bug early.”
The two met while both studying at the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, then parted ways to pursue cooking gigs throughout the country, reuniting years later in Dallas. Then, “she followed me back to Louisiana, and I asked her to marry me,” said Matt. In Lafayette, they individually worked their way up in some of the city’s most iconic restaurants. Alexis—having now mastered the art of Cajun cooking—opened Stephen and Patrick O’Bryan’s Bon Temps Grill as executive chef in 2013. Meanwhile, Matt worked through the final era of Lafayette’s oldest bar, Antlers, before returning to his roots in New Iberia to open Clementine on Main as executive chef in 2018. The new restaurant, opened by the Dolds family, was created as an homage to the historic building’s previous life as Clementine Fine Dining and Spirits—where Matt, as a teenager, had gotten his start as a dishwasher.
Clementine on Main’s downtown reign was short-lived. But when the restaurant closed, the Dolds remembered their chef’s dreams of someday starting a restaurant of his own. “They were just like ‘here, if you want to go and do this, if you really want to do this, then here. We’ll give you everything you need, take it and run with it,’” said Matt. “And against my better judgement, we did,” he laughed. Matt opened Preservation Bar and Grill in the former Clementine building in February 2019. Within the year, Alexis left her long-standing post at Bon Temps to join him as general manager.
At the beginning of 2020, the Indests announced a strategic merger with other beloved New Iberia eatery Beau Soleil Café, expanding their catering services as well as maximizing New Iberia’s limited dining crowd. “Being from here, you know everybody in town,” said Matt of opening the restaurant in his hometown, “so you have a lot of support. You just don’t have the demographic. It’s a give and take thing in a small town like this.”
Preservation was right on the cusp of moving into the former Beau Soleil location down the street when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most other restaurant operations across the country. “It just worked out to where we were already in a transition process during the beginning of it all,” said Matt. And, as providence would have it, the new location had a patio. “We were actually able to do live music and outside service when we opened in the summer. So that kind of carried us through the first bit of COVID.”
[Read about previous year's Small Town Chef Award Winners, here.]
Owning a new restaurant in a small town these past few years has not been easy, the Indests assured me. But they are proud of what they’ve built—“Being in your hometown was a big draw for him,” said Alexis. “You want to keep your community growing. But it is a challenge.”
As I had assumed, much of the Wednesday night crowd I encountered on my visit are faithful regulars. “They show up every week,” said Alexis. “They need us, and we need them,” added Matt.
This commitment to supporting local communities extends to the Indests’ approach to cuisine, as well. When something can’t be sourced locally, said Matt, it is made in house.
Most of Preservation’s beef is sourced directly from Gonsoulin Land & Cattle Company right down the road. Barbecue sauce and pepper jelly come from New Iberia purveyor Uncle’s Barbecue. Smoked cheese, salts, and seasonings are Jay Florsheim’s of Peace Love & Smoke. Many of the vegetables are grown in the Envision da Berry community garden. And the fish are from the Gulf, broken down and processed in the kitchen—Alexis’s favorite part of being a chef in Louisiana, and being married to a “hardcore Cajun”. “I’m from the desert,” she laughed. “We don’t have fish. I smelled atrocious for like three years [at Bon Temps Grill]. I love fish. Anything to do with catching it and breaking it down, the ins and outs of cooking it. That’s my number one passion.”
While culinarily Matt prefers the beef side of Preservation’s menu, the Gulf’s bounty holds a salient grip on his heart, too. When I asked about his ultimate dreams for this place, he didn’t even have to contemplate: “I’m trying to open a marina.” That has always been his dream, even before Preservation existed: Open a marina on the Gulf and offer charter services—all integrated into a catch-and-cook restaurant. “That’s the end game,” he said.
Back at the bar, my husband and I boxed up precious leftovers of my flat iron and his shrimp alfredo. Mere minutes after bringing us our drinks, our bartender had slyly suggested she might be able to get our orders into the kitchen far before the hour-long wait was up. We gorged on the Buffalo frog legs—some of the most tender and delicious I’d ever had. And not only was the seafood tartare beautifully-executed, it held surprisingly complex, fresh flavors that paired perfectly with the buttery bites of crab, scallops, and shrimp. Those plates were returned clean. When our massive entrées arrived, I cautioned Julien to go slowly: I was eyeing the turtle cheesecake, too.
As we were leaving, I noted that the dining room was still pretty full—diners leaning back in their chairs as though at their own dining table, plates licked clean. We stepped out into the twilight, heading to our car—and when I looked back, there was Preservation. Lighting up the quiet New Iberia streets.