great louisiana chef
Playing with His Food Chef Jeremy Conner serves up playful coastal and bayou flavors at Spoonbill in Lafayette By Ashley mclellan portrait by Romero & Romero
W h i l e Sp o o n b i ll W a t e r i n g H o l e &
Restaurant partner and chef Jeremy Conner isn’t originally from Louisiana, his deep southern roots (he was born in Opelika, Alabama) and passion for flavors are right at home in Lafayette. It is those qualities and years of experience working in kitchens from Pensacola, Florida to Alabama to Lafayette that are reflected in his unique Gulf Coast-meets-bayou menu at Spoonbill and that have made the restaurant a destination for food and fun lovers. “I have lived in Louisiana for 11 years now and have developed a serious taste for the flavors of this area,” he said. “Combine them … with my immersion in the coastal flavors of Northwest Florida and you get a wide array of techniques and flavors that represent the best parts of Southern food.” Conner has been cooking since he was a teen, at first just to earn some money, but he quickly embraced a career in the kitchen. Yet, while his skills and culinary know-how are top-notch, he maintains a sense of humor through his food, with a focus less on fanciful and more on flavorful. “I like bold flavors,” he said. “I like foods with lots of acid and great textures. I always like to include something unexpected and fun. Even when the food is thoughtful and fancy, I want it to be playful and comfortable, and I never want to take it too seriously.” That lighthearted take is reflected in the line up of offerings on the menu at Spoonbill, with the regular selection of lunch, brunch and dinner, but also with a special “linner” menu offered each day that may quickly become a favorite among afternoon visitors to the restaurant. “We have a small kitchen, which means we need some time to get some prep done during the day, but we never want to turn guests away,” Conner said. “So instead of closing between lunch and dinner, we just reduce the size of the menu. My business partner and our general manager, Stephen Verret, is the head of the dad joke department and he came up with the term.” n
62 Louisiana LouisianaLife Lifeseptember/october november/december 2019 2019
What do you like to cook on your “day off”? I really like to cook gumbo and a few other things, but on my day off, I really like to eat food that other people make.