Whitney Has Been Head Chef At Grosse Savanne For Six Years
Each morning Matt Whitney stops at Market Basket to source the ingredients he’ll need for lunch and dinner at Grosse Savanne. He’s been the head chef there for six years, but he first started as a bus boy in a different restaurant. “When I walked into the kitchen I knew I needed to change my major from Psychology to Hospitality. It just felt right,” he says.
Before landing the job at Grosse Savanne, Whitney worked at The Regatta in Lake Arthur for seven years and later attended culinary school at SOWELA.
“I’ve always loved cooking,” he says. “My mom was a great cook. She made food for weddings and was mostly a stay at home mom when I was very young. When I was about 13, she went to work for my uncle. I had a little brother at home so I helped her out by starting dinner most days.”
At Grosse Savanne he serves Cajun dishes with a modern, elevated flair. He has complete creative control over what he serves; the lodge serves only one meal for lunch and one meal for dinner family style on two tables. Whitney has three sous chefs working under him including his wife, Alli, who makes all of the desserts. “She makes a killer key lime pie,” he says.
“Today for lunch I’m serving chicken fried steak on a buttermilk biscuit with a crawfish cream sauce on top. I love sauces. I think everything should have a dip. We serve a jalapeno coconut tartar sauce that is a guest favorite. For dinner, I’ll serve crab and cheese wontons as an appetizer in the bar and then in the dining room crawfish and sausage over rice and a 14 ounce ribeye with creamed spinach and onion strips. I’m not sure what Alli is making for dessert today,” he says.
Last year Whitney worked 315 days out of the year. He doesn’t get many days off, but he doesn’t mind. He says his job at the lodge is an ideal chef’s job. “It’s nothing like working at a restaurant. I have a lot of creative control and it’s not stressful.”
He landed his position while he was still in culinary school. SOWELA was hosting donors at an event and then-owner Buddy Leach was in attendance. “I still had a year left of school when my teacher pulled me out of the class and asked me if I wanted a job,” he says. For his interview he cooked a five course meal for Leach and his family.
“I still remember exactly what I cooked. Deviled eggs with lump crab and caviar on top; chicken, sausage and tasso gumbo; a pork ribeye over pimento cheese grits topped with caramelized apples and onions; and key lime cheesecake for dessert. I’m pretty sure the dish that got me the job was the alligator legs, though.”
The legs were braised with rougaroux sauce that was “like caramel but spicy.”
MATT WHITNEY’S CAJUN CANNOLI
The ideas for what he serves come from his life. At a Garden and Gun magazine dinner at the lodge, Whitney served a savory Cajun cannoli. “I went to a bakery and ordered a traditional cannoli and it sparked the idea,” he says. The cannoli had a traditional shell, but was filled with mascarpone infused with bergamot liqueur, served over alfalfa sprouts and topped with crawfish and a key lime sauce.
“A lot of the time I’ll see a protein I have and will go to the store looking for one thing and see something else. It spirals and my creativity runs wild and before I know it I’ve spent an hour in the grocery store and my wife’s asking me what I’m doing.”
The couple doesn’t cook much at home. “I don’t wanna see fancy food at home and if I do… I want someone else to have cooked it,” he says laughing.
“We don’t cook at home, but I did cater my own wedding. That’s the thing I’m most proud of, actually,” he says. Whitney and his wife held their reception at the KC hall in Jennings and he made enough food to cover four six-foot tables. An eight-foot grazing table held a “huge fruit arrangement” as well as a shrimp mold.
The couple also served traditional wedding food like queso, barbecue meatballs, caprese skewers with balsamic glaze, pimento cheese grits, green beans, pepper jack boudin dressing, turkey rolls, and six briskets.
Whitney’s advice to aspiring chefs is not to give up. He says young people who are interested in the culinary space should believe in themselves and try to get as much on-the-job experience as possible. “Learning while doing was really key,” he says. “Especially because that’s just how my brain works.”
What’s his death row meal? “Oh, that’s easy. I was just talking about this the other day, actually. People are going to be surprised to hear this, but it’s simple,” he says. “I want a bag of original Lay’s potato chips dipped in homemade ranch, a jar of peanut butter and glass of whole milk. That’s all.”
The lodge at Grosse Savanne has nine bedrooms, each bedroom with double queen size beds that can sleep 18 total. The lodge sits on 50,000 acres of fresh marshes, brackish marshes, coastal prairies and agricultural lands. To experience world class bass fishing, saltwater fishing, alligator hunting, waterfowl hunting, ecotours all while sampling Whitney’s fine dining, info@grossesavanne.com or call 337-598-2357.
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