JASON LEBOUEF

BY DIANA VALLETTE

PHOTOS BY WILDWOOD CREATIVE

Imagine you’re transported back to your school cafeteria. You’re loading your tray and shuffling down the line. Are you excited about what you’re about to eat? Jason Lebouef, campus executive chef, makes sure for McNeese students the answer is yes.

Lebouef works for Sodexo, a company that employees over 100,000 and services the Superdome as well as most of the campuses in the University of Louisiana System. He took over at McNeese May, 2024.

“We don’t call it a ‘cafeteria’ because that word means something to people,” he says. “They think of cafeteria food negatively, and we’re not serving cafeteria food here. We really try to make our food sing.” 

At Rowdy’s Dining Hall you’ll find Lebouef and a staff of 35 serving up food that is diverse, fresh and nutritious. “The most important thing in making good food is using quality ingredients and caring about your product. Here at McNeese, there’s a diverse population. We keep that in mind in the food we serve.” 

Lebouef was born and raised in Lafayette and grew up around good ol’ Cajun cooking. “My mom always cooked. My grandmother, Emerite, was one of the greatest cooks I’ve ever known. A real, true Cajun. As Cajun as it gets, honestly.”

Even though he has Lafayette roots, Lebouef says Lake Charles is home for him. He raised his kids here and has always been a Poke fan. “McNeese is home. I’m a sports nut and I’ve always kept up with what was happening here, even when I didn’t live here.”

He says being connected to the student athletes is his favorite part of the job. “For example, seeing the football team have a better season this year over last, I feel like I played a part in that. Do I think it’s directly related? No, but you can’t tell me that it didn’t affect the players at all.” 

Lebouef took his job fueling the athletes seriously, and he was pleased to see the young men grow as the season progressed.

In addition to feeding students, athletes and campus staff, Lebouef oversees the catering in the Legacy Center’s basketball suites, and he was tasked with creating an elevated menu for the Champions Club.

The Champions Club, which is located in the end zone room in Jack Doland Field House, hosts 200 fans for each home football game. Champions Club ticket holders get a premium football experience that includes priority parking, air conditioning, a great view, an open bar and, most importantly, Lebouef’s dishes. Cost is $2,000 per seat for the entire football season, and there’s currently a waiting list. 

“During the summer I sat in one of the booths (in Rowdy’s Dining Hall) with a notepad and mapped out the entire menu for each of the five home games. When I submitted it to Matt (Fontenot, senior associate athletic director) he was like, ‘Dang, this is sick. Do you think it’ll be too expensive?’”

Lebouef says he wasn’t worried about that. He has experience making elevated dishes with a limited budget. It’s one of his most noteworthy skills: his ability to be creative within rigid parameters. 

Everything in the Champions Club was made completely from scratch — from the candied jalapenos and house made pickles to the condiments, macaroons, burgers, pasta and roast.

Champions Club ticket holder Ben Bourgeois said, “The food was exceptionally good this year. Plus, the positive attitude and warmth of Chef and his entire staff added to the experience, definitely. Good food is good, yes, but great food coupled with a team of people that enjoy what they do makes the Champions Club what it is. The shrimp and tasso mac and cheese was the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had in my life. It was just a notch above anything else.”

One of Lebouef’s creative babies that made a big splash was the gourmet nacho bar. “I made a roast that was just insane,” he says. “All I had to work with was a pizza oven.” 

He seasoned the chuck roast with a barbacoa style garlic, lime and chile marinade for three days before slow cooking it for 15 hours in the school’s pizza oven. “My baker, Tati, made some of craziest desserts I’ve ever had for the Champions Club, and my sous chef, Reggie, is probably the best hire we’ve had.” There are six to eight members of his staff he considers trusted sous chefs who he’s actively mentoring.

Lebouef attended culinary school at SLCC, and his first job after graduation was working for George Rodrigue. “My executive chef was Rick Shockley. He was an incredible mentor to me. His ability to pick up on flavor and the way he thought about food was ahead of his time. He really got me to be more forward thinking. He’s the reason I really dove all the way in and made this a career.”

After his time with Rodrigue, Lebouef worked at a country club before transitioning to high volume food. He spent time cooking at the Cajundome, at hotels, offshore and at Jack Daniel’s in L’Auberge before being recruited to work for Sodexo almost 20 years ago. 

“I worked at Tulane for four years and got to do some really cool stuff there,” he says. Being immersed in the New Orleans’ culinary scene was formative and played a part in developing his current cooking style. 

“It’s all about the experience of the person eating. Yes, I sometimes miss the rush and adrenaline that comes with working in a restaurant and having tickets flying around the kitchen, but I have a really great work-life balance now.” 

These days he’s usually up at 5 am and on campus by 7:30 am. He touches base with his staff and meets with his general manager several times per day and is home by 5 most afternoons. 

“One thing I hate, and my staff will tell you, is starting food too early. Fresh is important. The fresher the better. It’s why I love Waffle House and Five Guys so much. It’s cooked right when you order it. It makes a huge difference when food is fresh.” 

Lebouef thinks food should be fun, too. He was a guest chef at Nichols State University recently. The school’s head chef and Lebouef took part in a friendly competition. “Students got to be involved, and I loved that. It elevates the student experience. I want to bring something similar here to McNeese once we get our new dining hall.” 

The new facility will have state of the art equipment and an action station where students can see his team cook. Work is expected to be complete in 2026.

This semester, Lebouef and his sous chef Reggie had a gumbo cook-off, and they invited students to vote. “Of course I won,” he says laughing. 

His death row meal would be a ribeye cap (the one-inch thick strip of meat where the muscle meets the bone) rolled, tied and cooked medium rare. “I’ve been dabbling in making my own version of Worcestershire. Maybe I’d add that with it,” he says. He’d also have a “perfectly done mashed potato, no gravy, you don’t need it, and roasted asparagus and a slice of cheesecake.” 

What’s he working on next? “Perfecting my shrimp and grits recipe,” he says. “I want to serve it next year in the new football press box suites.” 

He uses gulf shrimp in a tasso base with Abita beer as the braising liquid. The shrimp are served over jalapeno corn grits. “The fresh jalapeno makes a difference. I like to finish it with a ton of fresh rosemary and fresh parsley.”

“I love what I do, and I’m blessed to have gotten to do a lot of great things throughout my career. I’ve competed against extremely talented chefs. One time, I competed with a blueberry basil vinaigrette dressing and beat 80 other chefs — that dressing took me six years to perfect. I’ve been a guest chef for Mardi Gras balls in different states. I’ve catered weddings,” he says. “The thing I’m most excited about, though, is being back home. I talk to Dr. (Kedrick) Nicholas and Dr. (Wade) Rousse a lot, and it feels great to be here. Getting to play a role in elevating the student experience — there’s nothing better.”