Zach Aymond is Pujo Street Cafe. While the 38 year old is technically the head chef/kitchen manager at the downtown spot, he’s been in Pujo Street Cafe’s kitchen for over 11 years.
Aymond started out in the restaurant industry when he was in high school working as a server. In college he worked at the Dixie Chicken in College Station while studying kinesiology. Aymond’s dad, David, is a retired hall of fame high school football coach. “Growing up, that’s what I was going do. The family business, if you will.”
Plans changed in 2012 when Aymond’s stepfather passed away unexpectedly. Losing someone important to him was a wake up call, and Aymond realized just how short life is. “I had this calling from God to pursue my passion for cooking,” he says. He had only 12 hours left at McNeese when he withdrew and started job hunting at local restaurants.
He landed a job at Pujo where he started on the fryer before working his way up. Aymond’s wife Carol also works in the kitchen at Pujo. The pair have been working together since 2015. It’s where they met. “She’s my right hand in the kitchen,” he says. “We try to keep her on the hummus so it’s consistent.” Carol is responsible for the restaurant’s delicious hummus, a recipe she’s perfected. “She’s my biggest supporter.”
Along with Aymond and his wife, you can find seven others in the kitchen. “These days it’s really hard to find good kitchen help, but we are, like, super blessed to have the people we do. They are freaking amazing.”
Once or twice per year the couple and some of their coworkers take a trip together hoping to spark culinary inspiration. After a trip to Avery Island, the idea for the Ribeye Avery was born. It’s a blackened ribeye dish topped with crawfish and a tabasco butter sauce served on a bed of jambalaya with green beans.
Aymond grew up cooking with his mom. He says she’s a great cook and credits her for his early cooking chops. “I loved her red beans and rice and her lasagna,” he says.
He has no formal training, and everything he’s learned has either been through trial and error or it’s been imparted to him by Pujo owner Dan Schaad. “Dan is a great guy to work for. He loves to cook and he’s great with desserts. He gives me a lot of creative control, which I’m super grateful for. I appreciate that. I really enjoy running dinner specials.” Recently the restaurant added a menu insert with Aymond’s chef specials.
He says Schaad is “the hardest working man I’ve ever met. He basically lives here.” Aymond is one to talk. He works three doubles a week and three regular shifts. The restaurant is open six days a week, and he’s there every day. Which means he devotes about 60 hours a week to the restaurant. “Dan works as much, if not more, than me. We always say it’s good my wife works with me because if we didn’t we’d never see each other.”
In 2020, the restaurant started making all of their bread in house. From the burger buns to their poboy bread to the brioche they use in their breakfast menu’s French toast, all of it is made from scratch by Schaad.
“I wanted a quality burger bun,” Aymond says. “A lot of buns, they tend to fall apart while you’re eating, but if you make it right it’ll keep its structural integrity and won’t fall apart.” Anyone who’s chewed on the restaurant’s hot honey bacon burger likely noticed the yeast roll stamped with the Pujo Street emblem. It’s a nice touch for the burger which includes house made pickles, house made pepper jelly, house made hot honey, bacon and pepper jack cheese “It’s just the perfect burger,” he says.
The blackened tuna bowl is the restaurant’s take on a sushi bowl. The dish is a bed of rice, with finely diced cucumber, green onion, avocado, and house made Tokyo sauce (which is the restaurant’s soy sauce), house made spicy mayonnaise, topped with cubed blackened tuna and toasted sesame.
Should Aymond ever have just one, final meal he says he’s starting with his wife’s chicken noodle soup. “And then I’m gonna go with my mom’s lasagna; then my stepmom’s bread pudding. She uses raisins and the sweet Hawaiian rolls. Wash it down with a nice whiskey on the rocks, I think.”
Pujo Street has been a staple in Lake Charles for 33 years. The restaurant started in a home where Schaad now owns a bed and breakfast. The restaurant’s underrated breakfast service is the best kept restaurant secret in Southwest Louisiana. Pujo opens at 7 am. On Wednesday nights, the restaurant serves $25 prime rib. If you haven’t been to Pujo in a while, you’re really missing out.
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