{"id":1638,"date":"2014-05-14T17:45:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T22:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=1638"},"modified":"2014-05-14T18:02:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T23:02:58","slug":"bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/","title":{"rendered":"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is a little different from those of weeks past as I\u2019m going to review an event instead of a restaurant. I was asked to be a judge at Wild Beast Feast 2014 by my great friend, and the event chairman, Laura Monk. I had the chance to experience Louisiana\u2019s wildlife dishes cooked to perfection.<\/p>\n

The Wild Beast Feast was the brainchild of former Lake Charles Symphony board president Frank Pruitt; the idea was created in 2001 as a way to enjoy SWLA\u2019s culture. The Wild Beast Feast raises money for the symphony\u2019s educational programs and continues to be the symphony\u2019s largest fundraiser. This year\u2019s event was held at the Historic Cash and Carry Building.<\/p>\n

So there were 20 different chef teams that came together to prepare food for the event. As much as I\u2019d love to talk about them all, I\u2019m going to give you the highlight reel.<\/p>\n

I had three personal favorites in the competition, so we\u2019re going to focus on them. First off, I\u2019m not a fan of rabbit at all, and in my life I\u2019ve only had it once when I truly enjoyed it. On that occasion, it was made for me by my late friend Brandon Langley at the Iowa Rabbit Festival.\"WBF2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the Wild Beast Feast, the Lacassine Company team chef Patrick Martinez prepared a rabbit sauce piquant that I found to be heaven in a bowl. The rabbit was very tender, and there wasn\u2019t a single hint of a gamey flavor. The color in the sauce was a little lighter than I\u2019m used to, but the seasoning was perfect. The rice was cooked to perfection, which is hard to do on such a large scale.<\/p>\n

So I had a tie for first. There was also the team of Pirogue Pirates (Knights of Columbus) with chef John Day. I\u2019ve had the pleasure of knowing John for some time; he was our play-by-play commentator during the Fat Cat Caf\u00e9\u2019s title run of 2012 for Lake Charles\u2019 Adult Kick Ball League title. I was truly taken aback at his culinary skill.<\/p>\n

John created Bayou Balls, which were made from line-caught alligator gar croquettes that were served with a sweet remoulade sauce. The balls were fried to perfection \u2014 with just enough crunch on the outside and a nice, tender center. They had a nice little bite on their own, but when you dipped them into the remoulade, they got a nice little added punch that brought them together perfectly.<\/p>\n

Then there was Spiceman\u2019s Kitchen Table with chef Spiceman Franklin. Both Spiceman and John tied for my top score, but Spiceman\u2019s creativity set him apart. A 5 was the highest score I could give him.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never heard of his dish and I\u2019m not totally sure how to explain it. but I\u2019ll do my best. The dish was called a Genesis Soul Roll. It was made of smoked kale, roasted pecans and jerk turkey and shaped like a meat pie. It was served with a sauce that was made of red beans and dark chocolate.<\/p>\n

The crust on the meat pie was nice and flakey and held together the way it should. The jerk turkey was nice and spicy. Since I\u2019d never had jerk turkey, this was a great first experience for me.<\/p>\n

The sauce had a rich chocolate flavor, and the red beans blended down with it just perfectly. The flavor was bold; it really surprised me. When Spiceman served me, he told me it was like nothing I had ever tried, and he was dead on.\"wbf3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Judges Award\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 1st place: Spiceman;<\/p>\n

\u2014 2nd Place: Prytania Private Dining (Chef Andrew Green)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice Award\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 Prytania Private Dining (Chef Andrew Green)<\/p>\n

Contact Info For\u00a0Participants:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lake Charles Symphony- www.lcsympony.com, 337-433-1611<\/em><\/p>\n

Spiceman: Leroy Franklin (559)-772-7647<\/em><\/p>\n

Historic Cash & Carry Building \u2014 801 Enterprise Boulevard, Lake Charles, 337-310-0405<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is a little different from those of weeks past as I\u2019m going to review an event instead of a restaurant. I was asked to be a judge at Wild Beast Feast 2014 by my great friend, and the event chairman, Laura Monk. I had the chance to experience Louisiana\u2019s wildlife dishes cooked to [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":1662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[354,358,264,353,357,263,355,356,352],"yoast_head":"\nBAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article is a little different from those of weeks past as I\u2019m going to review an event instead of a restaurant. I was asked to be a judge at Wild Beast Feast 2014 by my great friend, and the event chairman, Laura Monk. I had the chance to experience Louisiana\u2019s wildlife dishes cooked to [&hellip\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bestofswla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-14T22:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-14T23:02:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wbf11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mario Pacetti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mario Pacetti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/\",\"name\":\"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-14T22:45:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-14T23:02:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2545fe5b3290695575b038c2d22cb0ac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/\",\"name\":\"BestOfSwla\",\"description\":\"Powered by Lagniappe Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2545fe5b3290695575b038c2d22cb0ac\",\"name\":\"Mario Pacetti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af3b7c35458f1bbefe6dd8f593e73d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af3b7c35458f1bbefe6dd8f593e73d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mario Pacetti\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/author\/mariopacetti\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla","og_description":"This article is a little different from those of weeks past as I\u2019m going to review an event instead of a restaurant. I was asked to be a judge at Wild Beast Feast 2014 by my great friend, and the event chairman, Laura Monk. I had the chance to experience Louisiana\u2019s wildlife dishes cooked to [&hellip","og_url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/","og_site_name":"BestOfSwla","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bestofswla","article_published_time":"2014-05-14T22:45:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-14T23:02:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":610,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wbf11.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mario Pacetti","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mario Pacetti","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/","url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/","name":"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW - BestOfSwla","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-14T22:45:25+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-14T23:02:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2545fe5b3290695575b038c2d22cb0ac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/05\/14\/bayou-balls-wild-beast-feast-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BAYOU BALLS: WILD BEAST FEAST REVIEW"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/","name":"BestOfSwla","description":"Powered by Lagniappe Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2545fe5b3290695575b038c2d22cb0ac","name":"Mario Pacetti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af3b7c35458f1bbefe6dd8f593e73d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af3b7c35458f1bbefe6dd8f593e73d6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mario Pacetti"},"url":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/author\/mariopacetti\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}