{"id":8290,"date":"2018-12-21T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=8290"},"modified":"2018-12-21T09:34:11","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T15:34:11","slug":"a-passion-for-people-and-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2018\/12\/21\/a-passion-for-people-and-food\/","title":{"rendered":"A Passion For People And Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Cole of Fatboyz Kitchen Table and Catering \u2022 909 Mulberry St., Westlake<\/strong><\/p>\n

337-564-3901 \u2022 fatboyzkitchen.net<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chef Spotlight \u2022 By Karla Wall<\/em><\/p>\n

Opening a restaurant like Fatboyz Kitchen Table in Westlake had long been Richard Cole\u2019s dream, one he finally realized in April of 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Opening a restaurant) has always been on my bucket list,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always had a passion for cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

That passion developed as he learned to cook at his grandmother\u2019s side as a young boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was from Italy, and loved food and cooking. She taught me the techniques and skills of cooking,\u201d Cole says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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She adapted those skills to the local cuisine, he says, so he grew up learning to cook \u2014 and love \u2014 down-home Cajun-style dishes.<\/p>\n

The skills Cole learned at his grandmother\u2019s side were put to good use in 1982, when Cole was business manager of the Camp Edgewood Boy Scout Camp.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had to fire our cooks that year, with three weeks left in the camp season,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to have someone cook, so I stepped in and served 250 meals a week for three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

With some help from his mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandmother came to the camp and helped me finish out those three weeks in the kitchen,\u201d he says. \u201cIn fact, she came to help me out the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole found that cooking for crowds suited him, and that camp kitchen duty was followed by a lot of years of non-profit catering, despite a busy career in politics \u2014 he is the former tax assessor for Calcasieu Parish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve cooked for just about every non-profit group in this area,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s also competed in numerous cookoffs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of competition cooking,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Iowa Rabbit Festival, the Gonzales Jambalaya Cookoff, The Memphis in May Festival cookoff, chili cookoffs, you name it\u2014 and my team and I have won several awards.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for all the competition, for Cole, food and cooking seem to be tied to a passion for serving people and his community. His father always stressed the importance of giving back, he explains, and he\u2019s taken that to heart, both as a cook and as a public servant.<\/p>\n

Which is why Cole\u2019s cooking resume includes preparing meals for evacuees after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, cooking for fundraisers and events for organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Boys Village, and providing safety meeting meals for local plants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also provides the fried turkeys for Sulphur\u2019s community Thanksgiving dinner each year, which he says involves cooking 85-100 turkeys. And the day before each Thanksgiving, he \u201ccooks up a pot of gumbo (in the restaurant)\u201d that is free to anyone who comes in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a way of giving back, and just getting together with friends and giving thanks,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise, then, that what\u2019s most important for Cole as a restaurant owner is that his customers feel like family when they sit down.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal is to make people happy through my food,\u201d he says. \u201cI love seeing people enjoy eating what I\u2019ve cooked. We\u2019ve always treated this place as a family. Our customers are like family to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole focuses on plate lunches featuring the simple home-style cooking he grew up making \u2014 on the day I visited, beef tips and fried pork chops were the entrees, and as usual, there were numerous sides and vegetables to choose from.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to serve people something they can\u2019t find just anywhere,\u201d Cole says. \u201cWe do smothered liver and onions, for instance, and that\u2019s not available just anywhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also wants to make sure his customers leave full.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe serve good, homestyle meals at a reasonable price and in quantities that won\u2019t leave you hungry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While the plate lunches are big business for Fatboyz, Cole says that catering makes up a big part, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, business is about half plate lunches and half catering,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Fatboyz is a place for those who love food and enjoy dining in a friendly, relaxed, family atmosphere. And for Cole, it\u2019s the culmination of a dream and a way to combine his passion for people and food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Cole of Fatboyz Kitchen Table and Catering \u2022 909 Mulberry St., Westlake 337-564-3901 \u2022 fatboyzkitchen.net Chef Spotlight \u2022 By Karla Wall Opening a restaurant like Fatboyz Kitchen Table in Westlake had long been Richard Cole\u2019s dream, one he finally realized in April of 2016. \u201c(Opening a restaurant) has always been on my bucket list,\u201d [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1779,1863,4,51,1862],"yoast_head":"\nA Passion For People And Food - 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\/2018\/12\/21\/a-passion-for-people-and-food\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Passion For People And Food - 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