How childhood meals inspired two chefs' acclaimed menus

New Orleans, of course, is a food town. Hot beignets, anyone? Still, Morocco reminds us there's a lot more on the menu. It's really my comfort food. Like curry, for me, like on a rainy day or like a cold day, it makes my soul very happy. To eat in New Orleans is to taste the world. So tender. More people need goat in their lives. They do. I agree. I agree. In 2015, Nina Compton, whom some will recognize from Bravo's Top Chef... Bernard, you'll take two tuna, please. ...opened Comper La Pan with her husband, Larry Miller. The two had met years earlier in Miami. I tasted her food before I met her. I heard this great laugh coming out of the kitchen. And when I figured out the same laugh was making that good food, I started pursuing her. What does Comper La Pan mean? It means brother rabbit. It's a folktale I grew up with in St. Lucia. Her father, Sir John Compton, led the Caribbean island of St. Lucia to independence in 1979 then served as its first prime minister. How much of this restaurant is St. Lucia? How much is New Orleans? I would say 50% New Orleans and 50% St. Lucia. So it becomes a very harmonious menu. The restaurant's signature curried goat is something Compton ate growing up in St. Lucia. It's the number one selling dish. People come for it, they ask for it. Did you grow up with goat? No, not at all. The first time I had goat was with her. We're in New Orleans, so let's talk about the other G word. Gumbo. It's not on the menu here. It's not on the menu. People assume that I would have gumbo on the menu. And when I moved here, it is such a personal thing. I just wanted to respect the people that came before me and just let them have the gumbo. The absence of gumbo hasn't seemed to hurt. Crispy rice to $25. In 2018, Nina Compton won the James Beard Foundation's award for Best Chef in the South. Shiraz, thank you for the shrimp. It looks beautiful. While Chef Compton has brought the Caribbean to New Orleans, Chef Serene Mbai is bringing West Africa to the Crescent City. I always get to share a story about how this plate came about, to sometimes give a deep history about what's happening here. Can I say one thing? I really love the colors. Mbai opened Dakar Nola in 2022 after it started as a pop-up restaurant where he met his business partner, Effie Richardson. It was the first time I actually saw a tasting menu of West African food, and I just loved the concept. Mbai spent much of his youth in Senegal. Dakar is its capital, but he was born in Harlem, where he watched his mother cook for relatives and neighbors. She was literally nurturing people's souls through food. I realized that I wanted something that reminisced how my mom made everyone feel. But it was in Senegal where Mbai was inspired by the traditional one-pot cooking technique. A lot of dishes are composed by maybe six or seven different components that's made in a different pot. Versus Senegal, everything happened within one pot. That spirit of unity is reflected in the restaurant's oval communal tables. I love the table. Why is it this shape? It's a connector. I feel like it's a perfect table to connect people together. Allowing strangers to get to really know each other, especially when you eat with your hands. There's enough room on the table for the food, but then there's also closeness that allows you to really engage with everyone at the table. After biting into this cassava and trout roe starter, this correspondent understood why Dakar Nola won the Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2024. It really has a kick also at the end, which I love. I'm a fan of yucca fries. It's a very refined but delicious hash brown. While neither of these restaurants serves gumbo, both are bringing ingredients and traditions that have made New Orleans' food scene an even richer stew. The food is not dainty or very frou-frou. It's really about satisfying your soul and making you happy.