Learning from Chef Steve McHugh

Mary Martini of the San Antonio Central Market cooking school wasted no time in getting Chef Steve McHugh of the new downtown restaurant Lüke (see my blog post about their grand opening) on the schedule. I hadn't planned to blog...but nearly as soon as he opened his mouth, I was scribbling down notes.

"We're often asked, 'Why San Antonio?'" he said, when Chef John Besh could have opened a restaurant anywhere. "Chef Besh feels that San Antonio and New Orleans have similar cultures. There's a lot of history and a lot of tourism. Plus, San Antonio just opened its arms after Katrina. Many of our New Orleans employees evacuated here and stayed. My pastry chef, in fact, is one of them."

Chef Steven moved to San Antonio ten months ago, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. "Most of the doctors fled New Orleans after Katrina, and San Antonio was recommended to us for treatment," he said. "I've been in remission for five months. I wanted to stay here since I was cured here."

Both in New Orleans and here, Chef Besh's restaurants seek to be a part of the community and use local ingredients as much as possible. Lüke's menu in New Orleans, for example, doesn't include the sausages on Lüke's menu (all house made and cured). They wanted to have some items that appeal to the local German culture. "We use only Gulf shrimp and mostly Gulf seafood," said Chef Steven. Chef Besh wouldn't be caught dead using Chinese crawfish or Vietnamese shrimp.

Chef Besh's restaurant August in New Orleans opened only a month after Katrina, one of the first businesses to reopen. "Many of our employees couldn't get back," said Chef Steven. "We had no bartenders; we asked customers to pour their own drinks and use the honor system. We had to add up all the tickets by hand since we had no computers.

"We were forced to buy a lot of product locally, since Sysco and the big seafood distributors weren't yet operating. It taught us a lot. Since then, we've become a very localized company. You'll see me a lot at the Pearl Market. We now have a farm outside of New Orleans. We want to keep as much of our money local as possible."

Someone asked if it was pronounced "luke" (like the name) or "loo-kay." He pronounces it "luke," but he said really the proper way is "loo-kay." "I don't really care, though, as long as you come to the restaurant."

Another hallmark of Chef Besh's restaurants is their hospitality. They want everyone, both casual tourist and suited businessman, to feel comforable. The entire staff, from the hostesses to the wait staff, is very welcoming and accomodating. Chef Steven often leaves the kitchen to chat with diners and find out how they're doing.

We got an example of that hospitality during the class. Bruce (to his great regret) cannot eat shrimp, so he quietly told one of the assisting chefs to just serve him the grits (which are shrimp/broth-free). Unfortunately, he can't even sample the marvelous sauce, since it's based on shrimp stock. Either the assisting chef quietly told him, or Chef Steven overheard...because when the time came to demonstrate and serve, he prepared a shrimp-free version of the sauce, just for Bruce. Needless to say, we were quite impressed.

The menu included a candied beet salad with Hill Country cheese, a simple pork tartine, jaeger schnitzel, a warm berry tart, and Lüke's famous shrimp and grits.

The beets were pickled and served with a local blue cheese and candied pecans. "People who don't like beets like this," he said. A tartine turned out to be just a fancy word for a sandwich. He said that this recipe works well for a picnic, as it's served at room temperature. For the shrimp and grits at the restaurant, they use a special-order white grits and cook them for four hours. For this class, they used an Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Corn Grits, and stirred in a generous helping of mascarpone and butter. The sauce includes andouille sausage. The entire menu was delectable and easy to prepare at home.

I hope you enjoyed the class, Chef Steven, and will return soon to demonstrate more of your dishes! Welcome to San Antonio!