European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                16 the stars and stripes july 1985 modern living spicy Dow Home cajun cooking Alex Patout sauces crawfish for crawfish up photo by John Demers United press International Alex Patout Doest mind a bit that diners who once looked Down their noses at cajun food Are embracing it like a country Cousin who just made killing in in he and his spicy Dow Home Cook ing arc making a killing All their own with a restaurant logically he is also about to Widen his horizons with a Cookbook of the real cajun cooking is Home says and any one who tries to make it look like classic nou Velle cuisine or even new american is backing away from As late As Patout was working his Way through a variety of no culinary jobs after his family closed its cajun restaurant in the traffic Sim ply did not pass through new just a bit More than five years Patout has been profiled Between basketball great Julius Erving and actress meryl Streep in the pages of reviewed favourably by the most important food critics from new York and los of came the you just make up your mind that what you set out to do is what you will said who now runs both his new Iberia full service restaurant and a fast food spinoff in new were interested in serving the bes Quality cajun Success was anything but a foregone conclusion when payouts opened in an old farmhouse in even with the family it took two full years of stumbling and at least one major bailout to keep the doors the Power of Good skilled courting of the Media and an explosion of cajun food nationwide pulled the place from its Dol Drums and set it on the Road to landmark the that once relied on Al Youcan eat Fried Catfish at to pay its delights diners with a Broad spectrum of dishes showcasing the won Ders of Louisiana Waterways and with the assistance of his sister Patout has finally found ways to produce in a commercial Kitchen the dishes his High school and College buddies praised during weekend treks to his family there was no True cajun restaurant in new Iberia that exemplified the kind of food i grew up he there was no place i Felt really did Justice to this As it turned juggling Home style recipes to achieve the consistency and volume a restaurant de mands was Only part of the the rest was showing enough courage to serve customers cajun food undiluted in terms of hot Pepper and unadulterated in terms of to As to his famous Mentor chef Paul prud the stews and soups at the heart of this cuisine should be left As they Are marvelous tributes to a Peoples ingenuity and their refusal to knuckle under to unfriendly specialities of the from redfish Elizabeth to crawfish Are Brazen challenges to the the nose and the taste they dare diners to let themselves be transported to a simpler when tastes were More direct and presentations less ostentatious than those found even today in the glittering Creole palaces of nearby new a Good Creole dish will take three chickens to feed one Patout giving his formula for what separates these world class a Good cajun dish will take one Chicken and feed three the Patout Story began in when Alexs Grandfather opened the hotel Frederick in new Iberia and developed it into the largest such establish ment on the Highway linking new Orleans and hous the founders eight children helped around the hotel and especially in the adjacent by the Alexs father and Uncle had taken Over Day today but with the opening of interstate 10 and the evolution away from hotels in towns to motels on the the hotel Frederick breathed its Many of the restaurants recipes so Alex and Gigi had a Rich Strain of culinary tradition to mine when they opened their own place in May the country eatery was almost driven out of business by Road but who studied account ing in believes this near disaster might have actually been a Blessing in it gave us enough time to learn How to up photo Paul Prudhomme at the 1985 crawfish culinary cup