NOLA Foods, a brand that is sizzling hot these days
12th January 2015 · 0 Comments
By Kelly Parker
Contributing Writer
While many of us are asleep. Chef Scott is making chocolate pralines!
If you follow NOLA Foods on social media, at any time of the day or night, Demietriek Scott is cooking up sweet treats or preparing for a local festival or BBQ competitions anywhere from Baton Rouge to Hattiesburg and beyond. Though he’s witnessing the success of having his own brand of premium BBQ sauces and local favorite sweet treats in area supermarkets, his entrepreneurial grind and journey continues.
2014 was definitely a good year for Chef Scott, who is now catering to the taste buds of many locals, by way of his brand, NOLA Foods. His popular Ghetto Burger and an array of local favorite dishes and sweets can be sampled at area events and festivals from Scott’s food truck. Whoo Doo, Beer Bee-Q and Fiya Water BBQ sauces, along with many of his popular desserts are now available at area Whole Foods and Rouses supermarkets. And most recently, NOLA Foods has crossed over the Bonne Carre Spillway, now available at Mathernes Supermarket in Laplace. NOLA Foods is also coming to Robert Fresh Markets in Kenner, Metairie, Uptown and Lakeview.
“We loved that (Chef Scott) uses NOLA Brewing beer as an ingredient in one of his BBQ sauces,” says Kristina Bradford, Whole Foods Louisiana community & media relations coordinator. “As we like supporting small suppliers, it was a fit with the Broad St. store opening.”
Scott began cooking as a young boy, helping out with meals for the family.
“I actually got my start (cooking) as a child; I had to feed myself growing up as a kid. In the kitchen, my brothers and I would just make whatever we could with whatever we had,” he said.
The Delgado Culinary Arts grad closed his Tremé restaurant in 2012 after Hurricane Isaac. Before that, Atlanta residents got a taste of his hometown dishes by way of his Roswell eatery -Da Cajun Kitchen. He plans to reopen his restaurant this year.
His entrepreneurial drive was set in high school, during the time school teachers were on strike. Scott vowed to never take a job in which he’d have to worry about feeding his family. “I thought, ‘What could I do that would always be needed? One day, I’m going to get into the food industry,’” he said.
“After completing my GED and working in the kitchen in Orleans Parish Prison; and working at Shoney’s, I decided to go to culinary school,” he adds.
The son of a carpenter and a homemaker, Scott says he picked up the traits of his hard-working parents, but wasn’t a natural in the kitchen. “I could build a few things, but I didn’t know how to cook that well, so that was my real reason for going.”
Once he enrolled, Scott says everything involving food just came natural to him. “I just knew I had to find my niche,” He told The Louisiana Weekly. “(Then) Praline Connection chef Curtis Moore told me that’s what I needed to do. That was almost 20 years ago. At this point, I think I’ve found it.”
His niche was some of the city’s most treasured delicacies: ooey gooey cakes, sweet potato, pecan and pecan (praline) pies, along with flavored praline candies. Scott’s cakes are all natural and gluten free.
He said he had made pralines since the late 1980’s with his cousin and later sold his sweets in holiday baskets.
“We liked them as kids. So, I kept going with it.”
From cakes and pies, to burgers and chargrilled oysters, Scott has kept going with his brand, putting his unique stamp on local favorites. He says he couldn’t find a perfect burger (inside and out), so he crafted his own.
“I love a good burger, and I’d been to a number of places, but I could never find a burger seasoned (in the inside) of the burger,” Scott told The Louisiana Weekly.
He says that when you cut a ghetto burger in half, you’ll be able to taste the flavor as opposed to having just the “top of the meat” seasoned. The “seasoning” that you’ll taste in a ghetto burger is Scott’s very own.
While restaurant plans remain in the works, Chef Scott follows the action, so look for his food truck in the Tremé area, or wherever the events in the city are.
Scott believes it’s important to not only succeed, but to leave a lasting mark on the industry in his hometown.
“You can experience cooking for years, but what is it that will allow you to leave a legacy?” he said. I’m never gonna get rich working for someone in their kitchen. I’m an entrepreneur and I knew I always had that spirit.”
This article originally published in the January 12, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
