We’ve got some amazing private chefs in this town. And I am not referring to the ones at many of our actual Slidell restaurants, even though I really believe there are some seriously great chefs right in our backyard.
I’m talking about folks like you and me—well, not me—but people who love to cook at home and become pretty darn good at it. I think a lot of those people become known for one main thing, or maybe a certain kind of cooking. It might be BBQ, boiling crawfish, baking rum cakes—various things that become their specialty.
For many, after treating friends and family to their cooking for a few years, it usually turns into comments of, “you need to sell those.” Or “you need to open your own restaurant.” And a few do just that, while others do it for the love of giving to others.
I ran into a couple of those very good chefs last Friday at the Southside Café Bushwacker golf tournament, held at Oak Harbor.
Mike Pike is one of those guys, and as far as I know, he does it for the love of cooking, or in his case, smoking meats.
Mike always loved the backyard BBQ, but then he started doing it for big crowds at his home and elsewhere. He became especially known for smoking brisket, and then ribs, and probably more things I don’t know about.
As a very successful businessman who founded and built Pike’s Classic Cars, he and his wife Rhonda have always been two of the most generous people you could know. Mike began offering to help out at charity events by smoking his brisket and it didn’t take long before he was the first guy people called to show up at their fundraising event.
You can be sure he will be at Randy Smith’s very popular golf tournament this Friday at Royal Golf Course, and if you are lucky enough to find him elsewhere, you can get a taste of his BBQ that is honestly second to none. There he was at Oak Harbor last Friday for the Southside event, working things with his buddies Bubba Saucier and Charlie Bergeron.
Of course, I “had” to get a picture of them since I knew it would guarantee me an order of the ribs he was handing out. And Mike certainly knows he has a popular dish since he always says, “if you want a second order you better come back soon because they will be gone!” And he was right.
Near the first tee box was another generous couple of guys where Brown Sugar BBQ and Catering, led by Greg Menina and Danny Gray, were handing out what looked like a fried egg roll. Whatever was in it was incredible and I’m not going to try and say what all the ingredients were since I might miss something. But they finish it with a squirt of some delicious mustard sauce and the golfers were lined up to get them.
Brown Sugar is owned by Greg Menina and Ricky Hall, who started the business 10 years ago, something that probably started in the backyard when folks started raving about their food. Go to their Facebook page to contact them or call them at 985-774-1249 to have your event catered.
The thing that impresses me is that Mike and Brown Sugar both donated their own resources to join in the fundraiser, which is another awesome event that raises approximately $35,000 a year and not only gives money to the Shriner’s Hospital in Shreveport, but also the Navy SEALS and Slidell Ladies for Liberty, who send care packages once a month to local soldiers who are deployed.
Chris Legrand and his wife Rene joined with Southside owners Dan and Sharon Deblanc to start the golf tournament 15 years ago and have watched it grow and succeed for years thanks in part to people like Mike, Greg and Ricky, plus many other local businessmen who support the tournament.
It’s yet another story about our Slidell folks who care about others and are always willing to step up and say “I’ll help” when they see a good cause.
Got to love it….maybe as much as that food!
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.