By David Vest
In culinary culture, Johnny Earles is a citizen of the world. Although the owner and executive chef of Criolla?s in Grayton Beach was born in Bogalusa, La., he also has soaked up influences of places as diverse as Montana, New York City, the Caribbean and Spain. The result at Criolla?s is cuisine that Earles calls ?roots cooking,? local food traditions and techniques that evolved in fertile common ground around the globe. Food and cooking were part of the blended cultures in the Earles family. On his father?s side were outdoorsmen who knew fishing and hunting. His mother?s side traced roots to the Canary Islands and the Basque region of Spain. As a pre-med student at Louisiana State University, Earles was interested more in zoology than in cuisine, but he gravitated toward fine restaurants as the family fusion took hold. At age 22 he was waiting tables at a restaurant in Baton Rouge when the manager asked him to share a new venture in a place called Grayton Beach. Not long afterward, he had a chance to buy into the Paradise Caf? in Grayton Beach. Much by default, he became a cook on his way to becoming a chef. There is a distinction, he said. ?All chefs are cooks, but not all cooks are chefs.? Soon the Paradise Caf? was profiled in a major culinary magazine. ?I said, holy cow,? he remembered. ?I?ve just been featured in New York. I can?t just pretend I?m a chef now.? In February of 1989, he and his wife, Debbie, opened Criolla?s. He spent ?many a long night after the restaurant was closed,? studying cookbooks and cultural cross-pollination. ?I came to realize that cuisine had overlaps.? Cultures in ?the Caribbean, Central America and South America ? were using some of the same foodstuffs we used in Louisiana.? In applying that knowledge, Earles has taken his restaurants far beyond Baton Rouge and Grayton Beach. Both the Paradise Caf? and Criolla?s have earned multiple state, regional and national awards.
The restaurant also has made a name for itself as the village caterer for Seaside, the new-urban showcase a few miles up Walton County 30A.
Earles also continues learning and teaching. When Criolla?s closes for the off-season, he works in New York with acclaimed chefs including Martin Berasetegui of San Sebastian, Spain, who is rated as one of the best chefs in the world.
Criolla?s is extending Earles? knowledge to a new generation through an education program for young chefs that Earles describes as ?culinary Outward Bound.?
?I?ve continued to get culinary students this season,? he said.
One of the new chefs, 28-year-old Teofilo Tundidor, a native of Miami who moved to Fort Walton Beach as a teenager, has brought a new dimension to the restaurant.
Although Earles and Tundidor consult with each another about Criolla?s menu, creating new menu selections is primarily directed by Tundidor. He is also the leader of 15 culinary-trained students and veteran chefs that make up the Criolla?s kitchen
?I?m really happy,? Earles said of the team he has gathered.
?I really do have an incredible team across the board,? he said.
?Criolla?s is no longer the Johnny Earles show.?
In culinary culture, Johnny Earles is a citizen of the world. Although the owner and executive chef of Criolla?s in Grayton Beach was born in Bogalusa, La., he also has soaked up influences of places as diverse as Montana, New York City, the Caribbean and Spain. The result at Criolla?s is cuisine that Earles calls ?roots cooking,? local food traditions and techniques that evolved in fertile common ground around the globe. Food and cooking were part of the blended cultures in the Earles family. On his father?s side were outdoorsmen who knew fishing and hunting. His mother?s side traced roots to the Canary Islands and the Basque region of Spain. As a pre-med student at Louisiana State University, Earles was interested more in zoology than in cuisine, but he gravitated toward fine restaurants as the family fusion took hold. At age 22 he was waiting tables at a restaurant in Baton Rouge when the manager asked him to share a new venture in a place called Grayton Beach. Not long afterward, he had a chance to buy into the Paradise Caf? in Grayton Beach. Much by default, he became a cook on his way to becoming a chef. There is a distinction, he said. ?All chefs are cooks, but not all cooks are chefs.? Soon the Paradise Caf? was profiled in a major culinary magazine. ?I said, holy cow,? he remembered. ?I?ve just been featured in New York. I can?t just pretend I?m a chef now.? In February of 1989, he and his wife, Debbie, opened Criolla?s. He spent ?many a long night after the restaurant was closed,? studying cookbooks and cultural cross-pollination. ?I came to realize that cuisine had overlaps.? Cultures in ?the Caribbean, Central America and South America ? were using some of the same foodstuffs we used in Louisiana.? In applying that knowledge, Earles has taken his restaurants far beyond Baton Rouge and Grayton Beach. Both the Paradise Caf? and Criolla?s have earned multiple state, regional and national awards.
The restaurant also has made a name for itself as the village caterer for Seaside, the new-urban showcase a few miles up Walton County 30A.
Earles also continues learning and teaching. When Criolla?s closes for the off-season, he works in New York with acclaimed chefs including Martin Berasetegui of San Sebastian, Spain, who is rated as one of the best chefs in the world.
Criolla?s is extending Earles? knowledge to a new generation through an education program for young chefs that Earles describes as ?culinary Outward Bound.?
?I?ve continued to get culinary students this season,? he said.
One of the new chefs, 28-year-old Teofilo Tundidor, a native of Miami who moved to Fort Walton Beach as a teenager, has brought a new dimension to the restaurant.
Although Earles and Tundidor consult with each another about Criolla?s menu, creating new menu selections is primarily directed by Tundidor. He is also the leader of 15 culinary-trained students and veteran chefs that make up the Criolla?s kitchen
?I?m really happy,? Earles said of the team he has gathered.
?I really do have an incredible team across the board,? he said.
?Criolla?s is no longer the Johnny Earles show.?