Chef Charles Wilford Sr. has opened Chef Charles Bistreaux, a new breakfast and lunch counter inside St. Roch Market, serving daily beginning at 7:30 a.m. next door to CR Coffee Shop. His menu is rooted in Louisiana produce and built around a tomato sauce he learned to make in Naples, Italy in the 1980s.
Wilford's arrival marks the latest addition to the market's vendor lineup, and his story stretches from south Louisiana to the United States Navy to the kitchens of southern Italy.
A Louisiana kid through and through
Wilford was born in Lutcher and raised in Baton Rouge. His grandfather was from Monroe and his grandmother from Napoleonville. He graduated from Istrouma High School in 1985 and signed an athletic scholarship to Grambling State University, but a leg injury cut that path short. He enlisted in the United States Navy and completed boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois in 1986, joining a long line of service in his family that included his grandfather and uncles.
"Most of all, my elders taught me a lot about cooking," Wilford says. "It's just something I love to do and create."
The mentors
Back home in Louisiana, Wilford trained under two Baton Rouge chefs who shaped the way he cooks today. Chef Sonny Creole, of Country Club of Louisiana, taught him much of his technique and discipline behind the line. Ms. Maude, the cook at The Place inside Jake Staples Restaurant, shaped his approach to home-style Louisiana cooking. Both have since passed on, but Wilford says their influence shows up in every plate he puts down.
Two weeks in a Naples kitchen
During his Navy service, Wilford spent three weeks in Naples, Italy waiting to board his ship. He walked into a restaurant, ordered spaghetti and meatballs (four dollars, he still remembers), and asked the cook how he made the sauce. The cook invited him to come watch.
For two weeks, Wilford trained behind the line in that Naples kitchen, learning scratch tomato sauce, meatballs, and the Italian way with eggplant. He still uses that sauce today. It is the base of his vegetarian omelette at St. Roch Market, an egg-white omelette folded over zucchini, squash, mushrooms, spinach, and eggplant on a bed of red sauce.
"Eggplant and tomato sauce, those two married together, is a phenomenal meal by itself," he says.
From the Bistreaux in Baton Rouge to the market here
Wilford and his wife opened Chef Charles House of Creation, the Bistreaux, in Baton Rouge during the pandemic. They later added a second location on Bluebonnet. When his wife became seriously ill, he sold his interest in the restaurants to care for her. She has since recovered.
Wilford said he had been following St. Roch Market for some time on YouTube and on a number of restaurant channels. He and his wife drove down from Baton Rouge, ate at the market a few times with their grandchildren, and eventually approached the market about a stall.
Kevin Pedeaux, who operates St. Roch Market through Market Staples LLC, said the fit was immediate. "When I first tasted his food, I was like, okay, this guy's a pro," Pedeaux said. "The flavors are well-rounded. There's no other way to say it."
What to order
Chef Charles Bistreaux serves breakfast daily starting at 7:30 a.m. The lineup includes The Eye Opener (eggs over easy, bacon, and grits), the vegetarian omelette, a shrimp and crawfish omelette, a ham and cheese omelette, French toast, and biscuits and gravy. A new shrimp and crawfish biscuit with a white cream sauce was recently added to the menu.
For lunch, the chicken wrap and blackened shrimp wrap are his top sellers, served alongside crawfish bread. Weekday specials rotate through the week: shrimp-stuffed eggplant on Mondays, slow-roasted lamb shank on Tuesdays, pork tendons on Wednesdays, and stuffed shrimp potatoes on Fridays.
Dinner service is expected to begin soon, running Wednesday through Saturday, with appetizers, steaks, pork chops, and blackened redfish.
Make a morning of it
CR Coffee Shop sits directly next door inside the market, offering coffee, espresso drinks, and a menu of locally inspired beverages.
Chef Charles Bistreaux is open at St. Roch Market, 2381 St. Claude Avenue.