Chef Nina Compton.
Saint Lucia’s Culinary Ambassador Nina Compton, who placed second in the New Orleans season of “Top Chef,” will be moving to New Orleans after living in Miami for 14 years.
Last summer, Nina left her position as chef de cuisine at Scarpetta in Miami, the Italian restaurant from celebrity chef Scott Conant.
“It’s a little intimidating… When I got the phone call to do a possible restaurant there, I had to think. I’ve always wanted to live in New Orleans,” she told Todd A. Price of the Times-Picayune.
Before filming “Top Chef: New Orleans,” Compton had never visited the city. But New Orleans made an impression on her. She’s returned several times since.
For now, Compton can say little about her new restaurant in New Orleans. “It’s a little hush, hush,” she said, “but I can tell that the approach will be fun. It will reflect my personality.”
The restaurant, she said, will be more like a gastropub. The food will reflect her Caribbean heritage, but also the Italian food she cooked at Scarpetta and the French cuisine she studied in culinary school.
Compton is ready to settle into New Orleans.”There is so much history,” she said. “Every corner you take there is history. And I love the way the people love food.”
LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2015/02/nina_compton_top_chef_runner-u.html