Louisiana Eats: Trailblazers And Award Winners

On this week's show, we catch up with some of the trailblazers and award winners of the Louisiana food scene and beyond.

Poppy Tooker and Carolyn Simmons, winner of the James Beard Foundation's Better Burger Project, on the patio of Blue in Shreveport.

CHRIS JAY

If you have been tuning into the new season of Top Chef on Bravo TV, you might have recognized a familiar face in Louisiana-born Chef Isaac Toups of Toups Meatery. Five episodes into Top Chef's 13th season, Isaac is holding his own. We'll get the behind-the-scenes scoop from Isaac, who has been brilliantly winging it through some styles of cuisine that take him a long way from his bayou roots.

Then, we head to Shreveport to visit with Carolyn Simmons of Blue: a Smoke and Grill Restaurant. After a swift career change, Carolyn became an overnight catering success in Shreveport, gracing the many film crews that come through town with her meals. Carolyn funneled that work ethic and culinary prowess to make Blue a reality. We hear about Carolyn's rise to fame and victory in the James Beard Foundation's Better Burger Project.

Next, we talk with another James Beard Award winner, pastry chef Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate in Chicago. A true trailblazer, Mindy is partnering with a medical marijuana lab to launch a brand of chocolate edibles. We hear about Mindy's plans to take this exciting new industry by storm.

And we speak with Max Messier, founder of Cocktail & Sons, a company that produces a line of all-natural and handcrafted syrups using South Louisiana ingredients. Max brings us a King Cake Syrup he's just created that could put a whole new spin on your Mardi Gras season.

It's time to roll out the red carpet on this week's Louisiana Eats!