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70 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.14 THE SPREAD food drink Owner Dustin Staggers and co-chef Griffn Paulin designed Roux's menu together with a focus on traditional New Orleans fare. The escargot with fried spinach and a chanterelle mushroom ragoût pays homage to the French infuence on NOLA cuisine. Though the food at Roux is beautiful, you will not see artistic sauce drizzles or too much garnish. "If you're able to worry less about exactly where the parsley sprig is supposed to go, you can worry more about the food tasting exactly as you want it to taste every single time," Paulin says. "It's more an emphasis on how you feel when you eat it as opposed to how you feel when you look at it." Hot-sauce-macerated cherry tomatoes add a serious kick to the tender green lettuce and Gulf lob- ster, topped with lemon vinaigrette. Country ham provides a touch of Kentucky to the tomato salad, with fried anchovies and Capriole goat cheese. The red beans and rice (which can be made with or without sausage) and the gumbo are two examples of dishes that come from Roux's roux, which is made with a combination of grapeseed oil and four that can be cooked for hours without scorching. Staggers and Paulin tried many dif- ferent fats as the basis for their roux. "We use grapeseed oil so we can make it dark and chocolaty," Paulin says. "The smoke point is higher, so it can get hotter without burning stuff. We literally cook it for four to six hours sometimes." Roux's po' boys are served as an homage to New Orleans' famous Domilise's. Roux's versions of the sandwich come on French bread from NOLA's famed Leidenheimer Baking Co.: crusty and crunchy on the outside, stuffed with plentiful gator, sausage, roast beef or seafood inside. The Louisiana Seafood Co. ships Gulf shrimp and live crawfsh to Roux daily. Ethan Ray is the staff-christened "dough ho," in charge of the beignet shop, which opens at 7 a.m. daily and serves fresh beignets and chicory coffee. Roux's beignets are small pockets of sugar-dusted pastry and are perfect with a slice of Dara Stag- gers' bananas Foster cheesecake. Clockwise from top left: escargot ($17); lobster salad ($10); red beans and rice ($11); gator po' boy ($12); beignets ($4 each); and gumbo ($12).