Editor’s note: Sharing a meal with someone creates possibilities far beyond the immediate nourishment it offers. The power of breaking bread together is biblical — an experience that is part of the human story.
When I first moved to Louisiana more than 20 years ago, my first writing assignment was to review 101 restaurants in the Acadiana area in my first six months there. If you’re playing along at home, you’ll know that’s a lot of eating. I visited at least two new-to-me restaurants a week. The whole experience served to teach me the region and introduce me to many of its people. Food is a great way to get to know a place.
As the newspaper’s new features editor, I have a lot to learn. I’ve decided one great way to do that is by inviting a variety of people to join me for lunch — and they pick the place. I’ve already got a dozen or so lunches lined up. I’ve asked each of my lunch dates to meet me at a restaurant of their choosing, a place that represents a Baton Rouge classic meal to them.
Last week, I had my first Baton Rouge classic meal with Deborah Sternberg. She picked Bistro Byronz (515 Mouton St.) as her Baton Rouge classic meal. Sternberg and I met virtually working on a project during the pandemic, but our lunch was our first time to meet in person. She grew up in Baton Rouge, left for a number of years to live along the East Coast, eventually returning home in 2006. She knows the city and its people well.
Deborah Sternberg
In fact, she and Emelie Alton, the owner of Bistro Byronz, grew up three houses down from each other and have sons the same age.
“She left. I left. We both came home,” Sternberg said of her friend, Alton.
Turns out that Sternberg does not consider herself a foodie — so she left the choosing of the menu up to her friend, Alton.
We started the meal with chicken and sausage gumbo. I didn’t grow up eating gumbo and don’t have the genetic or environmental longing for it that so many of my Louisiana friends have. However, this was a delicious cup of gumbo. I wouldn’t be surprised if, on the next chilly day, I think, “I could go to Bistro Byronz and have a cup of gumbo.”
Sternberg told me how she knew years ago that she wanted to start a nonprofit teaching the next generation about being an entrepreneur, which is how she came to launch the Young Entrepreneur Academy of Baton Rouge when she moved back home to Baton Rouge. YEA is part of a national after-school program and offers students in eighth to 12th grades the opportunity to become entrepreneurs.
Bistro Byronz Bleu Cheese Chips
Meanwhile, the waitress brought us a plate of home-fried chips covered in blue cheese — chips are my kryptonite, and the blue cheese only added to the experience.
Sternberg and I chatted about her experiences in Washington, D.C., working as former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s chief of staff, and in New York City, working with a public relations firm and CBS News, including a stint working directly with Dan Rather on breaking news.
We talked a lot about the impact the pandemic has had on the rhythm of our lives, and how we had both stayed home more in the last two years than any other time of our lives. We discussed the process of figuring out the delicate balance of moving back into life outside our homes, in being open to experiences and relationships but still living with a level of caution we didn’t have a few years back.
Joey Roth, 15, created this Devil’s Food Cake with Dulce de Leche Italian Buttercream with caramel and chocolate drips.
She mentioned her younger son, Joey Roth, 15 — and she came to life explaining to me the level to which Joey loves baking. In proof of her mothering card, she pulled out her phone to show me photos of Joey’s creations — and, with that, I understood what she meant. Joey doesn’t simply have a passing interest in making brownies. He makes elaborate television-show-worthy cake creations and sells them, too — wonder where he gets that entrepreneurial spirit?
Joey’s exquisite cakes include the likes of devil’s food cake with dulce de leche Italian buttercream with caramel and chocolate drips — not your standard 15-year-old boy-in-the-kitchen fare. Or classic red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and a marbled Swiss buttercream coat.
Sternberg says he doesn’t get the talent or interest from her and that he studies cooking and baking a lot.
Joey Roth, 15, created this Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese filling and a marbled Swiss buttercream coat.
By now, she and I halved a turkey burger with sweet potato fries and a Bistro Salad 2.0 — spinach with strawberries, feta, candied pecans and a pepper jelly vinaigrette. I couldn’t help myself and completely ate my half of the burger, even though I was reaching my limit on food intake. (I’ll admit that I barely made a dent in the salad but ate most of it the next day for lunch — and it was still delicious.)
Sternberg told me more about the Entrepreneur Academy’s students and the rewards she feels of paying it forward.
Bistro Byronz King Cake Bread Pudding
With that, the waitress brought us a king cake bread pudding. I was already stuffed, but I’ve got to tell you that if you like bread pudding — run, don’t walk to Bistro Byronz to try this dessert. It was cold and rainy when Sternberg and I had lunch. The bread pudding was warm, comforting and perfect. Neither of us could resist it.
She said she thought Baton Rouge’s trajectory took a positive turn when people started appreciating the river and what the waterfront could provide as an asset to the community. She credits the river’s “water campus” in playing a big role in the music, arts and downtown revitalization scene.
“Being an hour from New Orleans is nice,” she said. “Appreciating politics, I like being in the capital city.”
I was happy to tell her that even though I am in the process of moving here, I can already tell that I like being in the capital city, too.