Samantha Carroll, Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, has lived a storied life with her husband Cody. They have been dubbed “The King and Queen of Louisiana Seafood.” She serves gumbo she cooked for a “Feed the Fleet” event in Golden Meadow. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
What do you do after graduating culinary arts school? Marry your sweetheart of course. Then open an award winning farm-to-table restaurant, open the best new restaurant in New Orleans, have your own cooking show on the Food Network, and then – and only then – become executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. This is the storied life of Samantha Carroll, who with her husband Cody, have been dubbed “The King and Queen of Louisiana Seafood.”
Three years ago Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser approached the chef, who had recently returned to Baton Rouge, to serve as the executive director.
“The Lt. Governor approached me and said ‘You know about the Seafood Board,’” she explained. “Of course I had been in the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off in 2013 which was sponsored by the Seafood Board. The year my husband Cody and I won the competition was the same year the board moved under the office of the Lt. Governor.”
Growing up in the community of Gonzales her love for the cooking stems from waking up on weekend mornings to the distinct scent of roux being prepared in her family’s kitchen for gumbo. “To this day there is no better smell.” She served gumbocooked the night before to fishermen at a “Feed the Fleet” event. Polly Glover grabs a taste while she cooks in the background. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
She said at the time she wasn’t really looking for a job, but she was familiar with a lot of the responsibilities of the executive director having been asked by the board to travel the world showcasing Louisiana cooking traditions and ingredients.
“Sam brings more to the table than just great food. She’s talented in the culinary field, but also on the business side. Her contacts with local seafood processors and fishermen are invaluable,” said Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser.
Growing up in the community of Gonzales, halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, her love for the cooking stems from waking up on weekend mornings to the distinct scent of roux being prepared in her family’s kitchen for gumbo.
“To this day there is no better smell,” she swears while sitting on a bench in Golden Meadows after serving gumbo she cooked the night before to fishermen at a “Feed the Fleet” event.
Carroll met her husband and business partner at the Louisiana Culinary Institute where he enrolled to acquire his degree in Culinary Arts after graduating Louisiana State University with a degree in business.
In January 2010, three months after graduating from culinary school, Chefs Cody and Samantha transformed a former drive-thru convenience store in New Roads into Hot Tails; a rustic, South Louisiana style restaurant. Intended to be an outlet for crawfish raised on Cody’s families’ farm, it evolved to include a full menu of their versions of Louisiana classic dishes and elevated comfort food, often referred to as “Hardcore South Louisiana cuisine.”
When Hot Tails opened the couple were living in an old FEMA trailer behind the restaurant with two of their chefs. “Four people in a one-bedroom FEMA trailer, but we made it work,” Cody told New Orleans Living Magazine.
The couple the culinary couple rose to fame as Food Network stars, showcasing their farm-to-table cuisine and unique style in the kitchen as a true dynamic-duo on their own show: Cajun Aces. Photo: The Food Network
In early 2015 the couple opened Sac-a-lait, a restaurant focusing on innovative takes on Louisiana culinary staples. They had searched both the Crescent City and Baton Rouge for possibilities, finally deciding on a location on Annunciation Street in the Warehouse district of New Orleans “One morning Cody came across this beautiful warehouse space in an old cotton mill and we were hooked,” said the queen of Louisiana cooking. “The first year we were open we were awarded the title of best new restaurant in the city.”
Two years later the couple the culinary couple rose to fame as Food Network stars, showcasing their farm-to-table cuisine and unique style in the kitchen as a true dynamic-duo on their own show: Cajun Aces.
“It was a crazy go-round,” Carroll told Louisiana Cookin’. “We had a culinary producer, we had all these people around to help us put out the best food possible and make it look as beautiful as possible.”
Between filming and operating restaurants in New Roads and New Orleans it became quite the task for the Chefs who places emphasis on family. After filming a second season of the show the dynamic duo moved back to Gonzales.
“We closed Sac-a-lait and moved back home because of family. It was just too hard being so far away from family,” she explained.
“There were a lot of things happening in the state’s seafood industry. There was a bill before the legislature requiring restaurants to notify customers if they were not using Louisiana seafood,” said the executive director. “There were a lot of restaurants serving seafood and saying it was Louisiana seafood, but it was not.”
Louisiana Seafood Board
Carroll was appointed Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and took the job seeing at it as on opportunity to learn more about the industry. During the past three years she has had to become a quick study on the problems it faces.
With four hurricanes and two tropical storms causing catastrophic damage to the heart of the state’s seafood production, she has become and integral part of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition’s effort to keep attention on the recovery efforts in front of both state and national legislators.
Carroll’s first experience with seeing the damage from Hurricane Ida was on a “Feed the Fleet” event in Dulac. Seven months later boats still lay turned over in bayous. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Her first experience with seeing the damage from Hurricane Ida was on another “Feed the Fleet” event in Dulac.
“It was heart wrenching. You are hit with the reality that none of these houses you’re driving by are housing people because they have holes in them. They don’t have water. They don’t have electricity. You really wonder how many people are still there living in those conditions. This is the umpteenth storm, how many can they go through?”
Carroll feels it is important for legislators in Washington to come to the bayou to see the destruction first hand. “If they represent us, then they need to be in the middle of this as well. They need to meet the fishermen, the workers and the people; to allow them to tell their story. I feel if they were allowed to tell their stories it would resonate with those who can make the difference.”
In addition to dealing with the disasters, she has placed a priority on addressing the issue of an aging workforce in the industry.
“So many people have struggled in this industry for so long that their predecessors who would take over just don’t want anything to do with it. They have seen how stressful it can be. Dealing with the natural disasters, imports, dead zones and things of that sort,” she said.
Using skills honed at marketing her restaurants, Carroll is trying to take the seafood board into the 22nd Century, sometimes kicking and screaming. She says it has been challenging to educate a lot of the seafood community on the importance of a positive social media presence. A lot of fishermen still do not even have email.
“Social media today is the billboards of ten years ago. It drives everything.” Carroll said. “Somebody will be scrolling through an app and see something they want to eat, that sways their decision. The next they you know they are going to that restaurant that day. This is what we need to make happen for Louisiana seafood. We want people to see our fish and demand to have it on their plate.”
The executive director and the Lt. Governor are also trying to work with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on imported seafood inspections. She would like to see more testing on imports, as well as increase the public’s awareness to the problem.
“Sam has has a deep understanding of just how important Louisiana seafood is to the restaurant and tourism industries. It is the foundation of the boards marketing and communications efforts,” said Gulf Seafood Foundation’s Ewell Smith, a member of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition.
Smith first met Sam and her husband at the Louisiana Seafood Cook Off during his final year as the executive director of the Seafood Board. “ It starts with passion and she’s got that and then some. Coming full circle with her leading the board knowing her passion for Louisiana Seafood firsthand made for a natural fit. The seafood industry’s in good hands as she’s tapping into that passion to help the fishing communities recover from a string of hurricanes,” he says.
Samantha and her husband won the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off, an event she is preparing to host as the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. Photo: Louisiana Seafood Board
She thinks more support is needed on the front of promoting domestic seafood. After a visit to Alaska to visit with seafood leaders and legislators, she would like to see a more unified approach to promoting Louisiana seafood, similar to that of Alaska.
To accomplish a more unified approach she is in the process of revitalizing the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and marketing board. With a number of board members terms expiring, she feels it is time to invite some new blood with fresh approaches onto the board, taking into account all the things she has learned from past board members and their industries.
“The board has done so many great things in the past, then there was the area when things got hectic and with COVID they fizzled out a little bit. We are in the process of rebuilding a more active board, one that will start a more united industry. I am ready for things to get back to how it was before, actually even better than it was before.”
Gulf Seafood Foundation member Harlon Pearce agrees that it’s time to reawaken our seafood board. The chair of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition says “We have to give them the energy to become autonomous again so they can make their own decisions. Lt. Governor Nungesser has done a great job in placing Samatha Carroll as executive director. The real question is who’s going to be next? I think we need to get some really strong players on the board who don’t just think about themselves, but the collective Louisiana seafood industry.”
According to the Lt. Governor, “Sam wears many hats. Her commitment to and support of the Louisiana seafood industry is exceptional. Her promotional efforts of Louisiana seafood in good times parallel’s her efforts in supporting the industry during challenging times.”
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