How Chef Nina Compton Blends Caribbean and Creole Traditions—and Why Michelin Just Took Notice

"It's always nice to have kind things said about you, but with the tradition of Michelin and its introduction to Louisiana and the South, the accomplishment is great for the Compere Lapin team," she shares. "The recognition inspires them to push every day, and for that, we are thankful."

Compton is arguably one of the most distinctive voices in Southern dining. Since opening the doors in 2015, her work at Compère Lapin (French for "brother rabbit") has effortlessly bridged the gap between two cultures, Caribbean and Creole, which she says simply comes naturally thanks to her Saint Lucian childhood.

"New Orleans Creole and St. Lucian Kweyol of my youth are quite similar. Both cuisines are so heavily influenced by history and family traditions, from African and indigenous ingredients and techniques, melding with those of the early colonizers," Compton says. "Some of the island's fruits and vegetables don't grow here, some can't be imported, but Creole is that big mixing pot of flavors you add to what you have available to eat."

Few dishes illustrate that blended approach better than her signature Curried Goat with Sweet Potato Gnocchi, which is also the dish she says "definitely" captures her flavors best.

"The curry and goat of my youth was almost always served with bones and over rice," she explained. "When I came up with the dish, I was honoring the flavors and ingredients of my youth, but dressed it up a bit with gnocchi I decided to make with local sweet potatoes instead of the rice. I thought I would be the only one eating it, but it has been our number one dish since we opened in 2015."

Though this fan-favorite has stayed on the menu, Compton hasn't been afraid to evolve. She describes her cooking today as "more thoughtful," shaped by years of reading, studying, and absorbing the work of chefs who came before her.

"I started reading cookbooks and food histories as a young cook and have never stopped," she says. "It's nice to be able to see the thought process of how different chefs put together dishes or see the history of the foodways that brought ingredients to their destination. When enough inspiration bounces around in your head, yummy food is hopefully the result."

That inspiration for Compton often comes from travel, and seeing how dishes unrelated to her own work can spark brand-new ideas.

"Traveling and reading, including cuisines that don't relate to my style of cooking," she says, are her greatest inspirations. "You can be in another country, seeing how the sauce sticks to a noodle in a way that you find interesting, and it primes the pump of creativity."

Though she noted that she finds plenty of inspiration in her new hometown, too. As she recalls, upon first moving to New Orleans, she made a new friend who shared all the nitty-gritty details of what goes into their family's recipe for crawfish bisque.

"I was fascinated that the recipe was only half of that family's tradition," she says. "The other half was the division of labor within the family, who was stuffing the crawfish heads, who was making the roux, who was catching the crawfish … It was amazing to realize that what we do as chefs, the home cooks here have been doing for generations. Plus, it's the only city I know where people at lunch are already talking about where to go to dinner."

Love, attention, and admiration are the throughlines of Compton's meals and the key ingredients that helped her restaurant earn that shiny Michelin recommendation. However, for Compton, this latest recognition isn't the endpoint. It's an invitation to keep inventing, and to keep the city she calls home proud.

"New Orleans is the greatest culinary city in the country in terms of depth and soul," she says. "And now that Michelin is here, the guests who seek out the recognized restaurants will be helpfully guided. But I believe the soul of New Orleans restaurants will continue glowing regardless of whether or not they have been recognized."

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