John Caluda
Coffee Cottage
New Orleans LA
http://www.coffeecottage.com
‚“This is what I always wanted to do,‚” says John Caluda, proud chef-proprietor of the Coffee Cottage on Metairie Road. ‚“Open up a pastry shop in my old neighborhood — one that would make fresh pastries daily for people who would appreciate them.‚”
Caluda, a Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, New York) graduate, is a pastry natural. ‚“One of the first things I ever made was chocolate eclairs when I was about 10 years old.‚”
His professional experience ranges from being the chief steward-baker for a crew of 300 on an oil rig the size of a football field in the Gulf of Mexico, to being executive pastry chef at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans. When he was baking on the oil rig his reputation spread, and people would take a helicopter to the rig to pick up pastries and fly back with them to the other rigs in the vicinity.
Caluda opened and operated the World´s Fair Beignet Cafe at the World´s Fair in New Orleans, 1984. He was the pastry cook and baker at Hotel Iberville, and the executive chef at Flagons Wine Bar, both in New Orleans. He opened and operated two Italian bistro-style restaurants called Sweet Basil´s, one in New Orleans and one in Panama City Beach, Florida.
After two years in Florida and the birth of their first child, Caluda and his wife decided to move back home to Louisiana. ‚“I always liked this little spot on Metairie Road and had looked at it before, so when it became available I decided to take it and open the Coffee Cottage. Part of the charm of this place is atmosphere as well as food. It´s like a counter coffee shop, open 7:30 a.m. to 11 at night. And we serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I´d rather have nice, down-home cooking than a beautifully presented plate all the time.‚”
His customers agreed, because after the Great Chefs television shoot, he enlarged the kitchen to three times its original size. And then he lost his lease on the cute little cottage with the porch at the end of December, 2004. Then Katrina happened. And now John Caluda and Coffee Cottage are back. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and now entertainment. And, always, great food and perhaps even greater pastries.
When people ask how come his pastries are so light and flaky, he says, ‚“There´s no secret to it. I use fresh ingredients — and they were just made an hour ago.‚”