Shreveport restaurant celebrates Summer Solstice with exclusive dinner

On the evening of June 24, food connoisseurs filled Zuzul Costal Cuisine restaurant as chefs and kitchen staff hurried to provide their customers with quality cuisine and service.

The Summer Solstice dinner celebrates the time of year by bringing in dedicated and talented chefs to showcase the influence of African cuisine in the south.

The sold out event featured fresh vegetables from Gabriel Balderas’ Nourishing Farms and a vast and diverse menu filled with items like: spicy peanut butter deviled eggs, meat pies, summer salad, smoked king mackerel, red-red short rib, Mahaffey Farms pork 2 ways and bofrot & nkatie.

Chef Tristen Epps of Epps and Flows Culinary, Chef Niematulai DiGrazia of Niema's Cookery Corner and Chef Gabriel Balderas of Zuzul Coastal Cuisine came together to create a quality menu and a memorable night.

Epps grew up traveling the world with his military family and discovered his love for international food. The Iron Chef and Chopped contestant is also a member of Slow Food America.

“I think the most important part of this event is gathering local community and breaking bread with people who don’t normally eat together, and then sharing that experience with food that they don’t usually have,” Epps said. “I love any reason to come back to Shreveport. I get to come here about twice a year. The community is one of the greatest things, and I think it is really about having a conversation with our guests about where food came from in the American South. The inspiration is teaching people and then giving them that inspiration as well.”

Epps believes the three chefs are bridging the gap and showing the journey and evolution of food in each of their cultures.

“It started in West Africa where Niema came from, then into the Caribbean where I came from then up into the Americas where chef Gabriel’s from and then worked its way here to the states,” Epps said. “It’s just a really cool event for people to be able to celebrate all the things that food is really about; culture, community and produce.”

DiGrazia is from Sierra Leone, West Africa and she found her love for the culinary arts alongside her mother. She was featured in Southern Living Magazine in Chefs to Watch in 2022 and was said to be one of North Louisiana's Best Chefs in 2019 by the Prize Foundation. She is the owner of Niema's Cookery Corner in Shreveport, La, where West African and Caribbean cuisine is showcased.

“I’ve been looking forward to this since the day we decided we wanted to do it and I’m so excited to work with these two amazing chefs in the city because knowing where your food comes from and who prepares it gives me so much joy,” DiGrazia said.

DiGrazia eats at Zuzul daily, and being able to be in the kitchen and cook with them was very special to her. “I’m so blown away with everything I’ve seen come out of this kitchen this afternoon. I’ve known Tristen since 2018 and Chef Gabe almost five years now. I do collaboration all over the US, but this is my very first one with Zuzul, and hopefully many more to come,” DiGrazia said.

Balderas is from Oaxaca, Mexico and made his way to Shreveport, La, where he and his wife run Zuzul Costal Cuisine.  Balderas was named a “Chef to Watch '' by Louisiana Cookin’ and participated in Louisiana Food Prize’s Battle of the Golden Fork and is a member of the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance.

Balderas is friends with both chefs and feels that it is important to educate their customers and all who support their business about the culture behind the food they make.

“We could have sold more tickets, but we wanted to keep it small because of the nature of the dishes that were being prepared. They take a long time, and everything is made from scratch and we like to do it like our ancestors made food; that’s the goal,” Balderas said. The exclusive event only offered 65 seats.

Each course was paired with different wine and cocktails that were prepared by Zuzul’s bar staff. Between each course the guests received a detailed explanation and background on the wine they were served.

To make the night even more special, Zuzul used plates made by Nellie Lyons, gifted specifically for the occasion. The plates designs were inspired by pre-colonial Mexican art.

Everyone working has a vast knowledge of the culinary arts and what all goes into preparing quality food. Every dish is handled with extreme care to assure that everyone is satisfied with their meal and the presentation of it.

Not only are occasions like this creating a community, but they also create a family. The restaurant has a very friendly and welcoming environment that can’t be overlooked because it’s filled with laughs and smiles.

The growth of the restaurant is certainly noticed by all, but especially by Gabi Balderas, who is the daughter of Zuzul’s owners Gabriel and Brooke Balderas. She worked alongside the chefs throughout the evening and has worked at the restaurant since it opened in 2019.

Her favorite part of working at the restaurant is seeing all the people come in and enjoy the food that her dad has worked so hard to develop.

“I love seeing it grow from something that was merely a couple words and a concept to something that’s grandiose and a part of the community,” she said. “Even through time, I hope that the restaurant that we developed will run its course, do well and adapt with change because the industry is always changing and it’s alive; it has a heart, and it’s beating.”

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Shreveport restaurant celebrates Summer Solstice with exclusive dinner