Cast & Cleaver’s Jacob Deshotel feeling pinch of inflation

Published 5:55 am Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Jacob Deshotels started at the bottom and worked his way up in the restaurant business.

“I was in Baton Rouge going to LSU,” he said. “I took a job as a dishwasher to make some money to help me get through college and I never left.”

He’s been a cook, a kitchen manager and a general manager. Now, as the owner of Cast & Cleaver, Sulphur, he has the satisfaction of making the major decisions, but also the challenges that go along with restaurant ownership. Food, in general, is getting more expensive. Local seafood has taken a major jump.

“We get our oysters from Port Sulphur,” he said. “When the hurricane came through, it not only damaged the oyster beds, but the plants were without water, which is necessary for processing. Now that they’ve got their water back, things are getting back on track, but the prices have really increased.”

A shucked gallon of oysters is over $90,” he said. Gulf Shrimp is $10 a pound for 21-25s and Louisiana catfish is $7 a pound. That’s about $3 a pound more for the shrimp, $2 more per pound and almost $30 more a gallon for oysters compared to 2019.”

Deshotels said some restaurants have started using basa or pangasius, which is a Southeast Asia catfish, and brown shrimp out of the Indian Ocean.

“It just doesn’t taste the same,” he said. “Louisiana catfish has its own flavor and texture. Basa fish is spongy, it doesn’t have the same flakiness.”

Deshotel said one of the secrets to good food is starting out with good ingredients. He knows Cast and Cleaver isn’t a fine dining restaurant. But it’s not a fast food restaurant either. His goal is consistently good quality food in an atmosphere that a range of customers will find comfortable. For Valentine’s Day, he offered something upscale, a sirloin served over mashed potatoes with a demi glace and asparagus on the side.

The brunch menu features a soft shell crab benedict and other items that keeps West Calcasieu residents on their side of the bridge. Crawfish Mamou, crawfish etouffee over catfish and rice, is Deshotels’ take on a menu item from his past experience. He hasn’t had the chance to use his experience to create the dining area he envisions for the future. But it’s part of the plan.

“For me, it feels too cafeteria-like,” he said.

Deshotel has people to cook for  him at Cast & Cleaver, but at home, it’s up to him.

“My wife does some cooking,” but not a lot,” he said. “She doesn’t really have a favorite dish. She just comes in and says, ‘I’m hungry. What are you feeding me?’”