Chef Amanda Cusey of the Villa Harlequin in Downtown Lake Charles was crowned Queen of Louisiana Seafood, besting 11 other chefs to win the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off. She is the first Lake Charles chef and the second woman to receive the honor in the 15-year history of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board annual event.

“I’ve never had issues with being a woman in the kitchen,” said Cusey, a first-time competitor.  “I’ve never felt like a second-hand cook. What I do think is cool is that there were only two women competing and she grabbed second place.”

Chef Amy Sins of the Langlois in New Orleans was a returning competitor and placed after Cusey.

“The other chefs were doing some complicated dishes,” Cusey said. “I was worried that maybe I’d gone a little too simplistic.

To win the crown, Cusey prepared a pan-seared red drum over a tomato polenta with a crawfish cream sauce.

“I did know that I had to come with an explosion of flavor, that’s what needed to be on the plate, and this dish does that. Basically, it’s an elevated fish and grits that represents The South, Louisiana and the quality of seafood found here.”

The winner will represent Louisiana in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans this August and will represent Louisiana and promote the great seafood caught off the shores of this state all over the world, according to Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.

Cusey hasn’t decided if she’ll come up with a new dish for the judges in August. She might just “roll” with the same, she said.

Villa Harlequin owner Mike Sperando called Cusey’s win “a huge feather in her cap.”

“That’a big contest; she was there with chefs from all over Louisiana and they had beautiful dishes,” Sperando said. “She came to the forefront. After all that Southwest Louisiana has gone through, a high note of this nature, I’m proud and elated for the area, for the restaurant and for  her.”