Story by James Leigh
Photos by Lance Brownfield
Jalyssa Searcy is proof that formal culinary training is not necessary to earn the title of executive chef.
The daughter of a chef in New Orleans, Searcy worked her way through several kitchens and a business degree on her way to becoming the executive chef of The Avenue restaurant inside The Waters hotel.
"Honestly, I never really imagined this situation for myself," she said. "I kind of just came to a point just being the oldest girl of seven kids, cooking just kind of fell in my lap. It's feeding the family. And my dad was a chef back when he was working, so it kind of just fell in my lap, became pretty easy, pretty natural to me."
Searcy's father was the executive chef for the Belle of Hot Springs, and he helped her get her first cooking job.
"He got me on up there as just his help, and then it kind of just started from there," she said. "He left that place and went to Oaklawn, and I took over from there. I was there for about seven years, and then I went to college to get my business degree in food and beverage management and all of that because, like I said, I kind of fell in love with it."
Searcy later worked at The Hotel Hot Springs after getting her bachelor's degree in business for food and beverage management, leaving during the pandemic to join the staff at The Waters as brunch chef.
"I was over at The Hotel Hot Springs for six years," she said. "Then COVID had hit, and so I put in an application here for the brunch chef. It was opening up a brunch here at this location, and when I got in, nothing was going as planned. We had another chef in, and it kind of didn't work out. So I kind of saw myself filling the role in here a little bit ahead of time. I kind of noticed, I saw it coming my way, so I accepted it and I've been doing it for over two and a half, three years now."
Hurricane Katrina forced Searcy's nine-member family out of New Orleans nearly 20 years ago, and they decided to stay in the Spa City after the devastating storm.
"The hurricane hit a month before school started, and we moved up here," Searcy said. "My mom liked it out here, and so she wanted to stay. And honestly, I think it was a really good decision that she made for us to say, especially just with the situation of how we lived down here in comparison to just how we can grow and develop as a family."
Food was always a big part of Searcy's life, and growing up in the Crescent City, the influences of that culture helped her develop her own take on cuisine.
"My grandmother and my mother and my dad -- everybody -- they cooked like that," she said. "So it was definitely built into me to cook that way. It's second nature. You know what I mean? Everything else I kind of learned throughout my life as far as just Spanish or French cooking just those classic ways of cooking, but ... that melting pot of everything is just -- that's what I was raised on. So I definitely can't help but to implement that in any menu I create or anything I cook because you know that's first nature. That's what I know, and that's my strongest suit."
While she was never formally trained, Searcy grew up learning to cook from her mother and grandmother, learning how things tasted and how to put things together for a meal.
"It's definitely just a true, true passion," she said. "I just love it every day. I wake up; I breathe it. ... I never lose excitement for it. Just everyday waking up, wanting to want to learn more, wanting new recipes, ingredients. It's so much you can do with with food, and that's just the fun part about it. You know what I mean? It never gets old. Every day is something new."
Searcy said designing menus is something that is almost second-nature to her.
"It's funny because honestly, I don't put too much thought into it," she said. "I really don't. When I'm sitting down and I'm thinking if I got to come up with a menu, it's almost like whatever pops into my mind, and I'll roll with and that'll be my base. And as I'm trying to create this dish, it's whatever just pops up, and I just kind of roll with it. I never stress or overthink about it honestly because I feel like the art of it is myself, and my first thought is putting it on the plate, and that's what makes the plate neat."
Some of the things she puts on a menu might seem unusual, but she said she trusts the flavors.
"Whatever pops into my mind, I just roll with it," she said. "If I say I want a pork shank, and we'll put some country grits on that pork shank with some smothered collard greens. And you never think -- you never see a dish like that. But you know, when you put it all together, it kind of makes sense -- to me at least. And when I see the guests enjoy it, yeah, it's a proud moment, for sure."
One thing Searcy prides herself on is making everything from scratch.
"I am prideful in what I do and the dishes I create, so I can say this is mine, you know what I mean?" she said. "Everything I do is from scratch. I don't pre-order anything. Nothing's pre-made. It's a scratch kitchen. Everything we do is from the barest of ingredients."
Searcy said she never thinks about being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She just goes about trying to be the best at what she does.
"I've sat back and I watch guy chefs just talk crazy to their sous chefs and to their employees and their cooks, and it's just like -- I mean, it's just a level of respect I have for ... my guys, for my cooks and stuff like that," she said. "So I like I said, I've never really thought about it in a sense of just being a female, but at the end of the day, I do have to stand my ground and make sure to stand on business. Because you never know who might come at you sideways.
"Like I said, it's never happened before, so I've never had to really think about it in that sense, but it just a respect thing at the end of the day. You know what I mean? Male, female, it doesn't matter, as long as you carry yourself respectfully, properly and handle business the way you should and care about everything you're supposed to care about as far as the food, ingredients, the guests, your employees, your staff. I mean, it really doesn't matter at the end of the day, honestly."
Trusting her staff is a big thing for Searcy. She knows what they are capable of doing, and that is part of the reason she has the same group that has been with her for several years.
"I have a crew, and I've been having the same guys for a really long time. But honestly, most of them, they never cooked before, so they're under my wing," she said.
She hired one of her chefs when she was at the Hotel Hot Springs, and he had not had a cooking job before.
"From an appreciation standpoint, he appreciates everything I do for him, and any opportunity that I've given him or position I put him in and he's taken, he's never taken anything for granted," she said. "And he always wanted to be better, wanted to learn how to cook and he's a spitting image of me. So it's easy for me to be like, 'OK, Chris, what you got?' Because I know it'll be on the same level, same playing field as what I would think of, so it's easy for me to communicate with him."
While formal training is not required to join Searcy's staff, she has a handful that work under her with some training.
"I have one sous chef; I just brought him on as a sous chef," she said. "He worked six months in training. He's my Avenue dinner chef, but he has a little cooking experience. ... Besides him I've got Ashley, she had a job at a bakery before, nothing major level of cooking."
Searcy said she likes being able to train her staff up because they learn to love it as much as she does.
"It's easier for me," she said. "I tell them all the time, 'All you've got to do is get here. I'll show you how to cook. I'll show you how to do it, and I'll let you marinate in it and learn as much as you can soak it up, but I'll be here with you to show you the ropes. All you've got to do is be here, and we can hang out and cook and have fun.' And that's what it's been for years with these guys, and they really gained a true knowledge for food. It became a true passion for them just says as it is me, and as like I said, that's just the whole fun behind it."
While many chefs delegate their duties and deal with more of the paperwork, Searcy wants to be in the kitchen.
"When you're watching me work and even like the general managers, everybody else are like, 'You're always here. You're always cooking,'" she said. "Most chefs sit down and do the paperwork, and they make the menu. I love busy. I love when the tickets are rolling in. I want to get in. I'm like, 'Hey, let me get in on this action.' I love I love it. ... It's definitely just exciting. It's exciting when we get packed out, and you can hear the machine to tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick -- tickets rolling, and it's like addicting almost."
Searcy plans to shake things up this year and give the restaurant's menu a more "Southern vibe."
"Give the locals a little bit of something that's a little bit familiar, but definitely a classier taste to it," she said. "But I am definitely going to bring it home a little bit this year, and that might be a menu I stick with for a while. I've been working on it for a few days now, so you know, so that foot traffic that comes through, they see it on the menu, 'Oh, we've got to get get in and get this,' because it's something that they're used to but like elevated with a little twist to it."