If\u00a0you know Jesse Gibson through his pop-ups, food truck, and now excellent restaurant in North Richland Hills, you know food, for him,\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0just food.\u00a0It\u2019s a reflection of where he comes from.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from Houma, Louisiana, specifically Dulac,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a small fishing community near a place called Cocodrie, and that\u2019s where people from town have their vacation homes. They go fishing, clean their fish, cook for their friends, and throw big parties.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a whole culture built around food and gathering.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That sense of community runs through the veins of Cocodrie\u2019s Bayou Kitchen, which Gibson opened this fall after years of hustling in Fort Worth, running catering events, pop-ups, and a food truck under his brand, The Wild Cajun.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little nervous about the concept,\u201d he admits. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0always been in the food industry, but not like this, not running my own restaurant. But I just came out of a meeting with my staff, and I told them: \u2018This is a big ball of Play-Doh. Tell me what you think will make this better. We want to be\u00a0around\u00a0for a long time. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want this to be a sizzle in the pan.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cocodrie\u2019s shares a building with Sparks, a longtime local sports bar that Gibson\u2019s silent partner owns. The combination, he says, has breathed new life into\u00a0the space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make it the new go-to spot on Rufe Snow,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cNorth Richland Hills\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0really have anything like this, and honestly,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0nothing like this in North Texas. When you come in,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no Texas memorabilia.\u00a0You\u2019re\u00a0back in South Louisiana. When you walk out, you can be back in Texas all you want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The menu is both familiar and inventive. Gibson serves staples like po\u2019boys, \u00e9touff\u00e9e, boudin, and gumbo \u2014 the latter made the traditional way, slowly, with roux cooked in-house. But\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0also\u00a0put\u00a0a playful spin on Cajun classics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople expect the usual stuff, and I can give them that all day long,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I got a little creative with the names and flavors. Like our Swamp Poppers.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0frog legs tossed in a\u00a0housemade\u00a0buffalo sauce we make with Louisiana Hot Sauce. People always say frog legs taste like chicken, so we leaned into that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another creative dish is the Rougarou Wrap, a Cajun-inspired burrito stuffed with shrimp or chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato, jalapeno, and\u00a0housemade\u00a0ranch. \u201cThe\u00a0rougarou\u00a0is a Cajun folk creature, like a werewolf,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cThe wrap\u2019s so good it\u2019s kind of sinful, like the\u00a0rougarou\u2019s\u00a0gonna\u00a0come get you for eating it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s The Kitchen Sink, a crowd favorite that incorporates many of Gibson\u2019s signature items.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives you a little bit of everything,\u201d he says. \u201cJambalaya with a blackened redfish fillet, \u00e9touff\u00e9e on top, four fried shrimp, and a boudin ball.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a great\u00a0portion\u00a0and under $30;\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a great value.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The gumbo, a point of pride for Gibson, is made from scratch daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t cut corners,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are ways you can make a gumbo faster, but\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0how you end up with something lacking. We make our roux in-house, use it across all our gumbos, and cook them in small batches \u2014 5 to 10 gallons a day of each kind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even the ingredients are a direct line to his home state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything we get, aside from our vegetables, is imported from Louisiana,\u201d he says. \u201cEven if\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0made somewhere else,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0sold by a Louisiana company. We use Gambino\u2019s bread, Blue Plate mayo, and sausage from a New Orleans company.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0important to me that what people taste here really comes from there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gibson and his family have been a part of the food and restaurant industry for years. After moving to Texas in 2017, he followed in the footsteps of his family, many of whom work in the fish and shrimp distribution\u00a0industry, and\u00a0began selling shrimp out of a friend\u2019s garage \u2014 shrimp he bought from his father\u2019s dock in Houma.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI carried around a 5-pound block of shrimp until I found someone to buy it,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cThat was at Burgundy Local on West Seventh. The owner told me to break it down into 1-pound\u00a0packages\u00a0and\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0sell it. From there, I started selling on Facebook, then farmers markets, then crawfish\u00a0boils\u00a0during the season.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what really got me going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cocodrie\u2019s Bayou Kitchen, Gibson says, is the culmination of years of hustling \u2014 and a deep homage to his home state and cuisine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI built this whole place while I was homesick,\u201d he says. \u201cI just want to bring people home with me. When I\u00a0walk in\u00a0there, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0feel like\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0at work. I feel like\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0home.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not going out of my way to make it special, but somehow, it is.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n