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This broad appeal is no surprise to James Beard award winner Chef Frank Brigtsen, the celebrated chef-owner of New Orleans’ renowned restaurant Brigtsen’s. Chef Brigtsen helped introduce New Orleanians to Mexican food at the helm of the late Chef Paul Prudhomme’s seminal restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. As Frank explains it, when Prudhomme opened K-Paul’s in the late ’70s he was still the Executive Chef at Commander’s Palace, and K-Paul was where Paul could put a more personal imprint on the menu. Origi nally, K-Paul’s was a lunch spot, and the Wednesday lunch special was always Mexican. Prudhomme had fallen in love with Mexican and Tex Mex food during his extensive travels in New Mexico and Colorado, and he showcased that love at his restaurant. As Frank says, “It was his [Prudhomme’s] love that intro duced me. We were doing an expansion of what we knew

together. Without an emulsifier, heat causes fat to separate, protein to break down and moisture to be expelled; with an emulsifier everything remains in a balanced, harmonious suspension; that means a smooth, flowing river of cheese. This is especially critical for queso, where it is used first and foremost as a dip. It can be an amazing ingredient (more on that later) but its default purpose in life is to be dipped into. The longer queso can stay warm, gooey and chip-coating, the better a dip it is. While aficionados might argue that without the seasoning queso isn’t truly queso, most Mexican and Tex Mex restaurants that serve queso default to a “plain” (not spicy) version — or at least offer it as an option. Across Texas and now across the United States, this neutral base of melted, processed cheese has become an inspiring palette for all kinds of cultural improvisations, from

of Creole cuisine and culture. The beauty of queso is that it’s multicultural. All the immigrants over the past 300 years have left their imprint on this fusion cuisine. Post-Katrina, New Orleans’ population

kimchi queso to Indian-spiced queso with fermented chilies and cardamom to a toss-up between white queso and yellow (actually, orange) queso.

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