Her homemade croissants have been a mainstay at Highland Coffees for 14 years. She hosts a television show on Louisiana’s agricultural bounty and a weekly cooking demonstration at the downtown Main Street Market. She produces her own honey mustard salad dressing and was one of 11 chefs to participate in the 2016 Louisiana Seafood Promotional and Marketing Board Cook-off in New Orleans.
And now, Chef Celeste Gill is once again in the restaurant business.
In May, Gill’s Chef Celeste Bistro opened in the south end of the Main Street Market. The spot has hosted several different eateries over the market’s 14-year tenure, and it was recently updated to include an open kitchen with 360-degree viewing, group seating, a dining counter and an indoor herb garden.
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“People walk in and say it looks like it was always supposed to look,” says Gill, a 22-year culinary veteran.
The bistro serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, with the menu offering a cozy lineup of omelettes and other breakfast items, hand-filled croissants, sandwiches, paninis, salads and flatbreads. Many of the dishes use local ingredients. The fresh herbs, tended by one of the Red Stick Farmers Market vendors, are plucked and used routinely.
“I absolutely breathe Louisiana food, and I love Baton Rouge,” says Gill, who recently became a downtown resident. “I love the cuisine, and I want to showcase everything we have to offer.”
Gill has been a fixture at the Main Street Market since it opened in 2002. She was one of the original restaurant owners, operating Taylor Made Gourmet from 2003 to 2006 and selling fresh cakes, traditional breakfasts and Southern plate lunches.
In recent years, she emceed weekly cooking demonstrations on Saturday mornings in the market, with local chefs, producers and food personalities preparing original recipes using ingredients sourced from the market.
Gill says her new restaurant’s menu was shaped around dishes that she likes to eat. A top seller is the warm and gooey Roosevelt Reuben, made with housemade corned beef, Gill’s signature coleslaw, melted Fontina cheese and lemon dill aioli on pressed rye bread. At breakfast, guests line up for shrimp and grits assembled with ingredients from farmers market regulars Anna Marie Shrimp and Papa Tom Bonnecaze’s Stone Ground Grits.
Gill originally attended culinary school in Hawaii, developing a passion for baking. It led to a longtime career in food service, largely for retirement communities. She still works as food service director at the Southside Gardens senior living center in Baton Rouge and says that creating restaurant-quality food for the residents and their families is one of her passions.
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Gill says the goal with her new space at Main Street Market is to serve foods that are flavorful and straightforward.
“I like a dish that uses good ingredients that blend nicely together,” she says. “You don’t have to overcomplicate a dish. I like things done well, but not fussy.” facebook.com/chefcelestebistro
On the small screen:
Gill hosts a local television show produced with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Cooking up Louisiana Treasures on Public Access Channel 21 features her traveling to different farmers and producers around the state and demonstrating how to use the foods they produce. cookinguplouisianatreasures.com