Reviews

• North Meets South

  June 7, 2015

  Asbury Park Press

  New Jersey native brings piece of New Orleans to Brick

  Jesse Dedreux, 35, considers himself half-Jersey Shore, half-New Orleeans — and he's capitalizing on that combination in a delicious way.

  Blackened Alligator Bites.

  Fresh Fish Po'boy.

  Shrimp Etouffee.

  Not typical menu items you'd expect at the Jersey Shore — until you step inside Brick's F-Cove Restaurant.

  "I was always fascinated with the music and food in New Orleans," says the Brick native, who also spent time growing up in Toms River. "What really got me, one of my parents' restaurants had a gumbo special as the soup of the day, and it just blew my mind."

  Dedreux started visiting Louisiana on a regular basis, enjoying such events as the New Orleans Jazz Fest and the French Quarter Fest.

  "I didn't know anyone and went mostly by myself," he says. "I wanted to immerse myself in the culture, and I fit in pretty well down there."

  In 2006, shortly after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state, Dedreux moved from the Jersey Shore to New Orleans, right off Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

  "They needed employees down there at the time, so I decided it was the right time to go," he tells me. "I love the elbow room in society, it's very free down there. As long as you're not hurting anyone, you're good."

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  Dedreux started working for the Brennans, a very prominent family of restaurateurs who helped Emeril Lagasse rise to fame. He became a "cocktail composer" at Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House Seafood and learned everything that he would later bring back to New Jersey.

  A taste of love

  In 2008, Dedreux met girlfriend Scarlett Dell during Jazz Fest. At the time, she was living in Baton Rouge and going to Louisiana State University.

  "We met in a quiet place — Molly's at the Market," he recalls. "We started talking a lot about food, culture — Louisiana versus New Jersey. We went out to eat a lot. I started to cook for her. Shrimp creole was the first dish I made."

  Eventually, living in the French Quarter was starting to wear on the relationship. After visiting New Jersey, Dell was hooked.

   

  "She loved the water, the beaches," Dedreux tells me. "We both wanted to open a restaurant, but down there, you really need the reputation. It just seemed fit to come up for a bit and check out our options."

  After Dell graduated from University of New Orleans with a marketing degree, the couple moved from Louisiana in 2012, right before superstorm Sandy hit.

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  "It was Scarlett's second hurricane, so it brought back bad memories," he says.

  They wound up moving to the Majestic Hotel in Ocean Grove and settled in the area. At first, he was helping at his father's restaurant, The Pizza Place in Wall, and she worked in Marlboro at a salon.

  After Sandy, there were a lot of commercial real-estate vacancies, and a listing in Brick kept popping up.

  Buy Photo
  F-Cove in Brick. (Photo: Mike McLaughlin/Correspondent)

   

  "It kind of felt right," Dedreux says. "We took a leap of faith."

  In June 2013, F-Cove Restaurant opened its doors at 25320 Route 88, at the end of Ponti Plaza.

  He describes it as a fusion of "Jersey Shore classic seafood and authentic New Orleans dishes."

  What's behind the name? Longtime Jersey Shore lovers should be able to figure it out.

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  "When I was young, I lived on the bay," Dedreux says. "We went to F-Cove before people knew about it. When Scarlett first came out, it's the first place we went. We really want people to remember what Brick used to be, and we wanted to connect with the town and people from the area."

  Winning combination

  What's it like for Jersey guy and Southern girl to run a business together each day? They bring different things to the table.

  "She's softened me up, and I've made her tougher," he says with a laugh. "Her biggest contribution is her Southern hospitality. She bends over backward. I learned that from the Brennans — never say no to the customers."

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  He also learned from them the difference between Cajun and Creole — the base, roux (or thickener), type of fat, using tomatoes, cooking with butter or oil.

  "Lafayette, for example, is a lot of Cajun," Dedreux says. "My friend lived there and was always bringing back pigs feet, cracklins — crazy stuff, it was interesting."

  The restaurant's vibe is symbolic of the dual stylings: there are old pictures of the Jersey Shore, including the original F-Cove, the Asbury Park boardwalk in the 1940s and Ocean City. You'll also find gumbo signs, a hanging crab trap, and other pieces of Louisiana.

  What are Dedreux's favorite dishes on the menu?

  He suggests the Charbroiled Oysters, a recipe brought back directly from his time down south.

  Buy Photo
  Charbroiled Oysters, a recipe brought back directly from Jesse Dedreux’s time down South. (Photo: Mike McLaughlin/Correspondent)

   

  "They fit perfectly up here," he says. "They're fresh-shucked Bluepoint oysters, charbroiled on the grill, with a blend of butter and seasoning, topped with Parmesan and creamy Romano cheeses.

  The Bourbon Porkchop and Shrimp Etouffee are also popular dishes, along with the "Taste of New Orleans" Fat Tuesday Special: a cup of gumbo, choice of jambalaya, Etouffee or Shrimp Creole, and New Orleans bread pudding for dessert.

  For classic Jersey fare, check out the Chicken Parmesan and Linguini with Clams.

  RELATED:'Sopranos' star shares deep Jersey roots

  Dedreux, who does most of the cooking, misses New Orleans but is proud to have brought a big piece of his southern passion to the Jersey Shore.

  "I'll go back in July," he says. "I'm a member of the Sazerac Society. It's credited as the first cocktail in the world, and there's a convention every summer."

  F-Cove is BYOB, so feel free to mix one up while enjoying a dish.

  Open every day except Mondays. For more information, call 732-242-69307 or visit www.fcoverestaurant.com.

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• Celebrate Mardi Gras with the flavors of the Big Easy

  February 3, 2016

  Asbury Park Press

  There are plenty of amazing things about living at the Shore, but this time of year, we are reminded of one that is not so great: We are more than 1,000 miles away from next week's Mardi Gras celebrations down South.

  On Tuesday - and in the days before and after - the population of New Orleans will triple as revelers make their way to The Big Easy for one of the year's biggest celebrations.

  While we may be unlucky to live so far from the festivities, we are lucky to have a handful of restaurants where Southern, Cajun and Creole food reign supreme. Here is a look at places in the Garden State where you can join in the fun.

  F-Cove Restaurant

  THE RESTAURANT: For Scarlett Dell and Jesse Dedreux, Mardi Gras is a time to unite their past with the present. Dell, who is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dedreux, who was born in New Jersey but spent six years living and working in New Orleans, have been cooking up Cajun and Creole dishes since opening their Brick restaurant in 2013. And there is a difference between the two styles of cooking: "Creole's a little more rich, more butter based," Dedreux said. "Cajun stuff is more of the ingredients, smoked hot sausage, more oil as opposed to butter. But we try not to stick too strictly to it, we try to do more of what we were exposed to."

  In the South, Dell said, Mardi Gras is celebrated in the weeks prior to Fat Tuesday. The celebrations and parades begin on Kings Day in early January, and Dell remembers parades where children clamored for trinkets thrown from extravagant floats and collect doubloons from the krewes, or the groups that create the floats.

  As for the food, Mardi Gras is about indulgence before Lent begins. "Whatever you want to eat, you eat too much," she said. "And whatever you want to drink, you drink too much."

   

  Sarah Griesemer, @sarahegriesemer

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• 7 great sandwiches and where to find them

  November 4, 2015

  Asbury Park Press

  It's National Sandwich Day! Here are a few great ones to try.

   

  2. The Cris Crispy at F-Cove Restaurant: This sandwich brings together the best of both New Jersey and Louisiana – a fried chicken breast topped with bourbon-glazed pork roll and mozzarella – and represents the relationship of owners Jesse Dedreux and Scarlett Dell. “I’m from New Jersey and she’s from down there, so there’s the bourbon and the fried chicken. Then the pork roll is on my end,” Dedreux said, adding that he also used to work on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street.

  “He wanted something that was kind of out of the ordinary, wanted to do something different,” Dell said of Dedreux’s creation, which is served on a soft brioche bun. “The people who try it, it’s one of their favorites. The bourbon gives the glaze a little kick, a really neat flavor.”

  The sandwich costs $9.99. F-Cove Restaurant is at 25320 Route 88 in Brick; call 732-242-69307.

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