“I grew up in California. My three children from a previous marriage were grown and out of the house so my husband and I loaded up our boat and mountain bikes and went on a long camping road trip to explore new places. We went to South Dakota, Colorado, and Wisconsin, then we went tarpon fishing in the Keys. We met a couple from Mobile on a golf course in the Keys and they became some of our best friends. We came to Mobile and rented a trailer to stay a while.

We went back to our life in California, but it didn’t feel right anymore. We got tired of fire season and the restrictions and the rules of California. We sold our house and bought a little farm outside of Saraland. We love the freedom and the feel of the country here. It’s the way it was when we grew up in northern California. I have two young boys with my second husband, and we are giving them the farm life that we had. People here don’t know how lucky you are.

Mobile is a special place with its own uniqueness and vibe. It’s a welcoming world where you are encouraged to try something new and see what happens. When we were here the first time, we met a dear man who loved the food of Mobile and took us everywhere to eat. I noticed then that it’s not just southern cuisine. Mobile has its own nuances. We’ve been back here for two years, and I am learning to cook with what’s authentic to Mobile.

I came from a San Francisco-based Portuguese family. My grandma taught me how to cook. My mom is Danish and she was always making pastries. I grabbed on to their passion for food and kept going. By the time I was 15, I was cooking our holiday dinners with turkey and sides. I went to culinary school in Pasadena. My parents told me if I took off somewhere else for school, I would have to pay for it myself. I did and tattooing paid for my school. My mom hates tattoos on me so I didn’t get tattoos on my right arm because of her. Everything else is fair game. Mom is proud of my accomplishments. She knows my art and can recognize my tattoos on other people. She gave me cultural experiences, and I passed that down to my kids. My oldest daughter sings opera for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

I’ve been a chef much of my life and worked for the Hilton corporation for a long time. When we moved here I was just going to be a farmer mom and maybe sell some of my barbecue sauce. I was going with the flow. A friend was the head housekeeper at the Fort Conde Inn and she asked me to help out when the chef quit. I started talking to the owners about what they were doing here with catering, helped them design a menu, and gave them suggestions for designing the new kitchen at Bistro St. Emanuel at the Fort Conde Inn. I was hired to be the executive chef. This job found me, and I am blessed to be here. It’s inspiring because I get to bring people in. One of our housekeepers had cooking experience, but housekeeping was a side job so she could make a little extra money. I asked her to help me cook, and she is so good. One of our fill-in cooks told us about cheesecakes that he made on the side. Now he’s making a beautiful Manhattan mango cheesecake that’s going to be on the menu. We have the best desserts.

Bistro St. Emanuel opens for breakfast on November 1, from 7-10 a.m. We will start serving Sunday brunches soon. We’ll have Eggs Benedict with crabmeat, lobster, and caviar. Lobster will be mixed into the Bearnaise sauce. Instead of being on an English muffin, it will be on a crab cake and topped with a little gold leaf and caviar. We will have a full Conde breakfast with steak and three eggs. Once we start dinner, we’ll serve mussels and fries, a filet mignon, and a pecan-crusted grouper on greens and mashed potatoes. It will be a tower of food.

Cooking is a chance to use the influences from everywhere I’ve worked–New York, Virginia Beach, San Diego, and Hawaii. There’s also the Mexican, Asian, and Native American influence from California. There is so much creativity in deconstructing and reconstructing traditional favorites and making them mine. If I messed up on a tattoo, it was difficult to erase, but if I burn something I can toss it out and start over.

I love Mobile, and I am excited to create in a place like the Conde Inn that is so historic, but is still a hidden gem that many people don’t know about.”

Rachel