Caine Thomassie finds his stride at Edison Chouest

Local chef Caine Thomassie, born and raised in Lafourche Parish’s Larose/Gailliano area, is the corporate executive chef for Edison Chouest, an offshore company.

Thomassie said he was destined to become a chef. He has been the executive chef at Chouest’s corporate office for the past 10 years.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it,” he said. “Throughout my entire career, I have been learning new and exciting things to do in the kitchen.”

Thomassie began cooking at the tender age of 12. He and his father would watch cooking shows on Saturday morning. “Me and my dad would sit on the couch and watch the great chefs of New Orleans go to work. I used to tell my dad that I wanted to cook like that,” he said.

Thomassie still recalls the ad that first inspired him. It featured Italian Chef Goffredo Fraccaro, owner of an Italian restaurant in Metairie called La Riviera. From that moment on, Thomassie’s quest to become a great culinary chef began.

Prior to entering LSU’s pre-medical program, Thomassie got a summer job at a restaurant in Grand Isle. “I wanted to be a cook, so I had to learn,” he said. “Taking that job at Grand Isle got me the start I needed.”

Thomassie attended LSU for only three semesters before switching gears and enrolling in Delgado’s three-year culinary program.

“At Delgado, I had the opportunity to work while I went to school,” he said. “The professors believed in hands-on experience. We only had class for 12 hours, one-day a week.”

So, one day a week he attended class and the rest of the week he worked at the very place that first flamed passion: La Riviera. Up until Hurricane Katrina closed the eatery, Thomassie worked alongside his childhood idol, Chef Goffredo. The senior chef would eventually become Thomassie’s mentor.

Once out of college, Thomassie remained an employee at La Riviera until he got married and moved back to the Larose/Galliano area in 1996.

Long hours commuting to Jefferson Parish took a toll, and he launched a job search for work closer to home.

After a brief hunt, he came across an ad for a kitchen cook at Edison Chouest Offshore. The company had just opened the Galliano office.

“I thought to myself, I couldn’t possibly take a job as a cook in a kitchen with a culinary degree,” Thomassie said.

He applied for the position anyway, and to his surprise, the job was actually for an executive chef who travels with the company executives on business trips, family trips and other company business.

Thomassie has traveled to many exotic places and experienced other cultures and cuisines outside of his Cajun/Creole tastes.

“This has been an amazing journey for me,” he said. “I have traveled to places and seen things that I would only dream about if it wasn’t for this job.”