About Me at Colton

I thought it would be good to explain who I am and how I came to be the culinary chair of Studio at Colton.

My name is David Aman. I have worked in restaurant kitchens for over 15 years. 5 years ago, I started documenting New Orleans restaurant stories with a local filmmaker. Since then, short documentary videos have been my full-time job (I still work part time in the kitchen).

The 3 reasons I became the culinary chair and kitchen program director are:

1) The kitchen needs A LOT of work and every other person with culinary experience that was told about/shown the kitchen passed.

2) I had a H.S. culinary program that I'd written after the storm, but pushed to the side after realizing that there weren't any kitchens to do it in.

3) I'm obsessed with getting New Orleans proper a Culinary Incubator... I think it's crazy that a city with such a culinary heritage doesn't have a place for its professional cooks to go to work on their own projects (especially when Louisiana is one of a handful of states that doesn't allow home kitchens to be certified by the health department).

So, I basically got the kitchen by default and because I had a culinary program written up.

But now, it's become an obsession to get this kitchen up and running. Even with a newborn and a wife that reminds me that I'm spending a lot of time at a place that isn't (yet) paying the bills.

I realize how much the city, its cooks, and its students need it. And once it is finished, its going to be brilliant - the energy is already palpable with the amazing people who are the Colton kitchen workers; The Krewe De Foodre.