2015 Honorary Muse Sue Zemanick
Today, the Krewe of Muses announced that Sue Zemanick, Executive Chef at Gautreau’s and Ivy, will serve as the Krewe’s Honorary Muse.
Chef Sue Zemanick began her culinary career at the early age of 15 while working in fine dining restaurants in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She quickly learned that cooking was her passion and calling. After high school she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Graduating in the top of her class she was offered a position to work one on one with a Chef-instructor as a fellow in the seafood department. During that fellowship she developed a great love for fish and seafood which is what brought her to New Orleans.
Upon arriving in New Orleans she began cooking at Commander’s Palace. She later moved on to cook at Gautreau’s Restaurant under “Top Ten” Food & Wine winner, Mat Wolf. After working her way up the ranks she was promoted to Executive Chef in 2005 weeks before Hurricane Katrina’s damage closed Gautreau’s for over a year.
Upon reopening in 2007, Sue was named as a “Chef to Watch” by the Times-Picayune food critic. In 2008, Sue was chosen as a “Top Ten Best New Chef” by Food & Wine Magazine as well as “Chef of the Year” by New Orleans Magazine. Gautreau’s has been consistently rated one of the “Top Ten Best Restaurants in New Orleans” by the Times-Picayune.
Sue was featured at the South Beach and Charleston Food and Wine Festivals and the Sun Valley Vintner’s Festival. In 2011, Chef Zemanick was a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters Season 3. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, she was a top 5 finalist in the James Beard Foundation “Rising Star Chef” category. In 2014, Sue won the Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef of the South.”
“We are honored to have Sue Zemanick as our 2015 Honorary Muse. As an accomplished chef, she has all the right ingredients that make up a Muses woman. Her natural zest will be apparent to parade-goers as she leads the Muses in our Krewe’s signature red high-heel shoe” said Krewe of Muses Captain Staci Rosenberg.