Edible Concepts

MONROE NATIVE BARRE TANGUIS IS TAKING THE FOOD HALL CONCEPT TO NEW ORLEANS AND BEYOND

article by Laura W. Clark and Photography by Kelly Moore Clark

Bayou DeSiard separated the childhood homes of Barre Tanguis and his best friend David Elias. However, the bayou, like every other obstacle in Barre’s life, did not deter him.

Young Barre often packed clothes in a trash bag, quietly escaped his house, and swam across the bayou, clutching the bag of dry clothes. After spending time with his friend and swimming back home, he would change into the spare clothes to mask his adventures.

  David, now an orthopedic surgeon in Thibodaux, has known Barre since the first grade at Jesus The Good Shepherd Catholic School. The boys swam, water-skied, hunted, played sports, and remained close friends while at St. Frederick High School and Louisiana State University. David describes his friend as “entertaining, outgoing, and determined.”

  “Barre has been successful and will continue to be successful because he is not afraid to fail. He is always creative, always a step ahead, and the first one to bring something new to the area,” David said.

  Barre did just that when he re-opened a New Orleans landmark: St. Roch Market. The historic gem, which sat damaged and empty for several years after Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in 2005, underwent a city-funded, multi-million-dollar renovation in 2012. New Orleans architect Lee Ledbetter, also a Monroe native, restored St. Roch Market to mirror the style of the building’s last major renovation in 1937. The interior’s custom-made birch stalls and marble countertops, among other 1930s-inspired décor, were created by New Orleans architect John Williams.

  In 2015, Barre and business partner Will Donaldson leased the market, which dates back to 1875, and reimagined it as a food hall: a place where chefs convene in one large, open space and serve their cuisine without the high overhead costs associated with a traditional restaurant space. Now customers can enjoy a variety of foods and beverages, and the opportunity to interact with chefs in the 7,500-square-foot space.

  Barre, who is married to New Orleans entrepreneur Cecile Hardy, said the food hall concept minimizes risks for the chefs. “We build the space, and you move in with your food and knives. If it doesn’t work out, the vendors don’t lose a lot. For us, it opens up the talent field to a lot of creative, good people, regardless of their capital.”

  Barre describes the environment as energetic. “While we offer high-end elements such as china dinnerware, families can easily bring their kids. It’s elegance mixed with a bit of chaos. The food hall concept is beneficial to customers because they can meet at one spot and each enjoy a variety of dining experiences,” Barre said. “St. Roch has a very communal feel. The owners, whether they specialize in Vietnamese, Mexican, Italian, or Cajun food, are behind their counters at all times. A chef will roll a sack of oysters right in front of you, and you can talk to the chef about the origin of the oysters, which fosters a communal experience.”

  One such vendor is Kevin Pedeaux, owner of Coast Roast Coffee. Kevin, who grew up in St. Bernard, was one of the first vendors to sign on with St. Roch Market and considers Barre a great leader. “He is a level-headed problem-solver and trusted advisor,” Kevin said. “There are a lot of personalities in the multi-vendor environment, and he can resolve problems fairly.”

  Kevin benefits from the dining hall’s multi-vendor approach; customers often stop at his coffee shop before or after visiting other stations. A stand-alone coffee shop would be much more challenging, he said, and it would not afford him the same opportunities he has at St. Roch Market. “St. Roch Market acts as a functioning billboard for our shop. Because St. Roch is not a typical sit-down restaurant, people roam and visit with one another, and they visit other vendors,” Kevin said. “This community environment has allowed me to focus on my passion for roasting coffee. We have grown year after year. Some of my employees have stayed with me from the beginning, which is an incredible feat for a barista situation,” Kevin said.

Another vendor, Tung Nguyen, owner of T2 Street Food, has been a part of St. Roch market for four years. A New Orleans native, and one of 13 children in a family full of entrepreneurs, Tung appreciates the innovative environment at St. Roch Market.

  “Being a vendor at St. Roch helps me focus more on the product and less on the other parts of business, and that’s were Barre comes in,” Tung said. “Being in a building with young chefs and other entrepreneurs has helped me learn and view things differently. I have learned different techniques and gained the ability to experiment with different cultures and cuisines. I would not be in the position I’m in today if it wasn’t for this building.”
Tung said he has gained a lot from Barre’s expertise. “Barre has been amazing. He’s taught me so much about business and has looked out for my best interests since day one,” Tung said. “Barre taught me to capitalize on opportunities. We started as business partners, and now we’ve become close friends.”

  Shortly after St. Roch opened, Barre had to address challenges regarding public perception. “People were not fond of the location because the neighborhood didn’t have the safest reputation. We received a lot of slings and arrows about the location,” Barre said. “But, we knew we were creating jobs in the neighborhood and bringing life to the area. We knew if we just executed the plan, we would help people. Several of our upper-management positions are filled with people who started as busboys and dish washers.”

  Barre believes that no challenge is impossible to overcome, a philosophy that began in his early childhood. A self-described “terrible student,” Barre was often sidetracked in school, in large part due to ADHD, although he would not be officially diagnosed until his college years. He did, however, excel in the classes he enjoyed. “I was easily distracted, so I knew that a more traditional career path, such as a doctor or an engineer, would not suit my personality,” he said. “I tried different medicines and then stopped taking them because I decided to find an environment to fit my mental state.”

  The life of a developer has provided Barre an ideal career path. Barre, who ultimately graduated from the University of Louisiana Monroe with an environmental management degree, has built short-term projects and then sold them. One such project was Launchpad, a shared office space. Barre and the other co-owners eventually sold the company, but Launchpad’s shared space concept became the catalyst for the St. Roch Market adventure.

  Working with good people is important to Barre, who has fond childhood memories of eating at downtown Monroe’s Kitchen Restaurant. “Everybody, from doctors to blue collar workers, was treated equally. The busboy was just as important as the chef. Being nice to everyone—that’s the philosophy I gained from Monroe.”

  Growing up in Monroe, Barre also gained a love for the outdoors. His dad was an avid outdoorsman, so he and his dad often enjoyed hunting and fishing together. Barre was always active doing other things as well. For example, the summer he was 14, he picked onions at Sal Petitto’s farm in the morning, mowed yards in the afternoon, and water-skied until dark.
  Barre’s parents, Barre and I.V., are the owners of Fluid Machinery, a pump and engineer company the couple launched 45 years ago in Monroe. Barre grew up watching his parents create and sustain a business on their own terms, and I.V. also worked as a social worker. His two older sisters influenced him as well. “My mom was a smart, hard-working person, and my older sisters were very smart and also artistic,” Barre said.

  Danielle, who also lives in New Orleans, works in computer coding; she and Barre occasionally collaborate on projects. Kate, who died in 2017 as the result of cancer, was a social worker in Austin. I.V., who describes Barre as her “sweet child,” said he exhibited a significant amount of compassion regarding Kate; Barre stayed with his sister the weekend before she passed.

  “Barre has always shown a lot of empathy, even from a young age. One Easter, when the kids were small, we noticed a big, black and white bunny in the front yard. We decided to keep it, and the kids helped feed it and care for it,” I.V. said. “One day, the bunny was gone. I asked Barre what happened to the bunny, and Barre replied, ‘He was crying for his mama, and I let him go so he could find her.”

  I.V. describes her son as sharp, charismatic, and restless. He was always working the crowd, she said, smiling. “When he played football, if he was on the sidelines, he was still bouncing around. He tried baseball, but the pace was too slow. Even as a small child, you didn’t put him to bed. Instead, you let him go to sleep. Sometimes, I was up two to three times per night. I would put him to bed, and he would just pop back up.”

  Barre’s abundance of energy continues to fuel him. He and his business partner opened a second St. Roch Market in Miami about a year ago, despite the challenges of a hurricane, which delayed the project. St. Roch Market in Miami, located in the Design District near Bulgari, Dior and Valentino, is decorated in chic black and white. While opening the Miami branch, Barre and his business partner opened another food hall, the Auction House Market in the New Orleans Warehouse District. The Auction House Market, an 8,000-square-foot space originally built in 1895, boasts an open, airy feel much like the St. Roch Market branches, and it is adorned with brass accents. He plans to open additional food hall branches in both Chicago and Houston later this year.

  Barre’s mother believes her son has chosen the perfect profession—one filled with challenges and efficient solutions—for his skill set. She remembers an incident at St. Frederick High School, an episode that still makes her laugh. Barre received a pink slip for jumping out of a first-floor classroom window after one of his friends threw Barre’s pencil onto the school’s yard.

  “His theory was: the shortest distance between two objects is a straight line. So, he jumped out of the window to retrieve it,” she said, laughing. “I can’t see my son sitting behind a desk. Barre has never been conventional, he has always wanted to do things on his own terms. That, and the fact that he cares about people, makes him an exceptionally good leader.”