There are Creole dishes that Gabe LaMothe grew up eating that in “my soul I want to eat, so badly,” but he couldn’t find in the Bay Area: saucy New Orleans barbecue shrimp, or pot pies stuffed with shrimp and crawfish.
LaMothe’s popup, Pop’s Creole, is on a mission to change that, and to challenge local diners’ misperceptions about the cuisine. “They think it’s just fried food,” he said. “There’s so much depth that’s unexplored out here.”
Growing up in Oakland, LaMothe learned to cook Creole food watching his father, a native of New Orleans, nurture simmering pots of chicken and sausage gumbo enriched with a smoked ham shank and filé powder…