Chef Ken Ballard of Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe: 'Since "Swamp People," gator has been selling off the charts'

Chef: Ken Ballard

Restaurant: Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe

Town: Hilton Head Island

What is a signature dish you're known for at home?

I would have to go with a whole Cajun-fried turkey, although my sons love my gameday honey mustard chicken wings.

What is the funniest or most embarrassing mistake you ever made as a chef?

While cooking a 20-gallon pot of turnip greens, I was not paying attention and slipped and fell into the pot. After hearing how hard a co-worker was laughing at me, I decided to ask her out on a date and she agreed. Thirty years later and we are still together.

If you weren't cooking, what would you do for a living?

I would have loved to coach college football.

Catfish or gator?

We used to sell more catfish, but since the creation of that "Swamp People" show, gator has been selling off the charts. We can't keep enough of it in the restaurant.

What's the deal with beignets?

Here at Kenny B's, our beignet is a Louisiana-style French Quarter doughnut dusted in powdered sugar. It took me a couple of years to get my beignet recipe just right. In the early days of Kenny B's we had what we referred to as Good Beignet Days and Bad Beignet Days.

Follow reporter Erin Shaw at twitter.com/IPBG_ErinShaw.

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This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Chef Ken Ballard of Kenny B's French Quarter Cafe: 'Since "Swamp People," gator has been selling off the charts'."