This article initially appeared in Out magazine. Read the original on Out.com.On a day off, you can find New Orleans-based chef Kelly Fields riding her bike through City Park, down Esplanade Avenue and through the French Quarter, or maybe taking in the sights and sounds of Frenchmen Street, where local artists and musicians show off their work.
On Mondays you might find her eating a bowl of red beans and rice with some cornbread, but most days you’ll find her hard at work in the kitchen of her popular New Orleans restaurant, Willa Jean.Fields grew up baking on weekends with her mom, but it wasn’t until a friend asked her if she could help her family’s bakery with a large order that she first realized it could be a career.