MANAGING PARTNER BLAKE LEMAIRE

Blake LeMaire joined the Marines and headed to boot camp after getting a degree at Louisiana State University and attending flight school in Pensacola. It was during his college years in Baton Rouge that he befriended John Besh, another southern Louisiana boy in the Marine Reserves destined to serve in the Gulf War. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the two old friends found themselves together again, in flat-bottomed boats, in the streets of New Orleans, helping the stranded and distressed citizens, their own neighbors, to safety. Besh convinced his old friend to become the Managing Partner and General Manager of his longtime dream: the restaurant that would revive New Orleans’ great brasserie tradition — Lüke. LeMaire considers this second career a chance to build on two important facets of his life: his military discipline and his personal hospitality.