Where the Islands Meet the River

Virgin Island native Chef Ashley Allen opens Coconuts Bar & Grill on the Mississippi Riverfront

Chef Ashley Allen of Coconuts Bar & Grill. Photo courtesy of Chef Ashley Allen.

​Follow the Mississippi River up North from the Gulf Coast and you’ll find the quaint riverfront town of Vidalia, Louisiana. Concordia Parish’s largest city sits right on the LA/MS border, and it’s less than a 10-minute drive to its neighboring city Natchez. Chef Ashley Allen takes that drive every morning to his new restaurant Coconuts Bar & Grill. 

“We wanted to bring something new, sexy and fresh to the area,” Allen said.

Coconuts Bar & Grill is inspired by the Virgin Islands, where he’s from the island of St. Thomas. However, his journey to the west bank of the Mississippi River started the next state over.

Allen received a call from his good friend Chef Nick Wallace, back in 2020, asking him to come down to Natchez and help lead the Church Hill Variety Group. The restaurant group is a partnership with Wallace (a Bravo Top Chef alum and Food Network Chopped Champion) and Oscar winning filmmakers Tate Taylor and John Norris. Allen and his wife Sarah previously led the culinary teams at all three restaurants—Smoot’s Grocery, The Little Easy and Church Hill Variety Restaurant & Farm.

Now, the couple is in the process of moving to Vidalia full-time. They see an area ripe with potential. It’s not uncommon for Vidalia residents to travel to Natchez, and vice versa. Allen says he loves how both Vidalia and Natchez feed off of each other.

“Something about this side of the bridge seems different than the other side,” Allen said. “I enjoy the community here, and the way each side compliments each other.” 
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One of his most recent specials, fried chicken & waffles. A smoked gouda and rosemary waffle topped with crusted blackened chicken, buttery bourbon syrup and strawberry compote. Photo courtesy of Coconuts Bar & Grill.

​Life on the Island

​Allen says hospitality, culinary arts and tourism have always been a way of life growing up in the Virgin Islands. St. Thomas is home to dozens of high-end hotels, attracting people from across the globe to come experience the laid-back mentality of island life.

He’s always had a love for cooking, influenced by the bounty of fresh food the Islands provide. Since the age of nine years old, Allen would help his grandmother shop at the market for fresh meats and vegetables. Returning home, she would guide Allen in prepping everything just right for the family feast.

“That was before I was even out of high school,” Allen recalls. “Then, around 16 or 17, I started working at the Hyatt Regency in St. John, leading into me learning more about resort and fine dining cooking.”

Allen has been working in various restaurants on St. Thomas, and brings 20 years of culinary experience to Coconuts Bar & Grill. This is the first restaurant he has owned in the states. Together, he and his wife operate the space in a cozy nook right off the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge. 
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Expanding palates

Coconut palm trees are originally from the coasts of Africa and the Indian Ocean, which were introduced to the Caribbean by early settlers. Allen’s plan with Coconuts Bar & Grill is to educate patrons on all the ways you can cook with coconuts.

“Coconut trees are so associated with the Caribbean, but coconuts are also a global ingredient,” Allen said. “Most people know coconuts by coconut water. I wanted to bring together something familiar, in a way where it’s not so commercialized.”

Allen’s menu fuses the Caribbean and Southeast Gulf Coast effortlessly, in his own way he calls “soca” cuisine. Taken from the first two letters of “Southern” and “Caribbean,” soca cuisine embodies the vibe of Coconuts Bar & Grill, and it also happens to be a genre of Caribbean house music originating in Trinidad. The artists are passionate, and the beats are soulful, just like Chef Allen’s passion for hospitality and serving soulful food.

The Soca Meat Pies emulate the famous Natchitoches meat pie, but Chef Ashley’s version has the ground beef mixed with sofrito, and served with an avocado-cilantro lime crema. The coconut crusted shrimp are served with a sweet chili lime sauce, but the same crustacean is also served on a po-boy. The Coconut’s Po-Boy pairs the coconut shrimp with local Natchez sausage company Passbach Meats, fully dressed and then topped with a chipotle remoulade sauce.

“There are little touches throughout the menu,” Allen said. “I use a little coconut milk to flavor our jasmine rice, and I use it in cocktails.”

The Soaked Caribbean Rum Cake tastes exactly how it sounds, but Allen brings Louisiana to a Caribbean staple by using rum from 1827 Spirits, Vidalia’s local boutique distillery. Dishes like rosemary garlic roasted mahi-mahi, shrimp criolla (sautéed shrimp served over ginger-coconut jasmine rice), macaroni pie and Johnny cakes are Caribbean specialties Allen grew up cooking and eating. 
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The soaked Caribbean Rum Cake before being garnished with homemade coconut ice cream. The recipe uses local 1827 Spirits. Photo courtesy of Chef Ashley Allen.

​Planting seeds of opportunity

Passion for the culinary arts comes in many forms. A chef doesn't just cook at the restaurant, they're in the environment getting involved. Back home, he learned more than just cooking skills working in luxury resorts, and coming to the states, he brought his passion for workforce development.

“Living and working in that environment has taught me to be able to multitask, and be creative on the fly,” Allen said.

Once he moved to Natchez, he quickly sought out mentoring work, and took on a twofold role as professor of a class titled “Restaurant University” at Copiah Lincoln Community College (CLCC). This special program was created with CLCC and Allen to develop a workforce in Natchez, which now he will carry over the bridge to Vidalia. Hospitality is the main ingredient to thriving food scene, but the training is where it begins.

“If your staff is not trained properly, that’s where you would end up losing out on the hospitality side of the business,” Allen said.
 
The guest experience starts before a customer even crosses the restaurant’s threshold. Allen and his wife have a large following on Coconut’s Facebook page. They share food content and special menus, but the videos of chefs on the line preparing dishes bring an authenticity that diners are craving in 2023.

Once guests arrive, smiling and welcoming staff accompany the warm food they’ve already viewed online. Hospitality is so much more than staying in a hotel, or being served, it’s a reflection of the culture that’s shared and celebrated. 

Students who enroll in the CLCC class are exposed to plenty of hands-on training before graduating. Allen brings them to his restaurant for a view of what is expected, from front-of-the-house to back-of-the-house.

“Live experience is always better,” Allen said. “We train them, and we hire them. I think that’s a formula for success.”

Allen’s business formula is full of unique factors, and his former life in St. Thomas, mixed with his time in Natchez is helping propel everything coming Vidalia’s way. The opportunity to create jobs and a restaurant culture in Vidalia is there, and Allen’s timing couldn’t be better than now.

“I’m very happy here,” Allen said. “They say timing is everything. It’s the perfect time to create, and be ahead of the game and pioneer something here. This area is like a diamond in the rough, so let’s to shine it up.”

Chef Ashley Allen (far left) stands outside of Coconuts Bar & Grill with the entire crew. Photo courtesy of Coconuts Bar & Grill.