Chef Biography
Hallman Woods had completed extensive graduate studies in clinical psychology at Loyola University in New Orleans and at Northwestern Louisiana University, when he discovered that what he really wanted to do was return to his first love…cooking. His father often cooked in his spare time, and this cultivated his interest in food. After college, he moved to New Orleans and worked in several kitchens including Gautreau’s with Chef Larkin Selman.
In 1990, his parents bought a nineteenth-century home on New Iberia’s Main Street and restored it as a restaurant. New Iberia is in the heart of Cajun Country, or Acadiana, and is a close neighbor of Avery Island where the McIlhenny Family started Tabasco sauce. The restaurant was named Le Rosier and received many awards. Dana Campbell of Southern Living magazine said it was worth the drive out to Le Rosier Country Inn & Restaurant to taste the talent of Chef Hallman Woods III. Food & Wine honored him as one of “America’s Best New Chefs” of 1995. Great Chefs showed up in 1996 to tape him for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of the South television series.
Chef Hallman passed away at age 48 in 2014.