Name: Nola Kitchen – Lake Travis Catering & Personal Chef
Telephone: (512) 751-7957

Nola Kitchen, Lake Travis catering and personal chef Mike Thompson, provides quality culinary experiences – In Home Cooking Demonstrations, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Showers, Brunches, Weddings, Crawfish Boils, Corporate Events, Tai Gate Parties, Ribbon Cuttings, Pool Parties & Corporate Travel Pantry Stocking.

Chef Mike Thompson has been in the food and beverage arena since 1988. His professional training is from Johnson & Wales University at Vail. He was the recipient of the University Director’s Distinguished Graduate Award, the school’s highest award for culinary and academic excellence.

After several years of cooking in Vail and St. Louis; Mike returned to his South Louisiana home. He opened his first culinary venture, Chef du Jour, in 2001. Hurricane Katrina quickly altered the future of Chef du Jour. Mike joined the leadership team of Whole Foods Market during his family’s evacuation in Baton Rouge, then moved back to New Orleans to re-open the storm damaged Veterans’ store. Now settled in Austin, Chef Mike is excited to share his passion and knowledge through cooking, culinary classes and all things Cajun/Creole.

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Chef Mike cooked for us for our company dinner at Christmas this year! The food was delicious and fresh He arrived on time and had appetizers and dinner ready on the time we agreed. He did a beautiful presentation of bananas foster at the table for us. He cooked and then cleaned up afterwards. He is very warm and personable. Everything we could have asked for. We will absolutely hire him again. It was. A Great experience.
Terry crossett, 1 month ago
Mike,

Just getting the chance to tell you and Lori thank you (honestly, from the bottom of our hearts) for such an incredible Friday night. You guys are just best in class. It was such a pleasure. If anything we learned, we want to use you more, and your food was absolutely incredible. We should have gone a bit less on the cheese and upped the dishes with you, and will next time (because you have a true gift and art) in what you do. Wishing you both an amazing holiday season and count us in on your books for next year- just bigger. Thank you for all you did for our family. We are incredibly thankful for you
Laurel G., 2 months ago
Chef Mike started our Navy Reunion trip off perfectly. On our first night we had our meal catered. His food is exceptional. I am still craving the ribs and corn pudding! Thank you so much for your hard work. Everything was wonderful. Would love to take you on all reunions!
Diana Bogart, 4 months ago
Working with Mike for a catered dinner to celebrate a special occasion was awesome! I’m from out of state, so communication via email was easy. Mike is a master chef and he showcased his talents as he prepared a 5-course meal with dishes from around the world from Greece to India to the Caribbean. The presentation was beautiful, the dessert was interactive and informative, and the food was delicious – just what we had hoped for and more.
Amanda Dickson, 10 months ago
Chef Mike did an excellent job for us. His food is incredible. He has great stories to go along with his cooking, too. I highly recommend hiring Chef Mike.
Carrie, 1 year ago
We had the privilege of having Mike come cook for us at a recent girls trip to Lake Travis. The food was excellent, everyone really enjoyed their dinners. Mike was also extremely accommodating, making a couple separate dishes for some of the picky eaters in the group which was amazing. Order the banana foster, it was next level. Thank you Mike, it was a highlight of our trip!
Courtney, 1 year ago
Mike is a great Chef and a lot of fun to be around. I would recommend him for any size get together. He was also very careful and wore a mask and practiced social distancing.
Tom Green, 2 years ago
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Chef Mike and his amazing meals! A few friends and I came down to Austin for 3 months and we loved having Mike over so much we booked with him 3 times during our time down here, each with a different cuisine and menu. All were amazing. Mike is so fun and interesting to chat with as he whizzes around the kitchen, and has great stories and teachings for us for the meals. I enjoyed the prep time as much as the meals! He’s very responsive in communication, meals were great and very reasonably priced especially if splitting with a group, and left the kitchen cleaner than when he came! Wish we were here longer to get more dinners in! Highly recommend Mike and when we come back to Austin he will be one of our first calls.
Angela Liu, 2 years ago
We had Mike over to cook us dinner for my wife’s birthday. He did an amazing job from the food, to the conversations, & knowledge of the food he is cooking. We will be definitely using him in the future. My family truly enjoyed the experience!
Yaniv, 2 years ago
I cannot say enough good things about Chef Mike! We had a bachelorette party for 18 girls and his food was not only fantastic, he was so nice and easy to coordinate with! We loved one of his side dishes so much that he sent us the recipe after our trip! Highly recommend him!
Julie Townsend, 2 years ago
Chef Mike came the lake house we rented for a 40th birthday girl’s trip. Chef Mike was friendly, professional, and on time. Most importantly, his food was wonderful. He chatted with us, but also allowed us privacy. He was open to all modifications I suggested for our personalized menu. Would do again in a heart beat!
Kelly, 3 years ago
I recently had Mike cater our office holiday party, 20 people. He met with me ahead of time to plan the menu, showed up to the party early enough so everything would be ready on time, and the food was fantastic! When dinner was over, he left the kitchen spotless. We had several appetizers, Cajun pasta, gumbo, a carving station with various spreads/sauces, and bananas foster for dessert, all served buffet style (as people were coming and going). Everything was extremely well cooked and well seasoned, and everyone at the party enjoyed the food. (Much better than my last experience getting a party catered, where everything was rather bland.) I highly recommend Mike for any of your catering/cooking needs.
Debbie Horvitz, 3 years ago
Mike Thompson rocks. His food is amazing, his passion infectious, and his personality makes the experience one to remember.

We had Mike out to our Lakehouse for the second time and as great as he was the first time- he exceeded our high expectations. Can’t wait until next time! Highly recommended – especially if you like authentic New Orleans awesome cooking!
Louie, 4 years ago
1. This should be a 5 Star review. Not sure why it is only showing 3 —. I must have clicked on the wrong star. Trust me- Mike is 5 star all the way!
  Louie, 4 years ago
Along with a couple close family friends, I hosted a four-course private dinner baby shower for my wife. Being new to Austin and having historically mixed results with contractors, I was on pins and needles for such an important event. During the due diligence process before the event, Chef Mike was patient, thorough and responsive as we collaborated to work through and ultimately agree on a competitively priced dinner menu. Oftentimes, contractors show up unprepared, and although they are providing a service, you as the client must jump in to ensure all the plates keep spinning in the air. This behavior does not apply to Chef Mike. When I increased the dinner headcount by 50%, he brought his wife along. Chef Mike was punctual and literally required no oversight. Each course was delicious and expertly prepared in an operating rhythm that synchronized with the attendee’s arrival and eating pace. All the guests, and most importantly the mother-to-be, raved about dinner. I look forward to my next NOLA kitchen dinner and encourage others to patronize Chef Mike.
James Wilson, 4 years ago
Chef Mike has catered our corporate crawfish boil since the beginning and does an excellent job! The shrimp, crawfish, potatoes and corn are superb and the seasoning is just right! I couldn’t recommend him more highly and we will look forward to having him for other events as well and ALWAYS for our crawfish boils!
Rae Gennarelli, 5 years ago
I have with Nola Kitchen chef Mike in numerous occasions. His food is delicious, his customer interaction is amazing and everytime we have his services everyone is so pleased we ask him to come back. Chef Mike is my number 1 chef to call anytime I need one.
Katherine Laboy, 6 years ago
I can’t give Mike and his NOLA Kitchen high enough praise. We had Mike out to our lake house for a birthday celebration and it simply could not have been better. Amazing food, service, and personality. It was a pleasure planning the meal, interacting during the prep process, and of course – devouring the delicious food….and then to walk into a kitchen post celebration that has been immaculately cleaned….nothing better! Highly recommended.
Louie, 6 years ago
For my best friend’s bachelorette party, we stayed at the Loft House in Austin, TX and Mike came Friday night to cook a four-course meal for us. To start, the appetizers were amazing. Brie with fresh fruit and artichoke bottoms were a hit. We had a salad with delish fresh shrimp, a seafood gumbo, and bananas foster for dessert. Mike accommodated one of our guests with seafood allergies and made her an entirely separate gumbo. He also gave us a brief history of Creole and Cajun food over dessert, which he cooked right at our table.

Mike was responsive, accommodating, and most importantly-an excellent chef! I’d recommend him highly for any group gatherings.
Adrienne Y., 7 years ago
Echoing the sentiments of Adrienne Y. – I was at the same Bachelorette party!

Chef Mike is an awesome person to hire for a private dinner! He was super accommodating, friendly, and prepared us amazing food. I would highly recommend this experience for any groups looking to do something different than your typical restaurant in Austin.
Alexandra K., 7 years ago
Mike came out to cook a 60th birthday dinner for my mother, her friends, and my husband and I. Three of us are Louisiana natives and have eaten many Creole/Cajun meals in our day, so we know what we’re talking about when we say this was authentic…and also delicious! Not only that, he was so entertaining, informative, interactive and made us all feel right at home. I feel like it was dinner and a show! And the icing on the cake: his pricing is incredibly fair and reasonable. Just wow!
Brittany S., 7 years ago
I recently had my corporate retreat at the UT Golf Club and I rented the Casitas for some of my guests. On the Monday night I was looking for something unique to do that did not require a lot of logistics. I remember Chef Mike from a wonderful dinner that I attended a couple years ago. So I tracked Chef Mike down and asked if he could cook for about 30 guests at one of the Casitas that I rented. He agreed and then we were off to the races. Chef Mike prepared excellent food, answered a lot of questions, entertained the group with his banana fosters and was very fair in his pricing. I would highly recommend Chef Mike for your private or corporate event. You will be in good hands and we plan on using him again next year. Everyone that attended the event gave Chef Mike the two thumbs up.
Dante F., 7 years ago
We just came back from Austin where we rented a house for a family event for 4 days. Chef Mike of NOLA Kitchen prepared three breakfasts for the 16 of us. The quality of the food, the preparation and presentation were top notch. In addition, he was extremely flexible, communicative and great fun. I highly recommend him.
Neta B., 8 years ago
Chef Mike cooked for us as part of a bachelorette party at a house we rented in Austin, and what a treat! It was wonderfully interactive and we loved hearing about the history of Cajun Creole, the recipes, and how to be better cooks! Everything was delicious, from the baked brie appetizer to the crab roumelade salad, shrimp etoffe with asparagus, and the Bananas Fosters for dessert with a fire demonstration! I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for an incredible private chef experience! And to top it all off–he did all of the cleaning up at the end!
Melissa N., 8 years ago
Mike came to our house as a gift from our realtor. Mike cooked a special meal for us meeting dietary restrictions for several members of our extended family, somewhat outside his normal fare (i.e. gluten-free lasagna instead of Cajun food). He told stories the whole time and kept everybody well-fed and well-entertained. A delicious appetizer kept us busy at the beginning; the main course was filling and very good; but the highlight was the dessert, where he ignited a Bananas Foster for us at the dining room table (my favorite dessert).
Mike D., 10 years ago

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Nola Kitchen – Lake Travis Catering & Personal Chef

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